Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin8or
I'd like to hear your opinions on this one: Shakespeare in high school. Elizabethan English for teenagers? It wasn't so bad for me in college, but I think high school is too early. I wonder if I'll never love Shakespeare because it was forced upon me too soon.
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I'm very sceptical about deciding things like that by age. I loved Shakespeare by the time I was 15. Not everybody does.
There is a very big problem about set books. If you give children something that is too difficult for the majority, it may put them off. If you give them something considered easy for the age group, it may bore some of the more advanced ones to screaming point.
I'm not sure what the solution is. When I was teaching maths to grades 10 and 11, I used to divide my class into sections. The majority would work on the syllabus for their age group and the more advanced ones would do more advanced work. By the end of grade 11 the majority would sit a public exam (GCE O-level in those days) and the advanced ones would already have passed it and would instead take an extra subject, Additional Maths. This set them up to do one or two maths subjects at advanced level in grades 12 and 13.
I don't know how difficult it would be to do the equivalent in English Literature.