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How do schools in The Giver differ from American schools today?
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Schools in The Giver differ significantly from American schools today. In the novel's dystopian society, education is centered on strict adherence to societal norms and career preparation, with children grouped by age. The curriculum lacks art, music, and literature, focusing instead on conformity and correct language use. Punishments for rule infractions are public and humiliating, reflecting on the child's family. In contrast, American schools emphasize a broader academic curriculum, including arts and sciences, with less focus on conformity and more on individual expression.
The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a dystopian totalitarian society. As such, there are significant differences between the schools in the book and in America today—including the lessons taught, the strict need to adhere to the rules, and the punishment for infractions of the rules.
Society in The Giver is governed by an extensive set of rules. There are rules against nudity, “rules governing rudeness,” those “governing the age for bicycles,” rules about removing items from school recess, and many others. School children learn and memorize the “Book of Rules,” in addition to learning their academic lessons.
Many of the rules specifically governing behavior in school appear overly restrictive compared to American schools today. For instance, children must not remove snacks and other items from school grounds and hair ribbons must be tied neatly “at all times.” Jonas, the protagonist of the book, recalls “with humiliation” the time...
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he “had taken the apple home, against the recreation area rules.”
The punishment for breaking the rules includes a humiliating public announcement over the loudspeaker and the child must apologize in front of the class. Jonas is bewildered by the apple incident, “not by the announcement or the necessary apology; those were standard procedures.”
Moreover, infraction of the rules reflects poorly on the child’s entire family. One boy, Fritz, is described as:
a very awkward child who had been summoned for chastisement again and again. His transgressions were small ones, always: shoes on the wrong feet, schoolwork misplaced, failure to study adequately for a quiz. But each such error reflected negatively on his parents' guidance and infringed on the community's sense of order and success.
Moreover, this is a totalitarian society that essentially eliminates human individuality. This can be seen when Jonas’s friend Asher must “make his public apology” to the class, “as was required":
“I apologize for inconveniencing my learning community.” Asher ran through the standard apology phrase rapidly, still catching his breath. The Instructor and class waited patiently for his explanation. The students had all been grinning, because they had listened to Asher’s explanations so many times before.
…“I apologize to my classmates,” Asher concluded.
“We accept your apology, Asher.” The class recited the standard response in unison.
It can be argued that American schools today are similar in some ways to the schools in The Giver. For example, in American schools children are grouped by grade. In The Giver, they are grouped by age. However, there are many differences between the two.
In The Giver, education is focused on teaching societal norms, learning about various careers within the Community, and using language correctly. There are also lessons on technology. However, there seems to be less of an academic focus compared to American schools. In the book, the main purpose of school is to train students to be citizens who conform to the expectations of the Community and to prepare for a specific career. In American schools, students learn about literature, music, and art in additional to reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. There is no art, music, or literature in the schools in The Giver because all of those things have been forgotten by everyone except for the Giver himself. Also, most American schools are not focused on career preparation until high school.
It is clear that Lois Lowry used traditional schooling as a basis for education in her novel. From there, she created a very different system.