Utopia is a dream.
Thomas More wrote about it long ago. He defined it as a perfect place, give or take a few options like religion, social issues, government, and laws.
Long story short, we’re reading Brave New World with my honors sophomores. It’s one of my favorite books. If you don’t enjoy the novel, or find some common ground with it, there’s probably something the matter with you. I start out by giving the old anticipatory set–a hand-out where they get to design their own baby AND, on the back of the same sheet, get to create their own Utopia. It’s great times for most.
Today, though, when the paper was due, one of my students asked what the point of it was. A valid question. I reminded him that building a baby is what they do in Brave New World. I also reminded him that the characters live in what are considered Utopias, created by controllers for the happiness of the masses. It’s a pivotal part of the book–the scene where John and Mond discuss life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness–and a reader learns that creation takes thought and effort.
Plus, it’s a creative assignment worth a few points before I destroy them with quizzes, tests, writings, and projects. This book is a leap from having the entire novel read to them by their other teachers–we read it quickly (not in class), go back to the text for understanding, and move along after about three weeks. So starting with something creative is, well, creative.
Students had an extra day to do this and weren’t ready today. They were still scribbling at the bell and into the first minutes of the class period. They had the entire weekend to complete a worksheet–singular–where they designed a baby and created a Utopia.
The part they have a hard time with is the philosophies of their Utopia. I ask for five. Five philosophies that your Utopia would live by. I give you a world to create, this is how and what and why you would like things to go down. Simple. I would put bakeries of varying ethnicities on every other corner. Portuguese. German. Asian. Cuban. Bakeries–every other corner. Television would go back to 5 primetime stations so people had something in common to talk about the next day. Same deal with music, where stations would bring people together with a wide mix of music, rather than separating us with homogeneous stations that cater to one audience. You can see the common theme here of bringing people together.
I had two students come in at lunch to finish the paper. They were stuck on this philosophy deal. I told them it was their Utopia; what mores and values would you want people to live by? They didn’t know the answer. So I told them there was no answer, that they can create any world. This was not resonating with them. I told them to think of it as the Ten Commandments, except in their own words. I will not write of the response.
It got to the point where they found the pile of papers that students had turned in from an earlier class. They perused many of them, looking for philosophies of others to fit their Utopias. One could argue that borrowing from others is not a bad idea if others have ideas similar to your own. My argument is that there were no ideas here. Many of my students who turned in a paper for a grade thought it prudent to give NO philosophies and left that part blank. Some just gave two or three.
You can say I’m overreacting, or that this was a stupid assignment. But it still frightens me a little when students have a hard time negotiating a paper that does not have an answer key.
So which is it? Do we give tests with multiple-choice answers to creative kids? At worst, there’s a one-in-four chance. Or do we give creative reign to those who just want answers?
I’m sure some book on teaching has the answer, or is it a creative solution? As for me, I guess I need to find a local Portuguese bakery.