Examine how Dickens introduces the stifling conditions of the educational system through this novel Hard Times.

The educational system is presented in Hard Times as narrow and uninspiring, based upon nothing more than the dissemination of facts. In the dull, deadening curriculum delivered to the letter by Mr. Gradgrind there is no room for imagination or creative thinking. What he wants are facts, and plenty of them. Dickens paints a suitably grim picture of formal education that is thoroughly utilitarian, that is to say concerned with nothing more than producing a particular end product. Children are expected to grow up very quickly in this society, and must soon take their place in the cut and thrust world of work. To that end, they need learn nothing more than facts, facts, and more facts.
But in the character of Sissy Jupe we have an alternative to the Gradgrindian method of teaching. Through her life in the circus, she's come to know lots of things. She may not be able to give the kind of precise definition of a horse that Mr. Gradgrind demands, but due to her vast experience she still knows much more about horses than he ever will. Sissy shows us the value of education through doing, not just learning in a formal classroom environment. It is somewhat ironic that Gradgrind's unimaginative curriculum is supposed to prepare children more effectively for the world of work, and yet Sissy Jupe's practical experience of that world has already given her an education that she couldn't get in any school.