How does Miss Brodie's view of teaching differ from Gradgrind's? The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was written by Muriel Spark.

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Ravi Aggarwal                                             GCSE English Coursework

How does Miss Brodie’s view of teaching differ from Gradgrind’s?

“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” was written by Muriel Spark. It is set in the 1930s and follows the story of an unusual teacher called Miss Brodie who brings girls up in an odd manner. “Hard Times” was written by Charles Dickens and is set in the 1850s. It is the story of a school run by a man called Thomas Gradgrind. They are set in different times but their teaching methods have some similarities and some differences. Their views on education are very different to normal standards.

The first difference we notice between the two teaching methods are that Miss Brodie wants her pupils to develop their particular talents. Her favourite students are nicknamed the “Brodie set” by the other teachers in the school. Each person in the “Brodie set” has an individual trait which Miss Brodie tries to develop to make him or her become famous for it. Monica Douglas was famous for “mathematics which she could so in her brain” and Rose Stanley was “famous for sex.”

Gradgrind on the other hand wants all his pupils to be similar. He only believes in teaching his children facts and not “arty” subjects as Miss Brodie does. He describes the children as “vessels ready to be filled to the brim with facts.” This shows that he does not even think of them as human or as having personalities.

Another difference is about taste and opinion. Brodie believes in having personal tastes and opinions. She wants her girls to know good things when they see them. One flaw in her teaching method is shown when Brodie asks who the greatest Italian painter is. A girl answers “Learnardo da Vinci,” which is her opinion but Brodie says, “the answer is Giotto”. This is just teaching the girls her opinions so the Brodie set do not really have their own. It is as if her opinion makes something true.

Gradgrind however bases all taste and opinion on facts. Gradgrind tells us this when he says, “You are not to have anywhere, what you don’t have in fact. What is called taste, is only another name for fact.” There is also a similarity between them at this point because they both want their children to become exactly like them to the extent that they think like them. It says in Hard Times that “He intended every child in his school to be a model – just as the young Gradgrind’s were all models.” Therefore both are egotistical.

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The third difference is that Miss Brodie likes to take her pupils outside and discuss topics that have nothing to do with school, with her pupils. Gradgrind does the complete opposite. He teaches in a “bare windowed, intensely whitewashed room.” The difference in where they teach shows a lot about the sort of character they are. Brodie teaches outside and so wants her pupils to experience the natural world. She tells her class that the seasons are changing when a leaf falls off a tree. She wants them to be open to sensations and stimuli around them. Gradgrind believes ...

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