As a couple fellow students have posted, I found the chapter named "Mr. K*A*P*L*A*N, the Comparative, and the Superlative" extremely interesting. The opening page describes the assignment as "a composition of one hundred words, entitled 'My Job'" (11). Through broken, horribly spelled English, Kaplan provides a one hundred word analysis of his working conditions. However, at the end of the recitation, Mr. Parkhill declares that Mr. Kaplan did not complete the assignment; "'Y-yes. No ideas, only-er-facts'" (15). Mr. Parkhill consistently questions Mr. Kaplan's ability to move up to the next level of classes yet when he shows promise of critical thinking and analysis, Parkhill punishes him and forces Kaplan to re-write an assignment for basically being overly successful. Honestly, I think Mr. Parkhill is an idiot and Mr. Kaplan is a diamond in the rough genius. Due to my lack of faith in Parkhill's intelligence, I guess my question is do you think this is on purpose? Is Parkhill deliberately attempting to stifle a critical thinking spirit? Or, is Parkhill similarly disillusioned and believes Kaplan must be able to list facts before he can think critically (despite the fact that he can obviously already accomplish such thought)? Is Parkhill fighting against any sort of problem-posing method of education or just brainwashed by the banking concept?
Side note: One of my favorite lines in the book "Mr. Parkhill girded mental loins" (14)
Early on, Mr. Parkhill just seems to diagnose Kaplan's English learning problems as a mixing up of an "a" and an "e" and other somewhat trivial things like it. He is so focused on the practical aspects of perfecting the language, I just don't think he can appreciate Hyman Kaplan's "larger than life" personality. So I don't think it's intentional, just a huge difference in personality and priority.
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