Lab Activity: How much am I supposed to write to score good marks?

​"The Distinction Playbook: Strategies for Top-Tier Academic Writing"

This blog written as a lab activity assign by Head of the Department of English (MKBU), Prof. and Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. Here is the link to the professor's video for background reading: click here

This YouTube video explores the perennial student question of how much to write in exams, particularly for English studies. The presenter reviews existing literature and research, including studies on handwriting speed and automatic essay scoring, to quantify the relationship between answer length, time, and marks. While acknowledging that quality is paramount, the video ultimately provides concrete recommendations for word counts, lines, and pages based on university guidelines and a small student sample, aiming to offer a practical guide for students navigating descriptive essay examinations. However, the presenter also highlights the limitations of the research and the variability in student writing styles, suggesting further investigation is needed. 

Here I have chosen one question from Hard Times by Charles Dickens:

Question A (for 10 marks):  ‘Hard Times’ is one of the best critiques of the Education system of the Victorian times. Do you agree? 

"Hard Times’ as a Critique of Victorian Education"

Introduction:

Yes, Charles Dickens’ Hard Times (1854) is one of the sharpest critiques of the Victorian education system. Dickens attacks the mechanized, utilitarian philosophy of education that focused exclusively on facts, calculation, and rigid discipline, while ignoring imagination, creativity, and emotional development. Through his characters and settings, Dickens exposes how such an approach dehumanized children and produced adults incapable of empathy or happiness.

Critique of the Education System

1. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind as the Symbol of Fact-Obsessed Education

   * Gradgrind embodies the Victorian obsession with “facts” and measurable outcomes.

   * He trains children to suppress feelings and imagination: “Now, what I want is, Facts.”

   * His system produces emotionally stunted adults, like Louisa and Tom, who suffer in later life.

2. Coketown School and the Suppression of Creativity

   * The school is described in terms of monotony, with pupils treated like “vessels to be filled” with data.

   * Sissy Jupe, who comes from the circus (a world of imagination and feeling), struggles under this system but ultimately represents Dickens’ belief in the importance of fancy, compassion, and moral sensibility.

3. Consequences of Utilitarian Education

   * Louisa Gradgrind, trained under facts alone, finds herself incapable of emotional expression and trapped in a loveless marriage.

   * Tom Gradgrind, her brother, becomes selfish and dishonest, showing how factual education without moral grounding corrupts character.

   * Dickens demonstrates that education should not just prepare workers for factories but nurture full human beings.

4. Contrast with Humanistic Values

   * Dickens juxtaposes Gradgrind’s philosophy with the warmth of Sissy Jupe and the circus community.

   * The circus, though “irrational” in Gradgrind’s eyes, is full of love, creativity, and humanity qualities essential for a balanced life.

Conclusion

Thus, *Hard Times* is not merely a novel but a social commentary on Victorian education. Dickens critiques a system that valued industrial efficiency over imagination and emotional growth. By portraying the failures of Gradgrind’s philosophy and highlighting the importance of compassion and creativity through characters like Sissy, Dickens makes a powerful case for reform. Indeed, the novel stands as one of the finest literary critiques of the Victorian education system, urging a more humane, balanced, and imaginative approach to learning.

Question B (for 5 marks):‘Hard Times’ is one of the best critiques of the Education system of the Victorian times. Do you agree? 

‘Hard Times’ as a Critique of Victorian Education

Introduction:

Charles Dickens’ Hard Times (1854) offers one of the sharpest critiques of the Victorian education system. At a time when industrialization emphasized efficiency, calculation, and discipline, Dickens highlighted how such a narrow focus on “facts” damaged the moral and emotional development of children.

Critique of the System

1. Gradgrind’s Philosophy of Facts

   * Mr. Thomas Gradgrind symbolizes Victorian utilitarian education. His opening line, “Now, what I want is, Facts,” sets the tone for a system that crushes imagination.

   * Pupils are treated as empty vessels to be filled with data, not as individuals with feelings or creativity.

2. Consequences on the Gradgrind Children

   * Louisa, raised under this rigid system, grows up unable to express emotions and finds herself in a loveless marriage with Bounderby.

   * Tom becomes selfish, deceitful, and ultimately disgraced, showing the moral bankruptcy of fact-based learning without compassion.

3. The Alternative: Sissy Jupe and the Circus

   * Sissy, from the circus, struggles with Gradgrind’s system but embodies imagination, kindness, and humanity.

   * The circus community, dismissed as “irrational,” actually represents balance, creativity, and love qualities essential for true education.

Conclusion

Through Gradgrind’s failures and Sissy’s triumph, Dickens critiques the Victorian obsession with facts and utilitarianism. Hard Times argues for an education that balances reason with imagination, discipline with compassion, making it one of the best literary condemnations of Victorian schooling.

Reference:

1. Barad sir's video on, How much am I supposed to write to score good marks?