Short Story on Education

Finding a short story on education was surprisingly difficult. As I searched for a story about segregation in school or funding for school and came up with no results, I truly realized that education does not necessarily involve schools and learning in a classroom through teachers. To have an education is to have knowledge. Yes, there are many different levels of education creating many different levels of knowledge but all education requires knowledge. In the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut all of America is considered equal. "They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way."(Welcome 7). If one person was born smarter or prettier for example, then the government would handicap them so they were equal. Harrison Bergeron was considered to be smart and was thrown in jail because he was not following the rules. By him not following the rules was the governments way of thinking that society would fall back to different levels of knowledge and equality. He escaped from jail and went to dance with a ballerina. Harrison and the ballerina took off their handicaps and became unequal to all. They danced and listened to real music. The result of their actions and breaking the law resulted in their death. Harrison's mother and father see this occur on television. His mother is crying for her son but she cannot remember moments later why she is crying because the government has taken away her knowledge.

This short story at first was not clear how it related to education but after careful thinking and rereading I realized that it has everything to do with education. In the story the government takes away their right to knowledge, which is taking away their right to an education. This story was supposed to take place in 2081 and equalizing everyone was supposed to get rid of all the problems America has had in the past. By taking away the people's education and knowledge goes against everything that America stands for, has stood for, worked for, fought for and will continue to fight for, for centuries. The government in the story controls their every move, which throws away one-thousand years of fighting for freedom. This is shown through Harrison's mother. His mother cannot even mourn or know that her son is dead because she is not allowed to have knowledge. The society also does not know that they have rights because they are not allowed an education. They are also not allowed to freely express themselves, some of the people in the society cannot even show their faces. The problem is, is that most people in the society do not even know or see that their is a problem. They cannot see it because not only do they not know any better the government takes it upon themselves to decide what they can know and how they use the information that they do know. This all does not work in a society, because they are denied the right to be themselves.

Through Harrison Bergeron it shows how vital education truly is. That without education America cannot really function as a society. Yes, they can go about their day with actions and words, but they cannot do anything meaningful or live a fulfilled life without education. They cannot do this because they do not know, they do not know what it truly means to live. No one can find success within themselves or a society without knowledge and education. Without an education we would all live without a purpose. If this short story actually became a reality we would be dealing with denying rights yet again. America in current day has already found that the right to an education is essential and necessary and to deny it again is pointless and an act of stupidity. It did not work before and it will not work in the future. The people need knowledge through education and they have the right to it.

Welcome to the Monkey House: Kurt Vonnegut