The Uglies #8

" 'I never learned penmanship,' Tally said. 'They don't require it anymore.' "

Pg 676

Reaction: It was kind of shocking to find out that Tally didn't even learn how to write. She talks a lot about the things that they teach her in school but none of it seems to be any of the basic skills that we learn in school today. The only thing that Tally really mentions a lot about learning in school is the history of the 'Rusties' and how self-sufficient their current society is. My best guess would be that they purposefully keep people ignorant and lacking in basic skills so that they have less of a chance to go against society. The less that they know, and the less that they can do the better the higher powers can keep everybody under their control - people can't cause them any trouble if they don't know how to do even the most basic things like writing.

Analysis: The author uses this passage to give readers a good idea of what school is really all about in this civilization. Throughout the book we hear a lot about the school and what Tally learns from it but it is quickly made clear that it is nothing compared to school in our society today. The author shows that unlike our society, all the kids get taught in school in this civilization are things that would make past civilizations seem terrible and their current civilization seem perfect. This shows how much people must be constantly under surveillance and conditioned since any normal person left alone would clearly see all the things that are wrong with this society. This completely contrasts the idea of school today because we learn important skills, knowledge, and preparation for our future whereas in Tallys world all they're taught are hatred for the past and conditioned love for their 'perfect world' which leaves nothing left to be taught for any personal knowledge that might better themselves - which of course would be a problem for the people who keep everything under control know as the 'Special Circumstances'.