Quote:
Originally Posted by snipenekkid
reading and analyzing classic literature teaches things beyond basic reading skills. There is realizing when you don't understand a word or phrase it's OK to look up the meanings, it teaches abstract analysis, the idea that everything is open to interpretation so almost all opinions about a work are valid, it teaches one how to defend your interpretation of whatever is being studied but also how to accept you might be wrong. It also instills the ability to discuss often controversial ideas in a mature calm manner. All of these things are pretty much completely absent from todays K-12 educational system in the US. Just look at what are the most viewed shows of daytime and late night TV.
Using a graphic novel to introduce the idea is fine as a start. If the course then proceeds to more advanced versions of the same work, great. But if that is not the case then the instructor needs to be shipped out to teach Phys. Ed. Oh, wait many schools no longer offer that, cool, then I guess that instructor is out of a job. That way everybody wins.
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That's what I was trying to say, only I did not do it near as well. Reading say Romeo and Juliet is not about learning what it was about; who the characters are and what happens to them. Sure one could learn that just as well from a film, or as someone suggested, Cliff Notes. It is about becoming a better reader, expanding vocabulary, and learning to understand all the nuances.