Both "The Children's Story" and "The Lesson" answer the unit question in different ways. It does so by showing authority can be abused and used in both a positive way and negative way. In the lesson Mrs Moore seems to be putting the children in a awkward and uncomfortable situation by making them go to a wealthy neighborhood to look at toys that they cant afford. Although this may sound bad she is trying to teach them the inequalities in the world. On the other hand the new teacher in "the children's story" shows deceptive behavior. We saw this when she manipulated the children into cutting the flag. In this case she is abusing her power and authority.
What does “authority” look like to us and why?
a nonfiction outside source that i realized relates back to the unit question is "Parents just don’t understand" by Will smith. In the song he states “They don’t understand that sometimes we kids will make mistakes”
“There is no need to argue Parents just don’t understand." Some authorities may not understand what their children or students go through. This may make it hard to respect your Authority and also for your authority to respect you.
"A children's story" by James clavell
"The New Teacher found the scissors and then they had to decide who would be allowed to cut a little piece off, and the New Teacher said that because today was Mary's birthday (HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?) Mary asked herself, awed) Mary should be allowed to cut the piece off. And then they decided it would be very nice if they all had a piece. The flag is special, they thought, so if you have a piece, that's better than having just to look at it, 'cause you can keep it in your pocket.
So the flag was cut up by the children and they were very proud that they each had a piece. But now the flagpole was bare and strange."
This quote shows that the new teacher has bad intentions and is deceiving the children into doing activities that will benefit her for her own personal pleasure. The new teacher makes the children cut up their flag, essentially getting rid of things one by one that previously belonged to the old teacher. The fact that each student got a piece could represent in a way a dictatorship and how they will always have a part of mrs wardon class but now belong to the new teachers. The new teacher is using her authority in a negative way and the children can't see because of how young they are.
The word that helps give us a better understanding of the unit question is "strange". This new teacher has a weird sense of using her students and getting what she wants. It is quit unusual.
"The children thought about this and it seemed very sensible. The New Teacher sang the song again, and soon all the children were happy and calm once more. Except Johnny. He hated her even though he knew she was right about fear"
This quote shows the power and influence that someone with authority can have on a group of people. In the case of the story, the children were scared and upset when Mrs Wardon was relieved from her job and instead received a new teacher. The new teacher deceived the children into liking her based off of her pretty face and soothing singing voice, when in reality they have no idea what she is actually like as a person.
The word in this that can help give a better understanding of the unit question is teacher. This is because society has labeled people with more power these names, wether its teacher, president, mayor, etc. The principles office put a new tea her in charge making her the new teacher.
"The lesson" by Cade bambara
"She'd been to college and said ... she should take responsibility for the young ones' education."
Mrs Moore was the only college educated person that the children knew. This gives Mrs Moore a sense of power and authority over everybody else. Even The parents feel the need to look good in front of her. This establishes that authority is a sort of power a person holds over a person based off of personal accomplishments compared to others.
"Then she hustles half the crew in with her and hands me a five-dollar bill and tells me to calculate 10 percent tip for the driver"
This may be the most money that the narrator has ever held in her hands, so out of curiosity, she plans to run with the money and spend it. The other kids want nothing to do with her plan showing the influence and authority Mrs Moore has over the children.
The key word in the quote is "dollar." The reason for this is because mrs Moore is trusting the narrator enough to hold a significant amount of money. If the narrator tries to make silly move and attempt to steal it their will be consequences for her actions. The narrator knows she has the power and authority in this situation.
Subtopic
one of the quotes answers the unit question by showing that mrs Moore has the authority over everybody due to her educated past and the fact she graduated college and the other quotes explains it by showing the power over the children by educating them and trying to better them as human beings.
