Response to "The School"

After reading "The School" by Donald Barthelme for the first time I really didn't know what to think.  The story is a little confusing because there are some many questions that could be asked.

The story is basically tells of a class that adopts many forms of life, from plants, to animals, to children in foreign countries.  The common theme between all of them is that they all die, no matter how the class cares for them.

As a reader I find this subject to be very strange.  I don't understand why someone would write about a class of students who keep failing at their goals.  School is supposed to be a place where students are educated, whether it be in math, english, art, etc...  I guess in a way the students are learning to take on responsibility and to keep trying.  The fact that they take on so many projects is admirable and even when the last project fails they waste no time finding another one to work on.

Despite the strong theme of death, there is life in the story.  Towards the end of the story the students ask a thought provoking question about life.  After the question they beg the teacher to "make love" with the assistant.  This embrace seems to bring the students to life.  Perhaps seeing that love truly exists made them happy.

One aspect of the story that I pondered about was what age the children are.  I first thought that they were young, maybe fourth to sixth grade.  All of the animals they adopt led me to that conclusion.  However when I got towards the end of the story and the students asked the question "is death that which gives meaning to life" I reconsidered my first guess.  Would students that young really be able to understand and formulate that question?  I honestly don't think so.  That kind of thinking is quite mature and would take a lot of life experience to understand.