The kids in The Mysterious Benedict Society prove that there are a lot of different ways to be smart, and the way they all gained their particular smarts makes us wonder a little bit about more traditional forms of education. None of them, after all, has had much in the way of a typical education.
Kate got her education while on the road with a traveling circus. Reynie is more or less self-educated. Sticky, what with his photographic memory, had acquired the knowledge of two college professors and an engineer (7.43) by the time he was seven and from then on spent his days competing in quizzes and contests for prize money. And Constance? She's two, and she's been secretly living in a library, so nope—no traditional education there, either. But they're all really smart. Without going to traditional schools. What do you make of that?
Questions About Education
- All four kids pass Mr. Benedict's tests, but they often have very different ways of answering the questions and solving the problems. How are their approaches and answers different? And how does each of them wind up being correct?
- Do you think it's possible for people to gain the kind of knowledge that the MBSers have without ever attending a traditional school? Explain.
- How do you think Trenton Lee Stewart views traditional education—kids in schools taking classes with teachers in a relatively structured way? Can you find quotes from the book that support traditional schooling? What about quotes that seem to be anti-schools? Do you think Stewart is totally against school? Totally for it? Somewhere in between? Explain.
Chew on This
The Mysterious Benedict Society is absolutely anti traditional schools.
It's all well and good to point out that there are different ways to be smart, like Kate being super-agile and Constance having an iron will, but everyone should still have a basic education that includes math, science, reading, and writing.