A Separate Peace Lesson Plan

The Purpose of Education

Kind of Activity:

Artistic Response

Objective:

Create your own manifesto about the purpose of an education

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2

Structure:

In part, A Separate Peace is about the purpose of education. Gene questions the value of "go[ing] through the motions of getting an education" when the war chips away at the peace he cares about. What's the purpose of "calmly, numbly reading Virgil," of a classical liberal arts education, when bombs are being dropped all over the world? One view, which might be suggested by Gene's decision to enlist, is that education should be oriented towards creating good citizens and good...