Using Orwell as a model, imagine and describe a dystopic world where education is illegal.

 

August 10, 2025

Week 12

Journal begins August 3, 2025. 2:45 p.m.

 

Imagine a world where information is seen as the most dangerous weapon of all because it threatens the total control of the government. Because this society is based on the oppressive world of 1984 by George Orwell, schooling is illegal. Library doors have been locked with steel, there are no longer any schools, and the "Ministry of Purity" closely watches what is written.

Kids are taught to follow rules, not to ask questions. They are only taught the "approved truths," which are carefully crafted lies that are shown again on huge screens in public places. It is illegal to read anything but official government publications. This is called "Mind Treason," and people who do it can spend years working in camps.

During weekly "Cleansings," which are shown live to remind people that being curious is a form of rebellion, books are taken away and burned. Secret learning circles, which are small, secret get-togethers that happen in basements or old buildings, risk everything to teach reading and writing. Lessons are whispered in the dark or scratched into the ground because paper and pens are hard to come by. When guards come by, the lessons are quickly erased.

It is possible, but every device is hardwired to only stream material that has been approved by the government. Words that aren't allowed are found by algorithms and talking about past the way it really happened is illegal and is called "recollection." The regime is most afraid of ideas, not weapons, because ideas can lead to opposition. In this world, the very act of seeking knowledge is the most radical form of defiance.

 

 

Journal ends August 10, 2025. 4:23 p.m.