Opinion: The World Beyond Campus Colony didn’t help the young people
The adults in the World Beyond Campus Colony did the kids a great disservice
We’ve all heard of helicopter parenting, and in the world of The Walking Dead: World Beyond the nickname for parents who coddle their kids has a whole new meaning. Instead of giving the Campus Colony youth a chance to learn about the world outside the walls from a practical standpoint, the adults opted to give them a hypothetical education that did them a great disservice.
Teaching the kids of the community about the world beyond the walls without giving them practical experience is a huge flaw of what seemed to be a very well planned community. Everyone is [was] living there as if the apocalypse wasn’t happening outside the fence.
The false sense of security was always going to be a problem, whether it was the Endlings’ lack of practical experience or if there was a breach in the Colony’s walls and empties got in. You can’t expect people who have no idea what’s happening outside to know how to react. You have to teach them using a combination of practical and hypothetical experience.
In many ways (not the least of which is excellent character development from the writers) Felix is the perfect character to be helping the kids because he understands both sides of things. Sure, he’s the head of security now but he came from a very difficult background that forced him to persevere in the face of great adversity.
Felix understands what it’s like to be on his own, and he tries to instill that in his lessons for the Campus Colony youth. Unfortunately, even the best lessons don’t offer the kind of practical experience that people need to survive in life, and certainly not in the middle of the zombie apocalypse.
He taught them well, but as we see with Iris his hypothetical lessons weren’t enough when she was faced with a real-life empty. They needed to go on a field trip beyond the walls to kill empties themselves. It’s the only way to really teach them to defend themselves because the sad truth is that the empties aren’t going anywhere and the only way to learn is to get out in front of one.
On the bright side, the Endlings do have a lot of practical education to work from, and they’re motivated enough (both by their mission and out of necessity) to make things work. There’s a good chance they will learn more in their time beyond the walls than they ever did inside of them, and that’s probably a really good thing.
dark. Next. World Beyond features all of the elements The Walking Dead fans love
World Beyond airs Sundays on AMC immediately following all-new episodes of Fear the Walking Dead.