7th period...Due to the craziness of my week, I did not get a chance to read your college essays.  I will read them this weekend (and perhaps a couple in class today) and return them on Monday. Sorry!

Before we watch more of the BBC production of Pygmalion, let's read these, so that we can consider them for discussion on Monday.  These questions examine places where the themes Shaw explored in Pygmalion intersect with modern life in America.

No Homework

Pygmailion

Post-Reading/Viewing Discussion Questions

1.       Most of you are planning to go to college or pursue some form of post-secondary education soon.  During or after that time, you will also be looking for a job. So consider the following questions about education and employment, two area where Eliza Doolittle originally had few or no options. Is education a right or a privilege? Who should pay for it? Is there a time when we have the right to deny education? Whose responsibility is it to place graduating students in college, careers, or training paths?

  

2.       To what extent does money equal social class in America? Can you think of anyone who has money but lacks “class”? Discuss.

  

3.       If two job candidates are equal in education and experience, is it fair to offer the job to the candidate who presents a more polished image? How is this image related to class?

4.       “Pygmalion has as its subject theme the institutions man has constructed to help perpetuate both the privileges of the rich and the servility of the poor”. What are some of the institutions in contemporary America which tend to perpetuate the rich staying rich and the poor staying poor? Language? Education? Housing? Health Care? Other? Pick at least two, and write a paragraph on how they do or do not perpetuate either wealth or poverty. (start here and continue on the back)