Framingham High School is run very similarly to the psych ward in Cuckoo’s nest. Nurse Ratched does not care about the wellbeing of each of the patients and only cares about the ward running smoothly. Nurse Ratched tests different dangerous medicines and procedures on her patients. She does not care what happens to her patients except that they behave. I have seen something similar going on at FHS. I am not accusing Mr. Welch of not caring about his students but he could be doing a lot more. For example my sister is a sophomore in the marching band and like many other people in the band is having trouble getting enough credits to graduate. Many band students have to quit the band in order to get all the credits to graduate. My parents have tried to get my sister to quit band for one semester so that she can get enough credits, however my sister is completely against quitting band at all. One of the possible solutions that the band has is making varsity sports (or just sports in general) to count as gym credit. Actually playing a sport teaches the student more about teamwork and everything else learnt in a gym class. I know that the band has been trying to talk to Mr. Welch about the situation and he seems to just be ignoring them. It doesn’t seem like he’s saying nothing can be done about the situation, but it seems more like he doesn’t want to do anything about finding a way for the students in band to get enough credits to graduate.
The vice principals at Framingham High School most closely relate to the Black boys who help out the big nurse. I feel that overall the vice principals at FHS are not very well liked. There are some vice principals that are not too bad, just as Mr. Turkle was nice to Chief Bromden, however there are some who are not as nice. The black boys and the vice principals are the people who make sure everyone is doing as they are told. The vice principals are the ones who are able to punish the students while the black boys also give out punishments. The punishments at school are nowhere near as severe as at the psych ward but you get the idea. After just getting back from a girls hockey game where a fight almost broke out I realized that the vice principals and the black boys almost act as referees of sporting events. They are the people who stop fights from happening. A referee is meant to break up a fight right away and the same thing goes for a vice principle or the black boys. The guidance counselors and also the teachers at FHS are sort of like the male doctor at the psych ward. These people for the most part are there to help you. The doctor’s main job at the psych ward is to try his best to help the patients. Another similarity is that teachers, guidance counselors, and the doctor get there power from someone else. They get there power from the big nurse and black boys which correspond to Mr. Welch and the vice principals.
I can agree with your viewpoints on the different roles of the staff in the school. Obviously Mr Welch is Big Nurse while the Vice Principals are the Black Boys. In another sense of the guidance counselors being doctors, they don't really do much in terms of preventing fights or administering disciplinary consequences, just like how the doctor doesn't do anything but recite the spirit of the ward.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that the band members were struggling so hard to get their required credits. I didn't know any student-made choice could render them inable to graduate, essentially. I agree with you about Mr. Welch and the vice principals, but I think that teachers and guidance counselors have more power than the doctor in the ward. They have to choice to do things without the other's consent, which is completely opposite with Nurse Ratched.
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