Many parents and students seek out private schools like Hawken not only for their superb education but also to become members of a refined and elite community. Indeed, they are willing to spend thousands of dollars of their hard-earned income to do so. Some people may even be tempted to think of Hawken as a kind of Utopian school, better than ordinary schools that most other students must attend.
But are such aspirations to Utopia merited? Are there elements of the Hawken experience that fit the model of Utopia -- and are there elements that fall short? According to the standards of More's Utopia, is it a Utopia?
Hawken as a space and how it is managed can be considered a utopia in some perspectives, however, there are many outside factors that do not allow it to be. Overall, Hawken, for the most part, does a good job trying to be very inclusive and have very different ways of approaching managing a school system. They organize their environment in a way that is beneficial to the students and faculty. They have books everywhere for students to use, even though no one uses them. They have many different quiet places to study, allowing students to get their work done without distractions. When you have to talk to a teacher about work, they have offices organized by subjects, so you know where to find them. There are many different resources all around campus to help you find, discover, and prepare for your career of choice, and they give you many second chances to fix things, whether it be work or behavioral. However, Hawken cannot be considered a utopian society because it cannot operate like one. Many different people whether they be students or faculty come from different societies, different backgrounds, and most importantly, from our society now, which is not utopian. In a school system, you cannot monitor people's behavior to certain very specific ideals, like a utopia can be and there is no way to only accept people that meet these standards because not alot of people would be able to attend or they could make a false impression. Now if it were a confined space without influences from outside society like a boarding school and ingrained certain utopian like ideals into the students, then that may be more successful than what we have now, but now, there is just to many outside factors that would not allow this.
ReplyDeleteIn the Book Utopia by Thomas More we see his example of perfect Utopia. I think this is at conflict with the type of institution Hawken is. Although in some ways Hawken is a Utopia. For example, Hawken is a place of religious acceptance, such as shown in the many different affinity groups. While it’s not the same way as in Utopia which is more a place of religious tolernace as compared to completely accepting different ones. In hawken you also see the value of knowledge for most people. Books and other reading is prioritised over other things. In my eyes though, that’s about where it all ends. If we go to private property than we see as each member of Hawken has they’re own private items. Most people here have some sort of pack, a computer, and whatever else they bring with themselves that’s considered private property. I think there’s not huge disparity between social strata unlike with More’s Utopia. In the book we see as there’s two main classes that we can define as the elite, and just generic laboreros. While for sure there’s clique’s and some people are more popular than others it’s not like one group is so, much more popular than the others. Not only that but the classes in utopia also have different amounts of power. This isn’t true when it comes to Hawken. While you have teacher who are more powerful than students, this isn’t preassigned, anyone can become a teacher with another work and study in theory.
ReplyDeleteTo consider Hawken as a Utopian society it is a must to have a concrete definition of what a Utopian society looks like. The author of Utopia, Thomas Moore provides a depiction of a Utopian society as people are provided equal stability and equal resources from the world order. Thus providing equality for everyone in the society. This is shown in the novel as people are provided with equal-sized properties, free education, elimination of social classes, and uniformity. Even though Hawken may possess traits of a utopian society this doesn’t inherently make Hawken or other private schools a Utopia. Next, an element of a Utopian society that is evident throughout Hawken is shown through the idea of fair play as Hawken tries very hard for the inclusivity of everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, and age within the community which is key for the functionality of the school. Under fair play, everyone in the Hawken community is expected to respect peers through the importance of one’s character which Hawken tries to build. This is an aspect of a Utopian society since it sets an equal president to the people present throughout the community and that is often not found outside of the community/campus. However, for Hawken to be a Utopian society there can never be any violations of Hawken’s fair play as that would be a violation of an ideal world. This isn’t the case in reality as violations of fair play shown throughout Hawken consist of students and or facility members breaking the fair play motto. Lastly, the Hawken community has ideologies of a Utopian society but that doesn’t mean they operate or function as a Utopia.
ReplyDeleteIn More’s Utopia, he depicts an ideal world, a utopia, but in today’s view, it is not as perfect as it seems. Today, people strive to find utopias in places such as in their education, and that drives some people, the people who can afford it, to send their children to Hawken, a school seen as high quality and a utopia in its own right. But these ideals at Hawken, and the ideals in Utopia, are much much different, leading Hawken to not be a utopia if we view it through More’s eyes. First off, Hawken is not as accessible or inclusive as the utopia More presents. While Hawken likes to say they can provide so much financial aid and everyone can get an education, it still can’t deny that it’s a school for rich kids. I’ve known some people who have had to leave Hawken because they couldn’t afford it, and I almost had to do that. While they provide great financial aid, it’s still not as great as they make it out to be as some families who send their kids to Hawken need to live paycheck to paycheck just to ensure everyone has a good education. Also, Hawken does not have a uniform or have people who all live in the same houses, causing a big social disparity to be evident when you watch people. You can tell those that are of upper class from those that are not. People could shop at Heinen’s or Whole Foods or Costco and have a bag from their, they could be wearing lululemon, show up in their tesla’s, complain about the food because it’s not made by their private chef at home even though it tastes really good, say that 200 dollars is not a lot of money, constantly talk about investing in the stock market, have parents who are CEO’s and say such. I could go on and on about all the things that scream Hawken is a rich kid school besides just the price to attend. All of these things definitely are not in line with More’s idea of a utopia as those people all wear the same clothes, there are no private possessions, and there are no classes or social disparities. However, parts of Hawken are in line with More’s ideals. Hawken prioritizes education and the pursuit of knowledge, and that can be found in every aspect of the teaching. Hawken’s travel rules are even the same where you have to be granted special permission to park, leave school early, etc. While the social disparities are definitely not utopian in More’s eyes, Hawken doesn’t fail to be a utopia altogether.
ReplyDeleteIs Hawken a utopian society? Well we have a beautiful campus, many clubs and affinity groups that the students are allowed to create and participate in, classes covering many topics and studios for students who want to learn something that isn't offered. There is a variety of fresh new food served every day and a multitude of athletic, theatrical, art, musical, and many more programs that the students are even encouraged to participate in. The students have choice and control over their classes and education, and plenty of resources to help them be successful so, why shouldn’t it be? The students here are safe, supported, and provided with many ways to be successful, so what is wrong with that? These key features and many more make Hawken an ideal place for parents to send their children, but the issue resides in the fact that not everyone can. Hawken is a selective school and only a certain number of applicants are accepted each year in order for Hawken to be able to maintain the environment that they have cultivated for their students. Even if someone is able to get accepted into Hawken, there is still an expensive tuition. Now, Hawken does provide financial aid for some who need it but, there is still a limited amount of money that they are able to spend and even with support, the fees to attend school here are still unsustainable for some families. These restrictions on access to our school are what separates Hawken from a utopia. Hawken wouldn’t be able to provide the same great environment without their regulations and restrictions, but that still doesn't change the fact that a utopia is an ideal society for all, and the exclusiveness of Hawken prohibits it from being identified as a utopia.
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