I never meant to imply that Calvin is a great person or good company. I was saying that his problems with school and being social aren’t caused by any inherent flaw in Calvin. Like with so many people, it’s a matter of growing up and figuring out the “why”s for himself. He can learn something useful from school, but as I said, that’s something that’s not yet apparent to him. (It may have been apparent to you, since you say you wanted to learn it. I was also eager to learn through my first few years of school; there was so much I wanted to be able to do. If I hadn’t had outside motivations though, I would have hated being “forced” to learn.) The same principle applies to his social life: He alienates himself because he can’t understand other people (he’s not properly objective yet). Neither of these make him irredeemable.
Johanan Rakkav, I don’t know how many Calvin and Hobbes strips you’re read, but I think you misinterpret Calvin as a character. He does not “choose to be ignorant,” nor is he intentionally antisocial.
He hates school not because of some hate of learning, but because of the arbitrary structure. He is shown to be highly intelligent but very unmotivated. Instead of grappling problems that he doesn’t see uses for yet (math, etc) he spends his time thinking about the philosophies that apply directly to his life and decision making process. His teachers could have him working his butt off on math if they taught him through subjects he enjoys (rocket/space travel story problems).
As for the social side of school, he doesn’t appear social because he doesn’t relate to people around him. That’s not the same as not wanting to make friends. To him (and myself) sacrificing one’s own interests to be social doesn’t make sense (see the storyline about baseball). Calvin thinks independently far more than most people (adults included), so of course he doesn’t know how to relate to people who don’t. He never seems to be able to quite understand Moe, for example, because Moe seems completely devoid of morals. While Calvin, on the other, hand, obsesses over morals. His only friend in school is Susan, who is apparently the best student in their class. He is still a little kid and unable to relate to her (expect through teasing), but he likes her because she is such an avid thinker and learner. The main difference in their attitudes is only that Calvin wants to learn only what he wants to learn, while Susan just wants to learn anything she can.
I never meant to imply that Calvin is a great person or good company. I was saying that his problems with school and being social aren’t caused by any inherent flaw in Calvin. Like with so many people, it’s a matter of growing up and figuring out the “why”s for himself. He can learn something useful from school, but as I said, that’s something that’s not yet apparent to him. (It may have been apparent to you, since you say you wanted to learn it. I was also eager to learn through my first few years of school; there was so much I wanted to be able to do. If I hadn’t had outside motivations though, I would have hated being “forced” to learn.) The same principle applies to his social life: He alienates himself because he can’t understand other people (he’s not properly objective yet). Neither of these make him irredeemable.