Beginning of Essay
While sitting in church on Sunday going through the same motions of every Sunday, my son leans over to ask, “Why do we have to stand up for this prayer?” My response “because we are supposed to”. Reading “The Children’s Story” by James Clavell, mad ....

Middle of Essay
.... the changes that are coming to his school because of the defeat. The author is able to assume that we all share common experiences from our youth and our days in grade school, introducing the characters with a minimum of prose. The major theme is critiquing education systems that teach children what to think by repetition and memorization. Clavell uses the story to point out how that makes individuals vulnerable to manipulation. How many education systems look at the students as individuals? Most education systems lump all the students into a nameless, impersonal mass. In the story, the “old” teacher doesn’t always remember the students ....