preview

Analysis Of Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz

Decent Essays

In Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a tornado rips Dorothy from her home in Kansas and drops her in the Land of Oz. To get home, she must seek answers from the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City. In similar fashion, Mississippi has been caught in the grips of a tornado that has left both public school educators and state legislators looking for answers to the state’s education problems. Unfortunately, many legislators seem to be more interested in taking on the role of a vengeful wicked witch than truly finding answers. While state educators are steadily inching their way along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, state legislators have lost themselves in their own self-proclaimed righteousness, contentious leadership, and omniscient swagger. Unlike Dorothy who is directed by the Good Witch and the Munchins to the yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City, most Mississippi legislators have bought into their own eminence and chosen to find their way on their own. As a result, they are so far off the yellow brick road that they are forever lost in the land of the Munchkins. These legislators, primarily Republicans, talk big about improving education in the state, but they are actually more like little Munchins floundering behind giant lilies, towering sunflowers, and tall weeds. They cannot see beyond party politics, pettiness, shallowness, and personal biases to get the job done. Instead of waging a war to improve public school

Get Access