Calvin and Hobbes Take On The Schools
I loved Calvin and Hobbes and was always certain that there was more to the comic than just a boy with an over active imagination. I certainly chuckled more than once at some of his ideas, plans, and dreams. Maybe it was just me, but I never really saw him as bad, just a typical kid with an overactive imagination. To B.R. Merrick Calvin was a little more.
In Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Public School …I Learned in Calvin & Hobbes Comic Books Merrick makes a couple of interesting points on the current public school system and that rascal Calvin.
There is not a single Calvin & Hobbes comic strip that has anything positive to say about this institution. Just use the search engine in the link at the beginning of this article and type in “school.” You will be taken from one strip to another where Calvin is bored, anxious, unhappy, disgusted, hopeless, daydreaming, or scared. The only school-related strips where Calvin is in a better mood have to do with recess or grossing out Susie at lunch (an episode that got Calvin & Hobbes cancelled at one local paper). His teacher is named Miss Wormwood, after the apprentice devil in C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. Think about it. That’s not a joke the average reader would get. Just what is Watterson trying to say?
The entire article is interesting, a look at the institutional school system and teaching people to be docile sheep. Long hours of boredom spiced with the occasional moment of panic/fear/anxiety are what Merrick recalls from his own school years. After all, who doesn’t remember falling asleep in class, staring out the window and floating away, or just spending the time drawing pictures in their notebook.
At the bottom of the article is a list of the lessons Merrick learned in school that are definitely worth reading. Number one especially hits home for me
Learning, like work, is not meant to be enjoyable.
Calvin and Hobbes, education, schools
April 10th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
My kids have worn out 4 Calvin and Hobbes books, and I know a lot of unschoolers say the same. I think that is interesting.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Calvin and Hobbes is bedtime reading around here, and so much of it resonates with our experiences that it never gets tiring. Plus, Calvin’s vocabulary inspires my kids to get out the dictionary.
I say this all the time, but if movies such as “The Breakfast Club”, “Pretty in Pink” and “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” are supposed to be representative of typical high school experiences, why is homeschooling the target of socialization questions? Does this strike anyone else as bizarre and utterly hypocritical?
April 11th, 2008 at 8:27 am
You touched on 3 of my favorite movies from back in high school. And that’s a very good point.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I definitely will have to look for this book, not only do we love Calvin, it touches on a topic dear to my heart.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
That was a very interesting article. I’ve loved Calvin and Hobbes since I was a kid, but never would have picked up on some of the things brought up by Merrick. Thanks for sharing.
P.S. - There’s a little note for you on my blog post reaction to this article as well. Feel free to stop by and check it out: http://jlandthensome.blogspot.com/2008/04/thoughts-on-public-school.html
April 13th, 2008 at 12:12 am
[...] Calvin and Hobbes Take On The Schools - I stumbled upon a great article on public schools from the point of view of my favorite cartoon boy, Calvin. [...]
April 14th, 2008 at 6:15 am
[...] me I think this boils down to the idea from Calvin: learning should not be fun. Neither should work it seems, and for many people it certainly isn’t. I suppose my answer is [...]