The first thing I thought of when I began reading the bulk of this book and got passed all of the nonsense b.s. that was all leading up the the actual beginning of the story, was how much this society reminded me of high school. Yes, we are on our way out now, but everything you turn a computer on you are being watched. Certain information, however useless and unimportant it may be, is continually being blocked more and more every single day. All records from every computer within the school district can be looked at 24 hrs. a day by the "head honchos" and "computer techies." Yes, while we may be still under the age of 18 (some of us anyways) whose right is it to decide what we can and can't look at on the computers. Also, such things that have nothing to do with technology whatsoever (i.e. bathroom priveleges). I'm sorry, but when I have to "use the facilities" no one is going to stop me. It is my right to as a human to be able to do so. I don't have to ask anyone to carry on this completely natural process. Also, standardized testing came up in my mind the more I thought about this. By using standardized testing, you make us, just like the people in 1984, a stampede of faceless numbers. No personality, no humanity. The main thing I LOVED about the first part of the book was how much it actually did make us think about the everyday rights in our lives that we are just willing to give up because some faceless person somewhere wants it that way. I say, "DOWN WITH THE MAN!"
Boo Ya!