In Defense Of SF As A High School Elective Analysis

In Defense of SF as a High School Elective High School is the educational backbone of what will create our society at large. What studies are necessary in order to create a functioning and prosperous society? Clearly, there is an emphasis on STEAM related fields, since those lead to well paying work opportunities, but we should not forget the value of critical thinking. There is no better way to enforce our STEAM educational goals than with introducing SF as an elective for students to take in conjunction with their studies. SF has the unique opportunity of entertaining through fiction, but also lends scientific insights which will reinforce the learning of students. In order to make my case I will depict three stories that are popular in …show more content…
I foresee value in having SF taught as an elective in High School, but wish to extend an olive branch by presenting a well written story that may not be accepted by the school guidelines. “Speech Sounds” by Octavia Butler, presents a story of a breakdown of humans ability to communicate because of a large disease. The tale focuses on a heroine attempting to reach her home in Pasadena while living a dangerous world. In this world, a Pandemic has taken away people 's ability to communicate through speech or removes their ability to read. The heroine meets with a man, and they travel in a car towards the heroines destination, but meet with assailants. A scuffle ensues that kills both the man and the assailant. Afterwards the woman considers to bitterly abandon the assailants children, in retribution for the death of her traveling companion. However, she walks towards the children and they yell at her to go away. The children have been unaffected by the pandemic and the heroine decides to adopt these children. This represents a sort of miracle in a world that has collapsed due to a pandemic. The story emphasizes the value of the symbols we use to communicate with each other. Additionally, it brings up a moral scenario in which the reader could imagine what they would personally do in a similar situation. Which is a type of risk management skill that is important in a resource scarce society. The issue teaching the story is that it involves sex scenes and violence which could be difficult to justify depending on the curriculum standards. That shouldn’t entirely deter from the fact that the value and themes within the story are important to consider within our time. Which, focus on the value of protecting the young from physical danger and the rebuilding communities in conflict prone