02-07-2013, 08:22 AM | #61 |
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I don't connect a government mandate and well-read.
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02-07-2013, 08:33 AM | #62 | |
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02-07-2013, 08:38 AM | #63 |
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02-07-2013, 10:52 AM | #64 |
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My interaction with 15-year olds is pretty limited, but I don't think they are talking much about low riders. I've rarely even seen a low rider. 15 year olds are talking about TV, movies, anime, fashion, gossip, sports, more or less the same things they have always talked about. I don't know if they talk much about Harry Potter these days, but books do occupy at least some of their time. They probably aren't spending their time talking about the classics, but then again, adults don't either. They will talk about whatever book is trendy - it's much easier to find someone to talk to when you're talking about the book that everyone is talking about.
About the only time I'm around 15 year olds much is when I'm at a science fiction convention. They seem to spend their time in the gaming room or the anime room. Or checking out other 15 year olds. |
02-07-2013, 12:35 PM | #65 |
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With regard to reading English language classics, I'm extremely "underread", but I have read stuff that quite some people don't know of or don't consider classics, but are considered classics in other countries.
Think about Musashi (Yuoshikawa, Japan), The Go Master (Kawabata, Japan/China), Max Havelaar (Multatuli, Netherlands), De Stille Kracht (Couperus, Netherlands).... I could go on for some time. |
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02-07-2013, 12:43 PM | #66 |
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Apparently, I'm "sort of well read" - 8 read, 9 partly, many unheard of - particularly missing out on the poems.
The novels and plays on the list are quite international, it's less American-focussed than I expected. I would think 10th graders also read just bits of the classics, as we did decades ago. There wouldn't be time for the whole Odyssey. I wouldn't be so negative about 15 year olds, though. There are quite a few who like reading (mostly girls). The last one I met was copying a bunch of my ebooks ... which doesn't mean they're not interested in games and gossip, of course. |
02-07-2013, 12:54 PM | #67 |
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I think having a 15-jear old read Shakespeare or Homer (or even classics) should be classified as torture.
In my opinion, these books scare more people away from reading than they attract. Most children will not appreciate books like these, and many don't have the patience to finish them. Possibly it would be better to let them read what they want, even Forgotten Realms Fantasy if they want to. (Mostly, these books are around 200-300 pages, and are very easy reads, with a few exceptions.) Get them to be readers, and they will arrive at the classics some time later as a (young) adult, if they want to. And if they don't want to, that's fine too. Reading should be fun, and a pastime, not another chance to obtain bragging rights for having read $random-old-classic-of-1200-pages at age 15. Edit: I see JSWolf actually days the same some posts higher up. Last edited by Katsunami; 02-07-2013 at 01:14 PM. |
02-07-2013, 01:09 PM | #68 | |
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The trick to introducing kids to Shakespeare is to let them see it performed, not just reading the script. I tutored a very reluctant kid who was being partially home-schooled, and when it came time to do Romeo and Juliette, I had him watch a couple of the versions that we have, and he was able to get into R&J much easier than just reading it as his classmates had to do. |
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02-07-2013, 01:18 PM | #69 |
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My Dutch teacher said something like: "Don't let me catch you reading a movie."
Obviously he meant you should read the book, not just see the movie. And yes, he would give you a low mark if he noticed you didn't read the book, read only summaries or only watched the movie. |
02-07-2013, 01:34 PM | #70 | |
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For Shakespeare we read it aloud with different people reading different parts which I think made it easier to tackle at that age. Sometimes we watched Shakespeare as a movie/performance first. I remember it not as torture, but as enjoyable. |
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02-07-2013, 04:46 PM | #71 | |
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I'd fully agree that forcing kids to read never ads to enjoying books. But good teaching can help them discover things they 'd never find and appreciate otherwise. |
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02-07-2013, 04:58 PM | #72 |
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I remember in the 9th grade, we read Julius Caesar, with each person reading a section at a time out loud. If the goal of the class was to make people hate reading in general, and to hate Shakespeare in particular, it would have quite effectively met this goal. I had no problem reading it, but others in the class struggled mightily, particularly with reading out loud.
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02-07-2013, 07:01 PM | #73 |
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I hated Shakespeare. I thought it was heavy, the words where just awful and then on top of that all the dissecting that the teachers made us do. It just wasn't fun.
The way I look at it, English class is turning a lot of would-be readers in;t won't-be readers. I was a reader before English class. So that never put me off reading. What it did put me off was reading "classics". To this day, I find a lot of classics to be overblown and not modern enough for kids of today. |
02-07-2013, 07:19 PM | #74 | |
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That sort of stuff is too difficult for most people of that age, and they're not even interested in it. Who wants to struggle with old versions of languages, when even the modern versions are giving you enough problems; when even your native language (modern version) is hard for you? Who wants to read a 500 page long classic in old English (such as Canterbury Tales) when you're having difficulty with an early 20th century rendition of your native language (in this case, Dutch)? No one. If you like to read stuff like this at 14/15, good for you. Still, you're the exception to the rule. And is Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, often quoted as *THE* book of the 20th century, required reading, nowadays? I don't mean that you're allowed to read it for your literature list: I mean required to read, fail-your-exam-if-you-don't, like "A Midsummer night's dream", "Macbeth" and "Canterbury Tales" were for me. (Among others.) If it isn't, why not? Last edited by Katsunami; 02-07-2013 at 07:47 PM. |
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02-07-2013, 07:39 PM | #75 |
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Me too (hence my degree in classical philology). I loved reading Boccaccio and Petrarca in high school as well. Reading Shakespeare was also great fun.
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