America works feverishly on her presentation, writing her speech and doing research and practicing and ordering a new dress (because that’s just so important.)  Oh, and keeping everything an absolute secret from everyone, including the reader.  She’s very, very insistent on how much of a secret everything is.  Because her plan is clearly just SO AWESOME and SO DARING.

Before the news program starts, she sends Mary and Ann away and asks Lucy to deliver a letter to Aspen.  She says she can’t trust the other two, but she can trust Lucy?  Because…what has Lucy ever done that’s trustworthy?  What have the other two done that’s not?  Anyway, she wants a letter sent to Aspen because she assumes she’ll be kicked out superfast after her presentation.

Man, they’re really building this thing up!  In fact, they’re trying so hard to build this up that we’re still on the set up.  We go through every moment of her getting to the stage, having people explain to her what’s about to happen, sitting around waiting for the show to start…  Okay, at the start of this, I was curiously looking forward to this, just to see what kind of “daring” she’s got.  It was a decent tactic at first.  But the book has overplayed its hand, and now I’m just bored again.

To drag things out even more, America’s presentation is last.  And of course, because the book has no concept of nuance, the other girls besides Kriss have moronic ideas.  Like…well, okay, let’s be fair.  Like the sort of stuff you’d get if you asked completely random teenagers off the street for philanthropy ideas.  A few smart teens here and there, but mostly just stuff that makes you roll your eyes.

Although that just goes back to make the selection process all the stranger.  After all, wasn’t the idea that these girls were “pre selected” and not just lotto winners?

Celeste’s proposal is for a minimum wage, with restrictions that would make it ultimately useless, which is a nice bit of showing her as weasley.  But…how is that a philanthropy project?  That’s a legislation issue.

And then America gets up and her proposal is to do away with the castes entirely.

Which, again, IS NOT FUCKING PHILANTHROPY.

WORDS: THEY MEAN THINGS.

YOU ARE TRYING TO SUGGEST AN ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGE, NOT A PHILANTHROPY PROJECT.

Well, at least she’s just grandstanding and not actually thinking this is a thing that will happen.  So I guess I can forgive that point.

No, the bigger point is her arguments.  Which, while there’s nothing wrong with most of them, are so brain-numbingly obvious that one has to wonder what the fudge is going on.  These are the kinds of things that propagandists should have already come up with answers for, because these are things that should have been constantly in question.  Unless this entire country just accepted the caste system with a shrug and never realized that it’s limiting and unfair, then her entire speech should get rubber stamped with a big red “DUH!”

And then there’s this:

I also cited an old report we had studied about the standardized testing in the public schools.  The article was slanted, stating that only three percent of Sixes and Sevens tested to elevated levels of intelligence; and since it was so low, it was clear they were intended to stay where they were.  My argument was that we ought to be ashamed that those people are stuck digging ditches when they could be performing heart surgeries.

Fuck you, book.

Fuck you twice.

Because this could be lifted straight out of present day, and that argument is BULLSHIT.  “Three percent are smart!  We should save them!  The other 97%?  Um…who cares about them?”

And this comes right on the heels of Kriss’s presentation, which is all about reforming the public school system.

Here’s a thought: MAYBE THE REASON THE SCORES ARE SO LOW IS BECAUSE SCHOOLS ARE SHIT.

THEY ARE GIVING THESE KIDS SHIT EDUCATION AND THEN JUSIFYING THE LACK OF EDUCATION BASED ON POOR TEST SCORES.

SEE ANY PROBLEM WITH THAT?

BECAUSE I DO, AND THE PROBLEM ISN’T THAT THOSE POOR 3% KIDS AREN’T GETTING SPECIAL SPARKLES.

And the fact that this is a real, current issue, and that this argument is getting presented to millions of impressionable teens by a “smart” *gag* heroine, is a serious, serious problem.

Poor performance in poor schools is a huge problem, and a lot of it is the quality of the schools, but a lot more goes into it.  The attitude and support of their culture, the expectations placed on them, the availability (or lack thereof) of extracurricular programs, the fact that so many have to work to help support their families and thus don’t have time to study, THE FACT THAT WE KEEP TELLING THEM THEY’RE STUPID AND THEY BELIEVE US.

It’s a terrible, complicated, thorny issue that’s already got enough people putting their fingers in their ears and ignoring it.  And this book wants us to ignore it some more and just save the geniuses. 

Clarkson asks her how she proposed they go about getting rid of the castes and she answers

“Oh … I don’t know.”

Because that’s all this book is.  Just grandstanding and no actual substance.  He mentions that it would be difficult, that there would be riots, and she has a chance to say something like “social change is painful but it needs to be done” and instead just says “I don’t know.”

Congratulations pointing out to us that a system we don’t even have is bad, then making no other comment on anything actually relevant.

She pulls out the diary to point to where she got her information from, and Clarkson is furious that she has it.  He starts yelling that she’s got to go home tonight, then makes a comment that makes it clear Maxon hasn’t read the diary yet.  Maxon says no one can kick her out but him and he wants her to stay, so they go off to have a little father/son “chat.”

And then before he actually leaves, Clarkson remembers to tell Natalie “oh, yeah, and rebels killed your sister, almost forgot about that.”

So Natalie of course breaks down in sobs, because who wouldn’t to have that news just dumped on you?, and all the girls leave the room.  Oh, but not before Gavril pops up to randomly tell America that Maxon must love her very much to stand up to his father like that.  Because…yeah, that’s really the important bit right now?