Reflection on Ender's Game

Read Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card. With reference to events in the novel, reflect on how high ability children should best contribute to their community. (350-450 words)

I think children with high ability should contribute according to the need of the larger community and according to their abilities. "High abilities" in this case means to be intellectually gifted. They should put in effort for their education but also participate in social activities that will benefit the society, the larger community in this case.

Children should work hard on their studies so they can better contribute to the society when they join the workforce. In the current meritocratic world, even the government has given out scholarships to the top students who in turn will contribute greatly to the society when they grow up. These contributions can come in ways such as to ameliorate the living standards of human and donating large sums to charity. In Ender's games, Ender and other children are chosen by the Battle School because they were gifted and thus had to undergo harsh trainings to prepare for the task of saving the humankind from the third invasion of the Buggers. In this case, the survival of the entire species was what the children has to contribute towards. In both cases, the children are contributing towards the society through developing their capabilities for the betterment of the future society.

However, they should not be overwhelmed by studying and should still be able to develop their morals and enhance their social skills. Thus, i think the gifted children should also participate in social activities such as volunteering. When the children are helping the needy, important messages are sent to them, for example, the need to be responsible and kind. Moreover, socializing allows us feel connected to one another. Thus, this will instill a sense of belonging in members of the community, which is largely beneficial. When Ender became a commander, he had to cultivate a sense of belonging within the troops, so they can collaborate and cooperate better and thus increasing the efficiency of trainings. This leads to another point. While participating in social activities, the children would have to start working with others in order to improve their productivity. Working as a team will allow them to bring a better experience to the needy when volunteering and this experience will also allow them to cooperate well with others when they start working as adults and thus contribute better to the society. In Ender's game, he had to battle the buggers which in a situation of which the enemy outnumbered him almost by a thousand to one. However, with the teamwork between him and his squadron leaders, they managed to win the battle. Thus, children with high abilities and also social skills and the right morals will be able to contribute the most to the community.