Combines

Big Nurse's reign can be compared to a combine. She tries to emasculate the patients and "harvest" them under her rule and keep them at equal heights like grain in a field. McMurphy has not yet fallen under the spell of Big Nurse, but he stands out in the ward, like a tall grain that was missed by the combine, and can still be harvested. He is just a stubborn man who will not fall under Big Nurse's ways, but he will eventually have to give up. Big Nurse is relentless in having order, and she will continue to use her tactics as a combine to harvest all of the patients, even the stubborn outlier McMurphy.

I do not believe that every institution is a combine. Our school encourages creativity and individualism, which is not like a combine's harvest. We are like grains of a different height, some excel and some do not, and no one is cut down and harvested if they grow too much. However, correctional institutions are more like combines, as they need to keep order and unity for it to function properly. There are many cases that are similar to the Ward, but not all institutions fall into the same category as a combine.

Our school's like a pirson, I swear.

I feel that our school administration has some weird rules that seem unnecassary to the students, just how Big Nurse's rules seem to the patients at the ward. Both create rules and belittle the members of the establishment. One rule that the school implies is the late policy. This applies to both homeroom, and making it to class on time. i get a ride from my brother who is often late, and I do not like suffering consequences because of him. The more annoying one, is the late to class rule that some teachers stand by strictly. 4 minutes is not enough time to make it across this giant school of ours, and with traffic it makes it even worse. The worst part is, that they never accept any excuse, and humiliate us in front of the class and throw punishments at us despite us trying to get to class on time. This is similar to Big Nurse's emasculation of the ward members.

Another pointless rules is the no electronic policy. I understand that you can't text in class, as that disracts you from learning. i feel that you should be allowed to text your parents something about ride arrangements or whatever in the halls or during lunch. Not being allowed to text during lunch doesn't really make sense to me, as we aren't learning anything during this time. They assume that we are having conversations with students, but that is not always the case, and even if it were true they would catch the person texting in class. This would remove many problems that we have with the no cell phone policy if they let us text in the halls, bathroom, or cafeteria. This is another way of the administration belittleing us like the Big Nurse.

Aside from silly rules, just the way our school is set up is like a ward. We follow a strict routine just like them. When I read the book i often envision the hallways to look like one of ours. The routine is a way of keeping all of us in line. I am not saying that this aspect of school is bad, as it in necessary. I just find it interesting that our school and the ward hold so many similarities.  I just think the school should be a little more lenient on its policies, we are treated like small children or mental patients, where in most societies we would be considered adults. Our school is on top of its disciplinary system, and the computers can track down any kid skipping a class. That is why I feel that our school is similar to the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

whatchu know about yo brain?

The human brain is a never ending mystery. The rest of the body has all of its functions recorded by scientists, but the control center, the brain, is far too complicated. This is why many mental illness cannot be cured, or even fully understood. Medicine can do very little to help the brain. symptoms may be treated, but cures are not found found for mental illness.

Scientists have the brain mapped out, and all of the chemicals that cause our thoughts, feelings and emotions. I have learned from health class and biology that the human brain is too delicate to mess with. drugs that were made for mental health issues become illegal, such as LSD and Ecstasy. This is because tampering with the brains chemicals can cause devastating side affects. We learned all about that after watching The Lobotomist, and learned about how lobotomies are dangerous.

Many strives have been made in brain medicine. Brain surgeons are extremeley adept and skilled due to the delacacy of the brain. The functions and areas of the brain are all understood but it is difficult to use them to our advantage. The brain is far more complex that the rest of the human body. I hope that people continue to work on and learn more about the brain to help mentally ill patients as well as other ailments to the brain.