HW # 46 Research and Writing

2. Over the break I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. The book follows an outspoken and unorthadox teacher named Miss Brodie and her 6 pupils at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, Scotland. Miss Brodie's goal is to turn her students into "the creme de la creme" or miniature versions of her idea of herself. "Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life!," Miss Brodie arrogantly proclaims. The 6 girls she teaches and that the book follows are known as the "Brodie bunch," and each girl has a distinctive personalty. The principal of the school, Miss Mackey detests Miss Brodie and makes many attempts to get her thrown out of the school by trying to get one of Brodie's bunch to give incriminating evidence against her. The book takes place in the 1930's, and Miss Brodie is a strong advocate of Facism, as is clearly shown by the admiration she shows herstudents for Benito Mussolini. Unfortunately, one student named Joyce Emily, who tries unscucessfully to join the "Brodie bunch" is encouraged by Miss Brodie to fight in the Spanish Civil War only to be killed in an accident when her train is attacked. Eventually, one of Miss Brodie's favorite students, Sandy betrays her and accuses her of Facism to the principal, Miss Mackey who quickley removes Miss Brodie from her school.


3. The subject of my research paper about schooling is about the impact of extraordinary teachers on their students. Since Miss Jean Brodie is an extraordinary teacher, she demonstrates an aspect of my subject and one that I hadn't initially thought about, which is the danger of a powerful personality.

4. This book describes a teacher who does capture the imagination of her students, and she does try to broaden their minds as any good teacher should do. The problem is that Miss Jean Brodie is a self-centered and arrogant teacher who wants to control her students' minds instead of teaching them to understand the world for themselves. The fact that she is an admirer of Mussolini and Facism shows in her totalitarian approach to guiding young girls' minds. Reading this book has made me think about the challenge for dynamic teachers not to let their teaching be too much about themselves and their own passions and prejudices, but about helping students develop their own passions and opinions.