How does Dickens present his views on education in hard times? :: Free Essay Writer

How does Dickens present his views on fostering in potent quantify?Hard times is set in the 1840s in the North of England. Its set at atime when Britain is changing dramatic eachy because of the IndustrialRevolution, which is mainly touching this part of Britain. Thisrevolution moved much of the work from the country into towns andcities, and small cramped villages were built around the factories andmills to house the workers. Dickens novel hard times was set duringthis time.Dickens uses many techniques throughout the novel to show his views oneducation to his readers, the first of which is to create differentcharacters, some of which contrast distributively other in different ways . Twoof such Characters are Sissy Jupe and Bitzer. They differ in the waysthey have been taught and the ways they see the education system.Bitzer is a model student, he has always strictly followed the systemand been taught exactly how the system requires him to be taught. Heis shown as lifeless and co lourless, the boy was so light-eyed and ash-blonde that the self-same rays appeared to draw out of him whatlittle colour he ever possessed. This gives the effect that he hasbeen drained of life and everything else but facts. When asked, Bitzerdescribes a Horse as a Quadruped and graminivorous and givesendless facts about the animal. Although this description is veryfactual and impressive, the use of long complex words and the amountof facts show that he has simply been taught these facts, and crediblyhas never even seen a Horse. Sissy on the other hand does notunderstand how to factually define a Horse when asked, this is becauseshe has been brought up with Horses all her life and they are toofamiliar and important to her just to be described in facts. This isone way that Dickens tries to show to his audience that this quality ofeducation is wrong, the teaching of bare facts limits the imaginationof the student and a more practical way of teaching, like Sissy hashad, would help the children understand the facts that they are macrocosmtaught, instead of just learning them.Dickens also shows the characters of some of the staff at the schoolto make his views known. Mr Gradgrind is the first to be introduced,from the onset Dickens portrays him as materiald , both in hisappearance and character, he reveals little about him apart from thefact he is rigid, and has little individuality. This is emphasized bythe repletion of square and speaker, and by this he is shown to