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Tuesday, 1 January 2008
The Book As Museum Piece
 Rethinking The High School English Canon by Thomas Washington A student phoned me over Christmas Break to tell me he was flunking his first semester of senior English under the thumb of Mrs. Knowles. Chris had failed to rewrite his term paper, worth fifty-five percent of the semester grade. This is cruel and common practice among English teachers, by the way. By placing a premium on a single project, you instill creative paralysis and assure that the bottom troop, those who need your help the most, will fail. Although his thesis and content eventually passed muster, Chris’s margins, paragraph format, and Roman numeral system somehow remained askew. In addition, Chris wasn’t faring well on the multiple choice pop quizzes, an apparent Monday favorite activity for Mrs. Knowles. I used to subject sophomore students to these. Twenty years later and I’m still penitent. Reading literature can never be boiled down to filling in circles. This is something better suited for the math department. more... Posted on 01/01/2008 7:06 AM by NER
Comments
1 Jan 2008
Enoch "T.C. Boyle’s Drop City, a counter culture narrative of an altogether different sort, one which the kids might relate." Students in 2007 are going to relate to a novel about a hippie commune in 1970? Uh, don't think so. 1970 is just about as remote as Plymouth Plantation to the kids of today. "I told a junior English class it was youth’s job to question authority." Pah, the time when that idea was true or interesting is long past. Youth today could do with MORE obedience to authority, not less. "sentence diagramming (It’s still taught in many English classrooms.)" Good! Much as I hated it, I now recognize sentence diagramming as an invaluable exercise. "What practical application does grammar have in the “real world” as kids ask?" In the real world, one is required to write grammatically correct sentences - that is, if one wants to succeed in school and get an office job. "Was it not enough, for instance, for Mrs. Knowles to pass Chris just for showing up to her class each day under the pretense that he took a genuine interest in her presentations?" If this is a serious question, the answer is NO. "The only high school department that stands a chance at converting the doltish ranks into visionaries is the English department." Wrong. I was vastly uninspired by high school English. History was far more inspiring. "I’ve always thought something should be provided for effort, the same passing award one expects just for showing up to class." Rubbish. A grade should measure the level of achievement, not the amount of effort required to obtain that level. |