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

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2004

Answers

Yay! Me first! Ahem…

Besides the fact that the United States could be taken over by some evil, abnormal, aliens, this story is pretty realistic. Anyone can brainwash young children into believing anything (I do it all the time!). Miss Worden’s reaction to the New Teacher was perfectly realistic. The children’s fear at first was also practical. However, what is not reasonable is children staying overnight with the teachers at school and not calling their parents first. I’m sure that the New Teacher might not care, but in real life, parents DO get worried if their child stays at school overnight (or atleast some parents do). Also, children ask a lot of question and it is unpractical for these students to not question everything like Johnny. (I have a younger brother about eight years old, and I know how annoying kids can get). In my opinion, this story was scary and I’m not sure what the ending was all about with the sentence, “It was 9:23.”

I better post this up before someone beats me!!!!

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

The only thing that I could really think of that was pretty unrealistic was that the students were so quick to trust their new teacher, especially after seeing their original teacher leave in tears. Besides that everything seemed pretty realistic. It’s kind of freaky though the idea that people’s views can be so easily distorted, without even realizing it. Plus it’s weird to think how gullible and naive children are, and how simple it would be to turn them against their parents. Wait, I just thought of something unrealistic. I have never heard six and seven year-olds speak that clearly. I volunteered at a summer day camp with kids that age and it usually took them 2 or 3 tries to say what they wanted to. Even when Johnny was stumbling a little in finding the words he wanted to say it was by far better than most. And with the 9:23 thing Zenubia it was just showing that it only took 25 minutes for the new teacher to convince every student to “work hard and not have any wrong thoughts.” (because it was 2 to 8 when the new teacher began to talk) Also, it’s not weird abnormal aliens taking over, it’s communism, and it doesn’t specify to whether it is in the U.S.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

There were some things about this story I thought were quite on the realistic side. One obvious aspect is that the teachers are telling kids what to do! Sorry, but another one is how uncannily realistic it is that kids will do anything for candy. Some things that weren't realistic were Johnny shaking when he was being talked to (who know's a kid like that?). Also, if this is a public school (no uniforms), then why did they pray to God during class in the first place. I know someone is going to point out something I missed about that last sentence that makes me look like an idiot!

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Yes, I agree with Anne. It is pretty crazy how much the teacher brainwashed the kids without them realizing it in so little time. I mean, god knows what she could do with days. I think this is a little unrealistic. One example is when she has the students cutting up the flag. If she had just walked in and said "cut up the flag," the kids would have thought she was crazy. But she gave so many bogus reasons that the kids bought that they were cutting it up and agreeing with her. I don't think someone could do that, but you never know. There are a lot of pretty gullible kids now adays.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

OK......Where the heck is this person's credentials? I mean come on people! If you willingly sent your child to a school and the principal didnt tell you that they were going to keep your kid at the school for the night, one of two things has happened. One, you're a complete moron, or two, you've been brainwashed by the government. Is this book actually set in the US? If I'm not mistaken, I believe this should be set in Germany in 1940 with Stalin ruling. He would be the "Our Leader," the New Teacher referred to. She's probably there to turn them all into little Commies.

I have a few questions that seem to puzzle me, what type of school did Johnny's father go to that Johnny thought he could never see him again, was it a prison or something? Why is the New Teacher teaching the class that there is no God, no reason for a flag, and no reason for the pledge, unless she was a Commie!!! Finally, I'd like to leave you with one of the more interesting quotes from this story and a question about it. "The New Teacher said, "We're going to have lots of wonderful secrets together."." Just what kind of secrets does she need to have with 7 year olds?

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I have deduced that this is a work of pure fiction on the part of James Clavell. Judging by facts alone, this was written in the "Ladies' Home Journal" in October of 1963, an era in this country's history in which the threat of communism was spreading like a dark cloud over the minds of America's lawmakers and citizens. Half a decade later, the U.S. would be engaged in the single-most engagement that this country has ever lost. North Vietnam won the slaughter courtesy of Russian support, both by arms and by financial assistance. In addition, the great Civil Rights movement was beginning to move into its final stages. This was the 60's, and the country was in turmoil. Frankly, this is illustrated beautifully in James Clavell's "The Children's Story".

Americans were afraid that their children would be seduced by the venomous and evil communists, and soon neighbor turned against neighbor, anyone turning in the names of a communist receiving a smile by the federal government. Almost once a week nuclear fallout drills took place in American public as well as private schools. These were the times during which Clavell wrote, and the danger to every man, woman, and child during this era was immanent and ever- present to the mindset of the people in the democracies of the world. Americans felt that their children could be easily seduced by the, if you'll pardon the expression, "Red Fever" (har har har), and this is why Clavell wrote this piece.

The question at hand is determining whether or not this is realistic. My answer is that to Clavell, who lived and worked and feared in an age of looming nuclear disaster by communists, both the danger and the reality of this threat was very real. American boys would come home in boxes just a few years later from a hellish jungle wasteland, killed by the same foe Clavell write about in this piece. Of course today we say "no, of course not: this could never happen in our grand old United States of America", and I have to admit that I do concur with this statement: however, this was realistic in the time it was written, and that is all that matters to the writer. Have a sunshine day!

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

The elements of this story that are realistic are the children’s attitude and the fear Miss Worden had of the New Teacher. Children, especially those that are very young, generally have more innocence, and are more open-minded to new ideas. This trait plays a big part in this story, and it is believable that seven-year-old children would follow a stranger at the drop of a hat. As to Miss Worden’s fear, teachers do care for their children. This care is the realistic source of her fear and protectiveness of her children when the New Teacher takes over.

On the contrary, unrealistic elements of the story include the takeover of the USA and the fact that the children are in school. Realistically, the build-up of a regime that could take over the United States isn’t very coherent. Between nuclear weapons and allies, it isn’t very believable that a force could invade the American mainland and penetrate as deep as second-grade classes. Also, if this did happen, chances are it would be a chaotic time period and the parents wouldn’t send their children to school, if schools were even open.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I believe that the story is both realistic and unrealistic. The fact that it refers to the United States in the saying of the pledge brings with it a shred of reality. This, along with the classroom setting, make the story believable. That they allude to the country in which the story takes place as having been conquered by some foreign country tears away the reality and tangibility of the story, as the United States has never been conquered and occupied by a foreign country before. Also, methods of Communism were being hinted at, and the United States has never been Communist. So, the story is both realistic and unrealistic.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Alrighty. I am typing as I am thinking, so this shalln't be as organized as it could, but please cut me some slack.

I think that the whole story overall is somewhat realistic. However, I do think that the children were too trusting. If I wasn't overly fond of a teacher(or even liked him/her *shudders*), and he/she left in tears, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be incrediably trusting of the replacement torturer...I mean teacher. I think this would hold true for anybody.

Another unrealistic thing that was pointed out by somebody (I just skimmed the other responses, sorry person(s) who pointed it out) was that the idea the students staying overnight at school with a teacher they had only know for like 25 minutes. Yeah, I'm sure their parents would really go for that.

The final and painfully obvious unrealitic thing that jumped out at me was the fact that Johnny actually believed that his father's thoughts were wrong. I'm sorry, but unless you are like a 4 year old, or your parents are horribly abusive, loyalty always goes to your parents. How can a complete stranger possibly change your view or opinion of your father or mother in a mere 25 minutes? They can be the most persuasive person in the world, but in 25 minutes? Give me a break! Plus the fact that he was untursting of the wench in the first place makes it even harder to believe.

I think that the rest of the story was plausible. (Except for Communists taking over the United States. We have such a negative view of Communism, I think the nation would destroy itself before that happened.) Young kids are quite impressionable. It isn't all that difficult to mold their views and ideas to fit your liking. So yeah. The End.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I noticed a lot of things in the story that seemed unrealistic, but also a few that were realistic. Some unrealistic things were the stopping of the pledge and the cutting of the flag. Not only are they unrealistic, but also disrespectful toward our country. That part stuck out to me a lot. Another that unrealistic, but also funny, was when they threw the flag pole out the window. You would think the teacher or atleast one of the students would have enough common sense not to do that. Also, the knowledge of the new teacher seemed a little unrealistic. I don't think you could find a teacher that dedicated to teaching so that she would memorize all the students' names before she even met them. Finally, the sleepover in the school was unrealistic. It would not be possible for students to just spend the night in the school without saying anything to their parents and no permission from the school.

There were; however, some realistic parts such as the emotions of the students. They felt scared when this different, new teacher came unexpectedly. Another realistic thing is how easy kids will fall for candy. I'll have to keep that in mind the next time i visit some kids in elementary school.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Wait! Hold the presses! I have something to add while I'm on my Communism tyrade!

Alright, think about this quotation, "Johnny decided that he liked his teacher very much. Because she told the truth. Because she was right about fear. Because she was right about God. He'd prayed many times for many things and never got them, and even the one time he did get the skates, he knew his dad had heard him and had put them under his bed for his birthday and had pretended he hadn't heard him". I've figured this out!! Because Johnny has gone along with the whole Communist concept, he is cutting into the Judeo-Christian foundation that is our society (however, I know a little bit more about my religion than Johnny's flawed logic, but more about that at a later deate). Don't you people see? Communism (if that is what took over his particular country) is going against our moral values and is therefore against all that we stand for. How this relates is that, well, that is what Communism was, and that was very real indeed. It was a real threat to all Americans. as, and that was very real indeed. It was a real threat to all Americans.

Again, let me reiterate from my previous post that this is realistic through the eyes and pen of one James Clavell, but I'm not sure if I believe much of it. The guy was either deathly afraid of Communism, or just having a fun time with his pen and paper. Either side of the argument is valid, but bear in mind that Clavell got this published in a periodical (and a real one, too), so obviously someone must have agreed with him in order to get published. Communism=atheism=no democracy (that's our equilibrium).

By the way, I've done the little "carrot-P-uncarrot" action we discussed in class, and I have to say it doesn't work at all. I'm out!

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

HOW DO YALL KNOW THEY ARENT JUST A BIG CULT THAT TOOK OVER?

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I thought there were many realistic and non-realistic things in the story. One realistic thing was the pledge of alleigance. That shows that it took place in a classroom and it was something we could all relate to. I also thought another realistic thing was that children are very gullible and you can get them to do things very easily, so it wasn't a surprise that they went along with everything.

Though many things were realistic, I thought it was a mostly non-realistic story. For one, it didn't make sense how the new teacher just walked in and fired the old teacher. Usually, if you get fired, you get some kind of notice. It also wasn't realistic how the children didn't really react to their old teacher crying and walking out of the room. I would think they would be a little more scared. The new teacher was also only 19, which is basically right out of high school. She isn't a very qualified teacher. It was creepy how all of the children were ok with sleeping over at school. I would call my parents and make sure they know what's going on. Finally, I find it hard to believe that Johnny was the only one who opened his eyes when they were praying for candy. I would suspect that children are curious, and that many of them would peek to see what's going on.

The story contained numerous realistic and not so realistic features.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

This short story contains both realistic and unrealistic views. I believe that the students and how they react to the "new teacher" is realistic. Their actions in the classroom and how they went along with the teacher is also realistic(Little kids sometimes tend to go with the ways of older people and listen to what they say). I believe that the teacher bribing the children with candy and doing fun things is unrealistic for a teacher. Also, I believe that the teacher brain washing the children is very unrealistic. All the things that the teacher had the students do(cut the flag, pray to “Our Leader,” etc.) were unrealistic things. I’d say overall that this short story was not too realistic, but it was enjoyable.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Well, it's 9:58 and skimming through I've seen that Ben S. has posted twice, so I must be really behind !

Ok. I, too, found certain aspects of this story realistic and likely to happen, given the situation, and others not at all realistic. First, I thought that the wanton destruction of school property was definitely realistic. I mean, it still holds true today, does it not? Also, the idea of school uniforms, though we may now disagree, would definitely seem appealing to them right then.

As for what seemed unrealistic, there were many more instances. These instances all had to do with the ready agreeance of all the kids with the New Teacher on just about everything, which was totally fake. They seemed to be “considering” everything the teacher put out there for them, but in truth there was an unreal ‘sway’ of convincement that would not be evident in youth today. Once children have learned something from their parents all their life (even if it is only 7 years), it will take more convincing to change their opinion. I agree with Carlin in saying that children would not so readily agree with this new person and give up their beliefs to a complete stranger over their parents.

A specific example of the above reasoning was when Johnny was talking about his father with the New Teacher. Of all ages, the younger ages are when defiance of authority is most evident. Of all people, Johnny should have disagreed with the New Teacher when she said that his father had “wrong thoughts.” Frankly, I am disappointed in Johnny. He should have stood up for himself and his family.

There are more examples, most of them already pointed out by other people. I have a feeling that this is way too long as it is anyway (half a word document :( ). I only hope I don’t have to read it out loud. That would take forever.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I do believe that the story is realistic. THis story in no way protrays that there is anytype of anything that would describe that this is not realistic. In the story their is a reference that the shildren are to keep secrets from their parents. In warfare or seige warfare if you take over another state and wish to make them part of your culture and technically cease theres, you have to change the kids. Science have proven that you pick up on stuff and are more subseptible than if they were older to ideas. I believe that is what happened in this story. In the story she told them that there is no God. This will affect them when they grow up. THe "new teacher" also tells Johnny that his father had bad thoughts and was going to have a holiday. And during the story a girl asked did we win the war. This means that something has happened before the story. I believe this story is realistic.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

This story had some real and some unreal parts to it. If communist did invaded America the whole world we be a smoking atomic waste land, so the children could have been in America. But this country could have been Poland or some other small no nuclear country that Russia had taken over. The story dose describes the typical process for reeducation of the population that the communist used to subdue most of Western Europe. If we had been given the setting we could know if this story was factual or not.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

I believe this story was realistic because children are very impressionable especially by someone who seems wiser than they are. However, I do think that there were several unrealistic characteristics that popped up throughout the story. Firstly, I think that the way that the newer, younger teacher swooped in and took the place of Miss Worden without much protest was rather unreasonable. I think other than Sandra not one student seemed to be particularly upset at the disruption caused by the new teacher. It seems to me that as a child when my world of perfect calm was ever disrupted I would immediatley demand an explanation and burst into tears. A second rather unrealistic characteristic, mentioned by Sean and others, was when the teacher explaned rather insistently to Johnny how his father's thoughts were wrong he agreed once he was sure that she was not saying they were bad. Wrong connotates bad, and little boys tend to see their fathers as the heroes of the world and think that darn near everything they say or do is completley right. Remember all of the playground battles "My father could beat up yours with one hand tied behind his back".

I also found it strange that Johnny, being such a singularly minded child would have put up much more of an argument with the teacher when he was told that his father is not gone forever. But, as i think more about it I guess that when the hope that someone very dear to you is coming back is gone, you will take any thing you can get.

One last interesting thing I found was that the new teacher frequently referred to Miss Worden as an old, fake teacher. Usually she ended up pairing the actions of Worden with those of someone who is not a "real" teacher, and inferring that she was better in every way shape of form than any teacher the children had previously had. Other than those, the story was pretty realistic because of the trusting nature that children have in almost anyone that wouldv'e allowed them to almost, almost wholeheartedly believe the new teacher.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

Well, it looks like I'm the last one to post... again!! *feels special* I think I may try for a record. (Someone's going to post like 3 minutes after me, but hey. I need goals in life.)

NOW, on to actually saying something that relates to the topic...

Much of the basic scenario of “The Children’s Story” is not realistic. The situation of the story assumes that America (or another similar country) has been taken over by an outside, presumably Communist force that has assimilated into the government at an extremely advanced level (the education system), and first/second grade children are still going to school normally (would *your* parents allow that? I think not). In the average country, especially if one assumes America versus communism, the school system would have been thrown to the winds long before new teachers can be introduced to fill young children’s minds with “filthy Communist propaganda.” In addition, the new teacher took many unusual liberties such as a class “sleepover,” destroying the class flag (seven-year- olds have some idea that destroying flag= bad. or they should, at least), and disproving God in a presumably public school setting, in which case God should never have been brought up. The average parent would probably not be comfortable with any of those developments. However, there are many frighteningly realistic scenarios presented in “The Children’s Story.” For example, the gullibility of the children frightened me with its accuracy. Seven-year-old children are incredibly impressionable; if an adult is kind to them and gives them things such as candy and late bedtimes, they are extremely inclined to the opinions of that adult. A young child’s main concern is how to obtain candy; he is too easily won over. Also, I found the children’s initial reaction to the New Teacher and amazement at her kindness and seeming dedication very plausible.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2004

This story is unrealistic. Children will not turn on all of their families, and home training in less than 30 minutes. That was very unrealistic. An American class was seemingly taken over by a Communist government. Everything that was normal was questioned. This story was seemingly based on a capture country, which government took a turn for the worst: Communist China.

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2004

This is a rather odd story. It reminds of a certain political party...(NAZIS!!!) cough, cough.

What was realistic, though was how the children reacted to the teacher. They act just like little kids usually act. They believed everything their teacher said, and acted slightly stupid, as 7 year- olds do.

What was unrealistic, however, was what the teacher was saying, and that the children were still in school. I don’t think that any political party or faction or whatever could ever possibly hope of spreading if they had this type of logic. A giant portion of the world believes in an omnipotent being, and if they taught that God did not exist, then they would contradict a giant portion of the religions out there and an even bigger portion of the people.They would have their brains bashed out by the Pope, or everyone would go all JIHAD on them. They would be in too much pain to start taking over countries.

Also, if there was a war that resulted in a new establishment, there would definitely result in a giant resistance, like in Red Dawn(sweet movie!), or like in France. Then the kids would probably be at home, hiding in the basement while their parents sit on the roof, sniping enemy soldier, not in school. But maybe the kids would be helping the parents. It depends on if they could hold a gun or not.

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2004

well, all the other ben's posted twice, so i thought that i should just conform.

hey, i think i have the last post too. yay!

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004

First off, I know this post is 8 days late, I am sorry but I totally forgot about it last week, then I came back to do it, because my mom always tells me "It is better to do it really late and not get credit, than not doing it at all" okay, so it isnt her exact wording, but who's really going to care?

About the story now...

I rather enjoyed this story, it was subtly entertaining (by this I mean I dont really know why I liked it, I just did). I see that unlike the majority of my classmates, I was very strongly reminded of the clever tactics of the German Nazi's. Due to the fact that many things like this have happened, in Europe mostly, I find this story entirely beleivable. I see some people say that seven year olds would question this more, or wouldnt tear up a flag, but seven year olds are incredibly gullible. For example:

When I was about, oh...ten or eleven or so, I told my to seven year old brother that he was very gullible. "What does gullible mean?" he asks me. I tell him "It means cool and smart, just like you." So he goes inside and tells my mom "Joey is nice, he called me gullible!" Yet with mothers and sibling trickeries, the truth was soon revealed, and my brother has never forgotten what gullible means since.

So you see, that almost every aspect of this story could come true, and it could actually happen, but it probably wont. So overall, it was a great story, and is also very controversial just because that was how it was written.

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2004

yes! i'm last poster. :P

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2005