Pick a passage from Johnnie's new History and Moral Philosophy class (starting at page

175), and examine it for themes

Hayden Wilkins

The idea of knowing what the “right” answer is but not knowing why is not only a theme

for this History and Moral Philosophy class but also the first one presented at the beginning of

the book. This is a direct criticism of education systems that prioritize the consumption of facts

over the production of free thoughts. In both classes, Johnny resorts back to what he was taught

the right answer was, without really knowing why he believes that answer to be true. Major Reid

knows that this is the case for a good amount of the people fighting and tries to show these

people what they may be fighting for, instead of why what they are fighting for is right. The

decision of what is right or wrong should be decided by everyone for themselves. When

prompted if starting a war is morally acceptable no matter if there are one thousand prisoners or

only one, Johnny notes that “I knew it was the right answer. But I didn’t know why” (Heinlein,

188). He gave the Cap Troopers answer out of what seemed like a bit of panic, and I believe

that he only acknowledged it as a correct answer because Major Reid gave the thought

approval saying “Aha! The number of prisoners is irrelevant. Good”(188). I don’t believe that

Major Reid really cared what Johnny’s answer was to this moral conundrum, I think he only

wanted to see Johnny choose an answer which he believed in and see Johnny prove why he

believes it to be true. This is where Mr. Dubois would agree with Major Reid, thoughts need to

be proven true before just accepting them. Mr. Dubois’ example of this is his reaction to the

statement “violence never settles anything”(26), to which he brings up the example of

Carthage’s destruction and how that matter seemed pretty settled afterward. The answer to the

present lies in the past seemed to be the leading thought for Mr. Dubois. To sum this all up,

“One can lead a child to knowledge but one cannot make him think”(27).