What I will try to do in this post is to analyse a decision taken by a teacher in a movie to see if it was a 'Human Act' and a 'Good Decision' and to see if other options were available... The decision taken by Katherine Watson, who takes a job in the art history department at Wellesley College in the fall of 1953, takes place when she is told that in order for her to go on being a teacher in the College she will have to avoid showing her own ideas and telling anything 'off-subject' to her students... This College was too strict and traditional to let Katherine show her students that life is more than 'being the wife of...'
When the moment comes for Katherine to decide whether to go on giving lessons at this College with the condition of forgetting about all of her beliefs and convinctions or to quit, she decides that it is better to leave the place than to stay there simply because she wouldn't let herself go against her beliefs and her ideas... She does not agree with the ideologies of the College and going on teaching there will force her to lie to herself and pretend being someone she is not...
Having seen this movie and taking what I've just written into account I will start by explaining why is it that this decision was a Human Act.
First of all, she is perfectly aware of what she is choosing and the other options available and what their consequences might have been. She is conscious while taking the decision and, therefore, capable of reasoning and thinking out all the different options and paths she might have followed.
Secondly, her decision is not conditioned or limited by any kind of mental desease or problem so she is perfectly conscious and aware of her acts and, as a consequence, it can be analysed from a moral point of view.
And finally, she has the possibility and the intention of choosing among other options; i.e. freedom (if there had been just one option available, then the 'act' of deciding could not have taken place and, therefore, she would not have been free to choose but forced to follow the only path available)
Going on with the analysis, I would say that this decision is Morally Good since it is something good in itself (she isn't going against anyone by doing so and, what is more, she avoids going against herself by following her beliefs); it has a good intention since she has always done her best to help her students open their eyes and see beyond what they are taught at College or by their families and when Katherine is forced to leave her beliefs behind and act against them she decides to leave the College since in that way she can show her students that the most important thing is to defend your ideas and not to lie to yourself... so her purpose is this... her purpose is to show the girls that defending what you believe in is the best way of living your life; and finally, her decision was taken in good circumstances because, although she takes her decision a few months before the end of the year (before her students' graduation), she decides to stay at the College and go on teaching until the end of the year for her students not to feel at a loss and helpless during the very last weeks before their graduation (Katherine shows us here that her decision was made in the right moment and place since she bears in mind all the consequences of her decision and their implications.)
Furthermore, and this is my personal opinion, I would say that, it was a very good decision because sometimes it is very difficult to defend your thoughts and ideas at any moment and place but she has chosen the best way to teach something: through your own example... Katherine has always tried to show her students that there was a lot more about life beyond what college may taught them or what traditions may require them to do...By deciding not to go on teaching there, she showed them that what she has taught them was true and valid for her...If she had chosen to stay there following the conditions imposed on her, Katherine would have lied to herself and, consequently, would have killed her beliefs and thoughts. Her decision was, for me, good and perfectly coherent with herself.
Finally, and for me to finish with the analysis, we don't have to forget that when we decide (something) it means that we are choosing one from two or more options, and, in this case, there was just one more option available: to go on teaching in this College accepting the conditions imposed on her (no interaction with her students, no advices to them, no 'subversive' ideas, no 'modern' or 'progressive' ideas...) but, as you can imagine, this was not an option for Katherine...
'To change for others is to lie to yourself'
I've prepared a short video with this scene I'm describing for you to take a look at it if you happen to be interested. However, there is a problem with it, the movie is in Spanish since it was the version I had available at home... I'm sorry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDNPsCrkj_A
2 comentarios:
Sorry it's gone so long before posting my comment on this interesting post of yours, Ale!
Firstly, I meant to ask you: are you aware that when you describe the college as "traditional" and "strict", you're interpreting this "reality" thourugh the glasses of your culture, sort to speak?
Secondly, you say Kathy would be allowed to go on teaching there on condition "of forgetting about all of her beliefs and convinctions"... Well, they didn't actually expect her to forget all about them, did they? Just to keep them to herself! Do you think that might have been an option?
Thirdly, it is easier to say an action is "not bad in itself" (i.e. going against kinship or reciprocity) than to say it's "good in itself". Some good actions are bound to hurt someone, no matter how hard you try...
Finally, Kathy could have chosen to stay at college, pretending she agreed with the institutional requirements, and then have done as she thought better within her classroom... Now, what do you think of that?
LOL,
Gladys
First of all, yes! I'm aware of my cultural glasses ;)! But well, I have them and I find it really difficult to put them aside...
Secondly, yes! You're right again...I know what you mean and that was what I tried to mean too. Maybe I used the word forget because of the way in which we use 'olvidate de eso' in Spanish which means that you have to leave it aside and not to take it into account (but of course you'll still remember it in your mind).
Thirdly, you are right again! How difficult it is sometimes to try to do something Good in Itself! Maybe it has to do with the fact that we are interacting with people all the time and that we are completly different from one another sometimes. How many consequences does our actions bring about? I think that sometimes it is almost impossible to answer this question, don't you think?
Finally, I have thought about this choice you are talking about Gladys, but I decided not to include it. I think that it would have been extremely difficult for Kathy to do it. As her ideas were completly different from the 'institutional ethics' of the college, she couldn't have managed to go on teaching her ideas and values and, at the same time, having to hide them. How could she teach her students to be honest with themselves if her way of showing it was by means of hiding her values and having a 'double life' within the college? For me, it sounds hypocritical...
I think that that's all,
LOL
AleZ
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