What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly that is the first law of nature. * Voltaire What does this quote mean? It means tolerance is a part of human life; it is a part of who we are, our humanity. We all have it.
It forms us. So let us get on with our lives and stop being prejudice against each other if you cannot accept yourself for who you are, don’t judge.That is the law of humanity. The text ‘To Sir with Love’ is a brilliant story of an untrained black man, who becomes a teacher at a mostly white school, with quite a reputation for a disregard for the rules. He uses his knowledge of the real world to get this bunch of disruptive kids ready for what they will have to face in just a few short months.
Tolerance shown in this text is not subtle in any way, shape or form. ‘Another lamb for slaughter… or should I say black sheep? is one very crude example of intolerance but also of tolerance by the fact that Braithwaite can ignore is verbal abuse and continue on the conversation by tolerating the judgement by his new co-worker. The examples of prejudice don’t come lightly, very overt, direct, and confrontational. ‘ …to mislead our sunburnt friend with so innocent a remark.
’ And though the story is about Braithwaite’s journey, there is another, who shows high tolerance, more than even Braithwaite perhaps, and that is the students. Many of these families is quite insufficient to provide for them…… as a result meals are irregular and of poor quality’ these children tolerate the misfortune the have fallen upon them, can tolerate not having food all the time, not having a bed to sleep in and in some cases parents who do not acknowledge them in anyway. That is true tolerance. This book I believe should be on the mandatory reading list for all year 10 students as it so helpfully depicts the examples of tolerance, intolerance and prejudice, which is our focus of this topic.It gives a beautiful insight into the times of overt racism, and shows how much better society is. Some may say that this book is hard to read the language in particular, but I say it’s exactly how they used to use the language, it broadens our articulating skills and our sense of imagination is heightened as we have to think about what each word means.
Although this book may not be someone’s first choice, once you start you want to see where it leads, what happens, you want to see if the kids can overcome their disruptiveness, you want to see ifBraithwaite stops getting abuse and racist remarks, you want to see how his life pans out. It’s like being drawn in, like a bee to honey. You can’t put it down. I believe it should be on the mandatory reading list as it conveys a strong message to students reading it and is extremely relevant to the topic of tolerance.
The only hope of preserving what is best, lies in the practice of an immense charity, a wide tolerance, a sincere respect for opinions that are not ours. * Philip Gilbert Hamerton
