Dangers of Captive Audience

Dangers of a Captive Audience Teachers have a significant role in American society as they help foster essential skills and instill knowledge into their students. Excellent teachers are responsible for the success of any modern country. Teachers selflessly serve for the interests of society rather than for their own interests. Though the vast majority of teachers are dedicated and honest citizens, they are some dangerous teachers whom take advantage of their students. The students are a “captive audience” in front of these teachers and can be easily brain washed by the people whom they trust. In the classic novel Candide written by Voltaire in the 1700s, the many traps and dangers of blindly following the teachings of a “teacher” are exposed. This satirical novel helps expose the many follies today in our education system. The conformist style of student/teacher relationship that America uses today is detrimental for student independence and the right to think autonomously. The protagonist of the story is Candide, who is deeply influenced by the philosopher
Pangloss. The optimistic sentiment of all is for the best, is whole heartedly believed by both
Candide and Pangloss. Candide believes in this theory thoughtlessly even through great hardship and torment. It is an amazement to the reader of how someone could hold a belief just because his “teacher” believed in it. There were many moments where Candide could have just rejected Ganeshalingam 2 that principle but the ability of Pangloss to explain the significance and benefits of having such baseless thoughts are put to rest by his mentor. “This disease which poisons the source of generation, which often even prevents generation, and which is obviously opposed to the great purpose of nature, we would not have either chocolate or cochineal” (Voltaire 23), equates
Pangloss to his contact of syphilis for helping Columbus to discover the Americas. Being the
“captive audience” Candide is, he was easy prey for senseless deceptions by his “teacher”. A “captive audience” is an audience that is essentially prevented from escaping to think of other viewpoints and ideas by an orator and taught to think in their preferred method. Students are presently taught in a conformist style in American schools. The right to question or reject is effectively put down and everything goes accordingly to the teachers’ route. It is a one way street which encourages students to outrightedly believe every word their teachers say. It is a colossal danger to society if applied to our English or Social Science classes, which have meaningful discussions on crucial matters important to the youth community. Blindly believing every word or idea from our teachers can lead to catastrophic results. “He wants to throw himself into the sea after him; the philosopher Pangloss stops him, proving to him that the Lisbon roads had been formed expressly for this Anabaptist to be drowned in.” (Voltaire 25), writes Voltaire in which
Pangloss prevented Candide from rescuing Jacques, because he believed it was for the best. A man’s life could have been saved if they had used logic or reason instead of a belief. After all he has been through, Candide had rejected his mentor’s principle and finally followed his own. Candide rejected it for hard and practical work. With no time or leisure for Ganeshalingam 3 idle speculation, he and the other characters find the happiness that has so long eluded them.
“I also know,” said Candide, “that we must cultivate our own garden.” (Voltaire 101), indicates how Candide’s life experiences and struggles have made him to take a wise decision for the future. If we are able to take care of ourselves, society as a whole will be better explains
Candide to the others. Pangloss as a teacher has failed in his duties of as a mentor since he had taught his student to think one way. Teachers should be open minded and show many different viewpoints and let their students choose which one to follow without interfering. Teaching that the teacher’s perspective is always right is harmful and could lead to ill informed decisions by our youth. Knowing every detail before making a choice helps make a better decisions than knowing only one side. Knowledge is power. As a student, I can relate with all the ill informed decisions Candide has made. Being a
“captive audience” has led my teachers to make decisions for me, sometimes for better or other times for the worse. I strongly believe the ability to question and discuss has been crushed by this conformist style of teaching. Irrational thinking by some of our students can be mainly attributed to believing every word of our teachers is true and blindly supporting it. The most important danger in American schools faced by our students is losing the right to think. Our society as a whole will suffer if our students instead of being independent thinkers are becoming programmed humans. If America is to maintain number one in world affairs, our students should be able to think freely. Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders.

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Work Cited
Voltaire, and Donald Murdoch Frame. Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Signet Classic, 1961.