The Benefit of Vocational Schools Throughout the story Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield consistently expresses opposition to school. No matter how many schools he attends, he always flunks out. Holden seems to express a lack of interest in most of the subjects that he is being forced to take. None of these classes had anything to do with what Holden wants to do with his life. Likewise, they do not teach him the important life skills he needs to live a long and happy life. However, there is another option: vocational schools. These are schools that allow students to pursue a hands-on career that does not require a traditional academic bachelor's degree. How would a vocational school and career have improved Holden’s …show more content…
Through Holden’s description of his choice to become the Catcher in the Rye, he encompasses his desire to help people who are not able to help themselves. When thinking about his dream job, Holden keeps “‘picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.’” Because there is no adult around except for him, standing on the edge of a cliff, Holden’s responsibility is “‘to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-- ... if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them’” (Salinger, 191). Through his subconscious, Holden is expressing his desire to help people who cannot help themselves. He is the one person who has the power to aid the vulnerable children. Although there is no exact education to prepare for this job, in a vocational school, Holden could take his desire to help people and turn it into a …show more content…
Specifically, vocational schools do wonders for the academic stability of an at-risk student. According to NACADA Clearinghouse’s article “Advising At-Risk Students” by Pat Walsh, the definition of an at-risk student is a student whose “'skills, knowledge, motivation, and/or academic ability are significantly below those of the 'typical' student in the college or curriculum in which they are enrolled.'” (Walsh). From his academic track record of flunking out of many schools and failing four of his five classes his last year at Pencey (Salinger, 201), Holden is clearly a perfect example of an at-risk student. However, vocational schools prove to be great for this type of student. According to Smart Horizon’s infographic, “At-risk students are 10 times less likely to drop out of school if they are enrolled in a career and technical program” (“Career”). This style of education does wonders for these students, who, like Holden, are unable to see the benefit of an education for a variety of reasons. Specifically, Holden wants to drop out of school so he can live in the woods (Salinger, 219). However, as this statistic states, Holden would have been much less likely to have this mindset and lack of educational desire had he gone to a vocational school. In addition to this, according to the same infographic, only 78% of students overall graduate, while 90% of
In the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger the main character Holden is having trouble communicating with people. He wants to make a connection with people but is constantly failing to do so. He is constantly isolating himself from others throughout the book. In the beginning of the book he's at a football game but instead of being with the other students he's sitting on a hill. He goes on talking about how the football game was the last one of the year “and you were supposed to commit suicide” (Salinger 2) this shows us he's negative and sarcastic. Holden was being transferred from school to school and constantly failing in his classes. Pencey Prep school was Holden's fourth school and he has already failed out of three other schools. He wasn't trying to pass his classes. He ended up failing four out of five of his classes. The only class he didn't fail was english because he had did the work they were doing in one of his other schools. The only way he passed was because he “didn't have to do any work in English at all hardly, except write compositions once in a while.” (Salinger 10) This shows us he didn't have to do much work and probably just cheated on his compositions.
Literature has always relied on techniques to catch the reader’s attention and format the story, and “the Catcher in the Rye” is no exception. Salinger brought many different writing styles into his novel to make it a bestseller. With his knowledge, Salinger was able to depict the persona of Holden to the reader without directly stating his characteristics. Salinger proves Holden is a lonesome figure who wanted to fit in but struggles to be accepted. The Catcher in the Rye depicts Holden as one who struggles with his sexuality and adulthood and wants to save children from adulthood because of the difficulties that it has brought himself. Salinger greatly expresses Holden through the use of metaphor, imagery, symbolism,
Despite his longing for acceptance, “His efforts to connect with any stereotypical kid his age result in abject failure“(Privitera 204). Salinger thoroughly emphasizes this through Holden’s relationships with Stradlater and Ackley, with both of whom he has a strenuous and artificial relationship, demonstrated by his internal, flippant commentaries on his peers as he discusses them in the book (Salinger 31-40). Holden’s peers ostracize him due to his more introspective and introverted nature, as seen in Stradlater’s angry response to Holden’s reflective response to this writing assignment, saying that he doesn’t “do one damn thing the way [he’s] supposed to”(Salinger 47). These difficulties stem not from deficiencies of his peers, but rather a problem of Holden’s refusal to accept anything different from what he expects, making excuses about his reasons throughout the book to cover his actions. His rationalization of his internal wants and desires impedes any proper connection he could possibly make with his peers. He, “Subconsciously longs to be accepted yet feels he cannot make the connection”(Privitera 205).
A disparate situation is presented to readers in The Catcher in the Rye. Early in the novel, Holden expresses the reason for his difficulties in school as his being: “always surrounded by phonies.”(Salinger 13) Holden is correct; he is completely incapable of relating to his peers. However he takes no time to consider potential solutions to his problem. During his conversation with Mr. Spencer, Holden communicates that he deals with his troubles by simply quitting; putting minimal effort into academics and socialization. Since Holden never addresses his emotions directly, he fails to realize
One of the similarities between Holden and Salinger’s lives are they both attended private schools. Holden attended many schools that he continuously got kicked out of. The main school focused on in the story was Pencey Prep. Holden got ejected from Pencey as a result of failing four
There are plenty of beauty remedies ancient Egyptians used to use to keep their body looking flawless, youthful, and glowing and one person that is very famous for her looks was Cleopatra, and was due to her beauty remedies.
Holden is talking about protecting the children so they will not experience the cruelty of the adult world. If he catches the children before they fall, he will preserve their innocence and keep them from the cruelties of the adult world. Holden’s only desire and goal in life is to be the catcher in the rye because is the only job that is appealing to him where he can shows his love and protection for childhood innocence, “That’s all I’d do all day. I‘d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be” (173).
Holden’s struggle with school is a universal experience for teenagers. Students struggle to maintain great grades and stay connected with social aspect as well. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden gets kicked out of 4 schools and at his most recent school Pencey, he failed 4 out of 5 classes Holden does not have many more options for schools and as a result is struggling. Many teenagers can relate with Holden because 20% of high school students never graduate and over 1.2 million teens drop out of high school per year just like Holden. More studies show that 49% of students reported feeling a great deal of stress on a daily basis. When students have no more motivation it causes their grades to dramatically drop and the stress to pile on. Holden
If Holden is trying to apply himself and does well in school, there is no reason for Holden is fail out of school or get kicked out. This is a very important moment in The Catcher in the Rye, which makes it a little sad that it happens so close to the end of the book. The reader does not get to experience this new Holden which is trying to have a bright future in which he actually applies himself in school, which has never happened before. Holden’s experiences in the mental facility, really help holden learn the priorities of life and to not fear the normal teenage experiences, which consists of changes.
In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulifield views the world as an evil corrupt place where there is no peace. Holden has a phony phobia that restricts him from becoming a fully matured adult. In Holden's attempted journey in becoming a fully matured adult, he encounters many scenarios involving friendship, personal opinions, and his love of children. His journey is an unpleasant and difficult one with many lessons learned along the way; including the realization that he is powerless to change the world.
Holden has numerous distinct attributes pertaining to both childhood and adulthood. His transition from growing and relational life, to an uncontrolled spiritual realm, this stresses him. He has instances of introspection that helps him encompass a realization for his own livelihood. When he shares with his sister Phoebe what he would sincerely like to do with his life he says “I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.” (Salinger 173) That quote reveals the reasoning for the title of the book because Holden wants nothing more than to protect the innocence of children.
Just as J.D Salinger, Holden’s socioeconomic background was at least middle-upper class (even though many of Holden’s actions and what he says demonstrates he belonged to the high-class) Holden struggled with family and class expectations. His family and culture expect for him to be reasonably successful at the prestigious High school to which he belonged, and then, after he was done with it move on to an Ivy League school. Holden’s problem is that he is incapable of seeing himself in that role, so he
When Phoebe asks Holden what he likes, he replies by saying, "I thought it was 'If a body catch a body,'" I said. "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy." (Salinger 173). The top of the cliff symbolizes the innocent child life, but below the cliff symbolizes the adult world of phoniness. Holden wants to catch the children before the run off into the phony adult world. In conclusion, Holden wants to be the “catcher in the rye” as he wants to catch children’s innocence before they fall into the phony adult
Nevertheless Holden has so much personal pride he refuses lower him to that level. For if he does, in his eyes, he will be the same as all those other ?Phony Ivy League bastards? (85). As a result of Holden giving up on school, he is unable to proceed with the natural evolution that must occur for him to move on in society. Mr. Antolini later points out to him ?Learning is a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn?t education. It?s history. It?s poetry? (189). His goal for Holden being to see school as something he loves and not something he is being forced to do. Mr. Antolini tried to give Holden a reason to be motivated and in which case not to give up so easily.
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