10-03-2012, 07:48 PM | #46 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 27,547
Karma: 193191846
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD
|
Sorry, but I'm going to have to bail after this. We're all talking about different things: different age groups, different goals, different concepts/philosophies and misunderstanding each other left and right in the process.
All I'm saying is that while I think an "inspire kids to love reading books" class would be a wonderful thing ... I think that A) "High School" (from the title of the OP's original article) is much, much too late for such a class. And B) Such a class would have to be completely independent of any English/Literature classes. Mainly because an "I Love to Read Books" class wouldn't really be of much help to someone who might be contemplating stepping up to college-level English/Literature classes in a couple of years. And C) any class that was specifically geared toward attempting to inspire a love of reading in 13-18 year-olds would quickly become the Easy [X number of credits] Class. A blow off. |
10-03-2012, 08:15 PM | #47 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,032
Karma: 39379388
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: near Philadelphia USA
Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)
|
Quote:
Yep. I read novels hidden under the desk while teachers lectured. It is up to the individual what if anything they want to read. What child A loves child B may hate. And I'm not sure there is any moral superiority associated with preferring books to films. As far as I am concerned, school fiction reading assignments are only of value for fodder in teaching writing. The case is made outstandingly here: The Writing Revolution |
|
10-03-2012, 08:34 PM | #48 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,145
Karma: 11174187
Join Date: Jan 2011
Device: Sony 350, K3-3G, K4SO, KPW
|
I have always loved reading. My problem with high school and college lit classes is that every damn book we had to read was *depressing*. I don't mind deep but I've always struggled with depression anyway, and lit classes were definitely slit your wrist after reading stuff. Surely there are one or two good books of literature that end well?
|
10-03-2012, 08:52 PM | #49 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,032
Karma: 39379388
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: near Philadelphia USA
Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)
|
Quote:
Most books by Anthony Trollope end happily. His greatest best-seller was Framley Parsonage. To start with something short, and not part of a series, try Rachel Ray. She does not become a TV star in the last chapter, but there's a happy ending nonetheless Maybe someone should start a thread on your question. |
|
10-03-2012, 08:53 PM | #50 | |
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Posts: 1,212
Karma: 6244877
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Coastal Texas
Device: Android Phone
|
Quote:
It takes a very long time to get over having to try to skim a book and still be able to recall such pointless details as the fact that Cosette in Les Miserables was dressing up a lead sword like it was a doll. My dad was particularly nasty about this, because he tried to get rid of all my fun reading books when I was in the 6th or 7th grade and replace them with these old Landmark books, so he could quiz me over them. And when was the last time you enjoyed a book that you knew you were going to take a very hard test over? So under those circumstances, it was easier to just not read for a while. |
|
10-03-2012, 09:09 PM | #51 | |
doofus
Posts: 2,520
Karma: 13036221
Join Date: Sep 2010
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
|
|
10-04-2012, 01:23 AM | #52 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,332
Karma: 4000000
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Paris
Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1
|
I never read the scarlet letter, despite the fact i got it as a gift.
A friend a mine, movie fan, read Harry potter because he wanted to know the end. He read some other books later, as that made him realize reading could be fun when you where able to chose what you where reading, and when you are reading it. |
10-04-2012, 03:34 AM | #53 | |
Basculocolpic
Posts: 4,356
Karma: 20181319
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Sweden
Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1
|
Quote:
Like vxf I have some experience from the pulpit. What I have learned is that you can't force feed education. Even young people are at different stages in their life. Some are interested in learning, some just have too many things to deal with in their personal life to be able to focus on education. They would be better off with some sort of counselling and the opportunity to return to the class room when they are ready. This however, is wrought with other issues. If a student feels a subject or assignment is BS there is no way you can make them do it. The more adamant the teacher is the more determined to refuse it is the student's response. It is possible to walk through life without any significant amount of education, those of us who are blessed with education have, however, a hard time grasping that concept. But if you don't mind menial labor or simple repetitive tasks there are enough prospects to go around. I used to tell students that refused their assignments that I am Ok with it as long as they are Ok with a D or an F. And if they think their life sucks 15 years down the road they have forfeited their right to blame the educational system (not that it will stop them). Correct me if I am wrong, but HS and Uni are not part of the compulsory education system. it is a free choice, with it comes the equivalent responsibility. Last edited by Kumabjorn; 10-04-2012 at 03:38 AM. |
|
10-04-2012, 05:28 AM | #54 | |
Connoisseur
Posts: 56
Karma: 506878
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: prs 505
|
Quote:
Something like 'Of Mice and Men' on the other hand is much more accessible - separated far enough in time to be out of immediate context but still recent enough to be acessible - and it's not like Steinbeck was a hack. Not everyone's idea of enjoyment either, but it's a a lot easier to get something worthwhile out of it. Personally, I get the impression that there are two large chunks of the educational establishment which conspire to destroy people's involvement with the written word. One thinks that nothing is worth discussing unless it's either at least a century old or written from the point of view of an alcholic's thymus gland using the vernacular of a hebridean fisherman. The other group think that the slack-jawed retards of today can't possibly cope with reading anything more complex than the tv listings unless every single word, name and punctuation mark is explained at interminable length in short words. Hence you get people who are so disconnected from reading and writing that they not only can't string together a coherent email without coaching, they also can't read them properly. If I had a few pounds for every time I've had to say things like "What are you trying to get across?", "are you sure that's really what they mean by writing.." or "how do you think that will come across to the people to someone who..." I would be retired by now. And I think in many cases this comes from a total lack of experience in parsing through how a skilled modern(ish) writer can assemble text to convey a desired message to a particular audience, and practicing that themselves. |
|
10-04-2012, 06:06 AM | #55 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,388
Karma: 14190103
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Berlin
Device: Cybook, iRex, PB, Onyx
|
Seeing it from the other side: I really can't imagine how bad my literary class should have been to be able to cure me from reading.
|
10-04-2012, 07:20 AM | #56 | |
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Posts: 1,212
Karma: 6244877
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Coastal Texas
Device: Android Phone
|
Quote:
|
|
10-04-2012, 08:25 AM | #57 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,957
Karma: 128903250
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
I read before being forced to read some pretty awful books. I also read to get away from these awful books. If I had not had parents who encouraged me to read what I liked to read, school would have turned me off to reading. Parents need to take an active interest in a child's reading beyond what's assigned for school. Otherwise, the child could very well end up with the "I don't like reading" because of the awful books schools thing are actually good.
|
10-04-2012, 10:13 AM | #58 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,145
Karma: 11174187
Join Date: Jan 2011
Device: Sony 350, K3-3G, K4SO, KPW
|
In one lit class, we read Crime and Punishment. We were challenged to write our book review reports from a different angle, to be creative. I critiqued it as a police procedural (it really fits that paradigm very well) - I got an A on the paper, but a very pained note from the teacher telling me I'd missed the whole point of the book.
I had a point for this anecdote, but now I've forgotten it. oh, well. |
10-04-2012, 10:32 AM | #59 | |
A garbling groftpot
Posts: 974
Karma: 9234667
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: France
Device: Oasis, Voyage, Kobo mini, Samsung tablet, phones, whatever.
|
Quote:
|
|
10-04-2012, 11:04 AM | #60 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,978
Karma: 38840460
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Minneapolis
Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos
|
I was in advanced classes all through Junior High and High school. The one thing that I praise those teachers for is that they had the sense to always assign two books - one that would be popular and the other a 'classic.'
The difficulty with Shakespeaer is that not only are you learning the ins and outs about what the story represents, but you are also learning a second language, given that middle-aged english isn't spoken by native speakers anywhere any more. |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
St. Louis (Metro) High School goes tablet only | JeremyR | News | 13 | 03-22-2011 02:38 PM |
Hate high ebook prices? Check out this experiment | iq3 | News | 75 | 02-08-2011 06:02 AM |
High-school ebook library | Elfwreck | Reading Recommendations | 20 | 11-03-2010 10:54 AM |