Ryan's Fall

TV, public school and Ryan’s fall

1. Make a summary of the text TV, public school and Ryan’s fall (max. 250 ord).

The story “TV, Public school and Ryan’s fall” is a story about a teenager named Ryan. Ryan used to be a troubled teenager who was doing petty crimes and getting thrown out of all the schools he went to. One day a TV company came to him and asked if he wanted to participate in a reality TV show. In the show Ryan was send to a private boarding school called Downside which is the oldest catholic boarding school in the area. He was send there to prove that every child/teenager could be something if given the right conditions and to show the huge difference between private and public schools. He began his life at the boarding school very well. His grades went up and he started to experience success. But when the show was over Ryan felt back to his old behavior and got thrown out because he ended at the hospital after a night out drinking with his class mates. Then there is a lot of discussion about if it was ethic correct to play “god” with a teenager’s life and take him away from his natural environment. Sue Richardson who is a psychotherapist claims that there was nothing wrong with the experiment in itself but Ryan should have received additional support after the show was over so he wouldn’t fall back to his old bad behavior.

2. What did Ryan experience at Downside Catholic boarding school? Consult the text The boy on the left had no future. The one on the right is a talented star pupil.

Ryan experienced success and became more confident at the Downside Catholic boarding school due to the fact that he noticed he was good at something. This helped him evolve from a small criminal boy to a student who had control of his own life and had a purpose in life.

3. Discuss at least 2 of the following: a. “Where Ryan is now is way, way better than where he would have been had he not been involved in this.”
I personally believe that where Ryan is at now is way better than where he would have been otherwise. The fact that he got more confident and experienced success instead of defeat and noticed that he wasn’t useless was a major upside about this show. These are all great experiences and abilities for teenager’s which will affect him positive in his future life. If he had stayed in South London and continued living on the streets he would most likely still be doing petty crimes. Ryan got lifted up in the ranks of society by the television company “Pepper Productions” and they would have continued to pay for his boarding school if it wasn’t because he got thrown out. Of course there might be some downsides on the physiological part by taken him away from his family and friends. But I think they are nothing compared to the confident and hope Ryan got from this experiment. So my conclusion is that it was a very satisfying experiment which helped Ryan evolve to a better person.

b. Reality television has gone too far.
I don’t think the reality television has gone too far since this show was very helpful for Ryan. Ryan regained confident in himself and he is now a way better person than he used to be. Of course the creators of the show wanted to make profit on it but it was also a really good and educational show which taught us something about the difference between public and private schools in the UK. The show also taught us that public schools give up on to many kids that actually still have a chance to succeed. So this reality show was a very good idea and will hopefully send a signal to schools and teachers not to give up on the troubled children since they can turn out to be successful if people just give them the right conditions.

c. Ryan should make a claim against the television company for some form of child abuse. d. This kind of experiment should never have been attempted. e. The television company played God with his life.