Accepted - Challenge to Traditional Educational Norms
Dr. Alexander:
So, is that it Mr. Gaines? You have one teacher for upwards of 300 students?
Dr. Alexander:
Mr. Gaines! Answer the question!
Bartleby:
Nah, I'm not gonna answer your question, cause you guys have already made up your minds. I'm an expert in rejection, and I can see it on your faces. And it's too bad that you judge us by the way we look, and not by who we are. Just because you want us to be more like them, when the truth is, we're not like them, and I am damn proud of that fact! Harmon College, and their 100 years of tradition, but tradition of what? Of hazing kids, and humiliating anyone who's a little bit different? Or putting so much pressure on kids that they become these stress freaks and caffeine addicts?
Dean Van Horne:
Your phony school demeans real colleges everywhere!
Bartleby:
Why? Why can't we both exist? Huh? You can have your grades, and your rules, and your structure and your ivory towers, and then we'll do things our way. Why do we have to conform to what you want?
Dean Van Horne:
Your curriculum is a joke, and you sir, are a criminal.
Bartleby:
You know what? You're a criminal, because you rob these kids of their creativity and their passion, that's the real crime! What about you parents? Did the system really work out for you? Did it teach you to follow your heart, or play it safe, roll over? What about you guys? Did you always want to be school administrators? Dr. Alexander, was that your dream? Or maybe no, maybe you wanted to be a poet. Maybe you wanted to be a magician, or an artist. Maybe you just wanted to travel the world. Look, I lied to you, I lied to all of you and I'm sorry, Dad, especially you. But out of that desperation, something happened that was so amazing. It was full of possibilities, and isn't that what you ultimately want for us as parents? I mean... it's that. It's possibilities. Well, we came here today to get your approval and something just occurred to me. I don't give a shit. Who cares about your approval?! We don't need your approval to tell us that what we did was real. Because there are so few truths in this world, that when you see one, you know it, and I know that it's a truth that real learning took place at South Harmon. Whether you like it or not, it did. Because you don't need teachers or classrooms or fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn, you just need people with a desire to better themselves, and we got that by the shitload at South Harmon! So you can go ahead. Sign your forms. Reject us, and shoot us down, do whatever you gotta do. It doesn't really matter at this point, because we'll never stop learning and well never stop growing and we'll never forget the ideals that were instilled in us at our place! Because we're S.H.I.T. Heads now, and we'll be S.H.I.T. Heads forever, and nothing you can say or do or stamp can take that away from us, so go!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.