Homework 51

I have based my paper on two texts that I have read on the British school system. I will refer to them as text 1a and text 1b.

Firstly I am going to discuss the purpose for which these two texts were written. being a newspaper article from The Guardian is clearly meant to be an informative text with a purpose of showing people how bad behavior in British schools are and the viewpoints of teachers on the subject. The way in which the article is written, with many facts and statistics with quotations clearly shows that it is written to raise awareness of the problem and add an emotional side to the article. In the article, the writer states that 80% of the professionals describe bad behavior as ‘a daily occurrence’ and that ‘only 7% said that poor pupil behavior was rare.’ Text 1b, being a novel its main purpose would be to entertain its reader as opposed to informing people about a real life issue. This text is also using similar points to the first text, but it is meant to create an emotional connection with the reader.

There is a direct correlation between the purposes of these two texts and the audiences which they are meant for. Text 1a, having a purpose to inform about the problems in behavior in British schools is therefore meant for audiences who are interested in the British education systems such as students, teachers, parents etc. Text 1b coming from a 19th century novel with a purpose to entertain is meant for more or less any audience.

Text 1b is written in the first person narrative and it builds tension as it goes on. The extract is written in a way to get the audience to feel sorry for the protagonist in a way but it is not totally obvious what Charlotte Bronte’s point of view on the subject is. She describes a “poor friendless teacher rebelled against and persecuted” but at the same time Bronte states also that it is the fault of the ‘weak and wavering’ teachers. Text 1a is written with many statistics and it is just stating facts about the system obviously suggesting reform starting with the government.

Overall, the two texts I read share similar viewpoints on the subject of student discipline and its affect on teachers in the UK. Text 1a is a formal factual account on the issue while text 1b tries to put the reader in the situation of the issue. The two texts are linked in the sense that they share the theme of challenges in the education system in the UK, but they are written for very different reasons as text 1a is meant to argue the issue and suggest reform whereas text 1b is meant to create a connection with the reader and the situation.