What about "The Children's Story" is realistic and/or what is not realistic?

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2004

Answers

I found two things about "The Children's Story" to be realistic. First of all, teachers have a great influence on the young children they teach. They suck up knowledge from their teachers like little sponges because young children usually look at their teachers as role models. Secondly, children with strong beliefs on a subject tend to stand up for what they think is right, just as Johnny did.

I also found two things unrealistic about "The Children's Story". One was when they cut up the flag. If a teacher encouraged children to cut a a national flag, they would not be teaching for much longer. Another problem is the teacher was teaching the kids that God does not answer prayers. Again, a teacher who taught his/her children this would not be employed the next day.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

     This story seemed to be realistic in many ways. In particular, I thought that the children seemed to represent realism and tradition in this story. They acted just like small kids in real life. They really liked candy (all kids do... except me!), and they always talk about "My mom said" or "My dad said" or "My other teacher said" and things like that. And they have great respect for their teacher(s). Examples of this include when Miss Worden is afraid, so are they. When the New Teacher tells them something that is very different from what they usually believe, they seem to trust her.

     As for things that weren't realistic, that seemed to be summed up in the New Teacher, which is directly contrary to the students being the realistic side. Very few teachers share the same new ideas as this one. Even the strangest of teachers would never cut up an American flag. The fact that the kids would sleep over that day seemed to take them by surprise, which means they didn't know. And so their parents probably didn't know. When their kid didn't come home, what would they think? Not too realistic. Last, some teachers are young, but 19... that means she probably just graduated from high school last year. That's a little bit early to start a teaching career. One more thing... when I did my fiction outline and stuff, it ended up being 2 pages after I made the font size 10. Did I write too much, or was it supposed to be that long?

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

(arg, ran into the same problem as Nat with the block style posting... wonder why the line breaks worked last time but not this time? pretend there's a new paragraph after "One more thing...")

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

This story, I thought to be very realistic. It seems to take place in a country that had just lost a war, and is being overun with a communist regime. The young teacher is obviously employed by the government, and I think that the beliefs and ideas she is teaching have also been taugh to her. However one thing I did not understand, was the conflict of ideas that she taught. For example, she wanted them to wear the uniforms and conform to this one look, but on the other hand, she talks about them being special people and being themselves. The most realistic thing to me was the way the children responded to her, by being eager to test her ideas, such as the candy, as soon as she gave them candy, they immediately like "Our Leader". The most unrealistic thing was the way that JOhnny all of the sudden decided to be against his father and believeing the teacher, that seems like it would be a slower transistion. Overall, the stroy showed some intresting ideas, and it exposed the vulnerability of children, I mean, only twenty-five minutes and the children had already disowned their God, stopped believing in their parents, cut down a national symbol, and fallen in love with a strange woman who taught them new and crazy ideas.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

i definitly did that thing we learned in class about the starting a new paragraph...very weird.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

In reading story, I have came to the following conclusions... 1.NO TEACHER would ever do ANY of the things done by the teacher. 2.I would think that no child would ever cut up an American flag or vandalize anything, even if told by their teacher(Hello? Parents?) However, I do agree with Will on what he said. 3.Although the situation is entirely possible, the chances of it happening are slim counting the fact that the United States of America has one of the largest, most technologically advanced armies in all of the world, not counting the nuclear missles in our possession. If another country wants to invade us, good luck. 4.You would not find that many children like Johnny. Most children have strong beliefs although they may not be able to support them, but they won't go as far as Johnny did, with figuring out that something is wrong. But then again, what do I know?

All in all, the book is mostly situational fiction, with realistic responses to it.

To all my home dogs in Mr.Wallers 4th block class. Garrett Howe, peace out. :)

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

One more thing... RED DAWN, RED DAWN, RED DAWN. This story must be based on it or something, only with an alternate ending where we win.

Sorry, just had to put that in there...

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

The story is quite realistic in a sense. One way that it is realistic is that when kids are that age they usually don’t form their own opinions. Another reason why this story would be realistic is because kids look up to their teachers and are amazed at the vast amount of knowledge that teachers behold.

Some ways in which this story could be unrealistic is how the kids don’t debate what the teachers say. I mean I have a sister that’s a little younger than that and even she debates every single thing that she is told. Another way this story could be unrealistic is how these kids, that are said to be past second grade, wouldn’t acknowledge what’s happening. No person of this status would ever cut up a national flag, even if the teacher encouraged it.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

This is a dictatorship and brainwashing technique. Please relax and enjoy the story.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

In reading story, I have came to the following conclusions. First, NO TEACHER would ever do ANY of the things done by the teacher. Second, I would think that no child would ever cut up an American flag or vandalize anything, even if told by their teacher (Hello? Parents?). However, I do agree with Will on what he said. Third, although the situation is entirely possible, the chances of it happening are slim counting the fact that the United States of America has one of the largest, most technologically advanced armies in all of the world, not counting the nuclear missles in our possession. If another country wants to invade us, good luck. Last, you would not find that many children like Johnny. Most children have strong beliefs although they may not be able to support them, but they won't go as far as Johnny did, with figuring out that something is wrong. But then again, what do I know?

All in all, the book is mostly situational fiction, with realistic responses to it. To all my home dogs in Mr.Wallers 4th block class.

Garrett Howe, peace out. :)

PS.Sorry about wrong form, here is a revised version.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

This is a realistic story in the sense that it was a real “possibility” in the times that it was written. It was written in the times of the Cold War, when many Americans feared an attack from the Russian Communists. There were many other stories written in the same period, with the same premise: What would America be like if the Russians take over. It is also about how easily deceptive minds can poison the minds of children, which is definitely a reality. (Though I think it was a little bit like a satire in that respect.) I don’t think children’s minds can be manipulated in that short amount of time, so I think that a 23 minute total-conversion is an over exaggeration.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Yep, so that there story, I didn't really like it though the dialogue really brought your into the story. (You know, the kiddy- speak and all, and the way the teacher talked to the kids.) I guess that was the only realistic part of the story... I reckon.

Now, for the reasons I didn't like the story: The teacher was dealing with controversial ideas such as Theology with 7 year olds, who couldn’t possible understand the topic. Also, the teacher was destroying what the children’s parents had worked 7 years of their lives to create, a belief in god, Christianity, and all that good stuff. In my opinion a teacher would never touch on that, a) because its illegal, and b) because parents wouldn’t be too happy at parent teacher conferences. : ) There’s my rant. -Dexter Gulick, Esq.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

First off, I’d like to say that this story was scary. “The Children’s Story” is to “The Tell-Tale Heart” what “The Tell-Tale Heart” is to “My Little Pony.” I can see how this story would have been even more frightening to people in the 50s, who were constantly feeling threatened by Communism. The title especially is deceiving, making readers think they’re in for a story about innocent kids playing jump-rope and instead leading them (the readers) as lambs to the slaughter into a dark story about the pliability of a child’s mind and the effect of Communism on individuality. Let’s face it – the story has a rather unrealistic premise. A Commie invasion is unlikely in this day and age (though it may have seemed scarily close to home in the 50s, when I presume this was written). However, if an invasion were probable, I think that the fear of Miss Worden was very realistic. So is the way that the adults’ fear and confusion trickles down to the children, even though they may not quite understand what’s going on.

But, although it’s true that children can be easily manipulated and remain so “innocent,” I think that Johnny was the only class member who had a realistic reaction to the New Teacher. He rebelled and hung on to his old ideas for a much longer time. Children can be really stubborn at times, as Mr. Clavell would have profited to remember.

And in response to a few other people: Of course the New Teacher wouldn't act like a "real teacher," at least as we know teachers to be. She was part of the Commie brainwashing conspiracy! The scary thing is, she thought she was right to be doing this all along (see the last paragraph).

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Aw, shucks...the first paragraph should be split into two. I don't know why that turned out funny...

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

AHHH!!! This story still sends chills up my spine. The entire story was so spooky and realistic, I felt like screaming. Before in history class when we talked about communism and how Mao brainwashed the Chinese, I thought, ¡§Haha, that¡¦s silly. Why would anyone think that way?¡¨ Now I understand. It is perfectly believable that a teacher would be afraid of a communist taking over her job. It¡¦s perfectly believable that a group of baffled second graders would listen to such logic. I almost believed it.

Maybe it¡¦s because it¡¦s cold and I¡¦m not wearing a jacket, but I¡¦m shivering, and I am deeply, deeply scared.

Mr. Waller, please don¡¦t make us read something like that again.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

My apostrophes and quotes look really interesting...

Anyhoo, one unrealistic thing: to what extent did the communists brainwash people? The story was a little exaggerated, but it definitely did a good job of proving a point.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

One of the realistic things in the story is the way that the children acted. There was a reasonable diversity, from strong willed to weak and gullible. It is also realistic that the kids would go along with the teacher. Kids of that age are very gullible, and they have probably been taught to respect authority. With the exception of Johnny, the concept of rebelling against a TEACHER is inconceivable. It is also realistic how the old teacher reacted and how the new teacher brainwashed the children.

What is unrealistic is the plot surrounding the story. The U.S., due to many factors, is probably the hardest country in the world to conquer. It is also unlikely that anyone would still be letting their children go to school in a communist country, especially a family like Johnny's.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Ok, by far that was a FREAKY story

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Sorry, I pressed the wrong button. Starting over...

Ok, so that was one FREAKY story. Most of it was realistic. The young kids talk a lot about their parents because they look up to them. They enjoy candy (who doesn't?) and trust that what the teacher says is true. The new teacher sang to them and played games with them, which all could happen in a real elementary school. Even praying as a class seems ok.

However, there were some unrealistic and somewhat scary scenes in the story. Cutting up an american flag? No teacher would ever do that! Also, no teacher would change 'God' with 'Our Leader' when praying, especially in such a way that she would be brainwashing her students into thinking 'Our Leader' was better or more significant.

Although this was a freaky story, I liked it. P.S. Did anybody else notice that the article was in "Ladies' Home Journal"? Plus, below that it says "The Magazine Women Believe In". Mr. Waller, why are you reading a women's magazine? Sorry, it just seemed weird...

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I thought that this story seemed fairly realistic. It reminded me of the Nazi Youth which was basically the same idea, but I think it was more like boy scouts. I also think it would be possible to brainwash small children in real life the way the new teacher did in the story. Heck, it might even be eaiser if you memorize each kid's favorite candy. If a government actually did this, they would get the kids when they are the age of the kids in the story. They would do it this way because when kids are that young it's like traning puppies, you reward them when they are good and punish them when they are bad. Eventually, they get the picture and act the way you want them to.

There were only a few things that I found to be unrealistic in the story. One of them was the fact that the students were going to spend the night at school, it didn't seem like it would happen in real life. Also, the statment that the teacher would give the kids whatever they wanted if they worked hard seemed like an empty promise and wouldn't happen in the real world.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I do believe that there are a lot of true aspects to “The Children’s Story” even though it is a TRULY fiction account of American normality it had to be somewhat believable. For instance, children trust about everything their teachers say (until a certain age of course!) and will in some cases even contest their parents with facts they have learned earlier in class. Also the fact that there are some certain rebellious students (cough*cough) in every environment, is somewhat of a worldwide norm, for teachers to have to deal with particularly difficult students. On the other hand, some things in this story were just too weird for words. Not knowing all the details at the beginning of the story left me wondering what country they were in and what psycho values this women was trying to teach the children. Although all the events in this story are probable, the American morals of independence are strongly disintegrated as it progresses. Overall the story creates a kind of virtual awareness for future psycho- maniac events.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Although mostly the situation is completely realistic, there are certainly elements, which are not; though they be few in number. Namely the children’s reaction in class to the end of the war; knowing US sentiment towards the USSR at the time of story’s publication, it would be more than likely to expect the students to have more reaction than simply being frightened. Another element being the speed of the children’s acceptance of the New Teacher’s doctrines demonstrates either the malleability of children or a lack of reality in this aspect in the tale; a 23-minute timetable does seem rather short.

Because it is likely that the story took place in an America defeated by the USSR, then practically all of the story is plausible. Surely, only a few years ago, the USSR and the US had plans to neutralize a rival’s society in a post-capitalistic or post-communist country, respectively, should their defense dictate a war. Certainly, if one were to be in a war, with the enemy population rooted in their religion, society, and economy, all of which differed in the Soviet Union and the US; it would be inconceivable to not devise of some method of stabilizing control and justifying one’s rule, much as the mandate of heaven was developed to do in Ancient China. All of the actions performed by the New Teacher went into this, for example: the destruction of the flag, the discourse on bad and wrong thoughts, and most notably, the disproval of prayer to promote Atheism, communism’s most effective method of moral justification. Considering a system like this would be implemented in a world with the conditions listed above, it dictates the entire plausibility of the situation.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Even though most of this story was a great extended metaphor of communism, I thought that it had much more realistic validity than simply being fictional.

The children in the book behaved much as normal children do and although they were filled with preconceived notions passed down by family values their minds were just as malleable as any when exposed to logic. As with all populations there are trouble makers and rebellious youths such as Johnny. His ideaology is common to that of many people in this world. He blindly follows what he trusts and is stagnite and hesitant to change.

What is unrealistic about this story is that communists will never beat the capitalists. I mean it just won't happen. Also no one would risk destroying an American flag as they would be risking treason with our current national security protocols. And finally, most teachers don't put up with problem students like Johnny. I beleive that this is how the story is thus similar and disimilar to our reality.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Ok this story was kind of scary, and pretty depressing. It was both realistic and unrealistic in a couple of ways.

Ok the story was realistic in the fact that forcing one set of ideas on a people has happened before. I would say that it is realistic in that it COULD happen I suppose, but that's not why the story was written (I'm guessing...or that's what I interpreted). To me the story was more of a symbol than an actual "ok this is what happened". It shows many things: the complete innocence of the children, the confidence of the New Teacher and her being perfectly ok with tricking the little kids, the trust that the children have in their elders, ect. It symbolizes that the New Teacher is making all of the kids the same, but only if they will be the same by free will (so there will be no problems).

Ok sorry, I'm trying to organize my thoughts so it makes sense to everyone else, and I'm not doing so well. Let me try again...

Ok, I think that the story was realistic in the interactions of the kids and teacher(s). I don't believe that something like that WOULD have happened, but you never know, it could have. It is a bit exaggerated, though. However, I do believe that it was more of a symbol, just the scenario as a whole. It is a truly scary story; the topics that scare us, though, and the topics that we have trouble talking about are usually what help us the most. It was written to scare people, or to echo the already-present fear of the people. Reading this now we are still scared by it, no matter how unlikely it is that something like that would happen. It's a smaller part of human nature that only takes over if you let it, and I think the added element that it was 'human' made it the scariest of all.

There, that's closer to what I was trying to say I think...not quite it, but close.

So now I think I'm gonna stop talking/typing/thinking/whatever.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I found this story to be quite realistic. It showed the impressionable nature of our young children and how much trust we put in our teachers. The unrealistic part was, in my mind, the way in which the new teaher came into "power." I did not feel it was made clear and confused me throughout the story.

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2004

whoops....kinda forgot about this, BUT i do have a very sttrong opinion or two on the matter:

The Story is mainly unbelievable. I kind of figured by reading between some of the lines that America had just fought and lost a war against communists. I can not fathom whatsoever that America could be taken over by communists. Every single person in the county would rebel and the communists would beg the capitalists to take the country back. That is unrealistic.

I do believe, however, that the children would be so easily swayed. When a nice pretty woman is talking sweetly to children, and using good logic, she can convince them of anything if their mind is even somewhat open. This is especially true because the children were curious to know what had happened, and expected their teacher to explain it to them, as she usually did. Only this time the teacher lied to them instead of telling them the truth like she should have.

This story was so sickening that I almost cried. It was quite a coincidence that I had my History test on communism that same day, 6th period, and when we had finished the test, we passed around the story for people to read. I hope nothing like that ever happens.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004

Now that I've calmed down and am able to think with my head, maybe it wasn't very realistic. But if communists somehow took over the United States and children were completely innocent and all communist teachers could brainwash children in two hours...it could happen.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004