tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7072440028440011959.post8672817749980647970..comments2024-03-20T04:06:14.857-04:00Comments on Education Outrage: I don't care about Odysseus Mr Kelly and neither did Jimmy CagneyRoger Schankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14567989582447087635noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7072440028440011959.post-85014514274268963472016-06-21T14:29:25.841-04:002016-06-21T14:29:25.841-04:00With this sort of attitude you would be a poor con...With this sort of attitude you would be a poor contestant on jeapordy. Knowing is useful as a sort of IQ badge. I know, therefore I'm smart, is a general idea many are in love with and convinced is true.Paul Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15568112951460383067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7072440028440011959.post-6872050035435254722016-06-21T03:50:18.699-04:002016-06-21T03:50:18.699-04:00Looking back on my literary education, I'm qui...Looking back on my literary education, I'm quite glad that teachers were trending towards insipid young adult novels that must have been easy to teach. Classic literature was something I could discover on my own, soaked in blood and sex and subversion. <br /><br />AP English class seemed built around the (probably reasonable) assumption that the students were never actually going to READ these books-- efficiency led to a focus on cram studying summaries for the test. "History of Authors, with a little bit of writing thrown in" would be a more accurate title. <br /><br />One year, right before I graduated, the principal decided that the entire school should read one particular book. It was a book I had read previously and rather liked. I felt bad that this decision all but assured that every one of my peers would grow up either hating the book or actively avoiding opening a copy.<br /><br />Is there ANY form of entertainment or art that can survive intact and not be ruined when it is made mandatory?<br /><br />A more serious question-- a lot of fuss is made about how "gentlemen" of the 19th century studied all of the classics and could apparently read Latin and Ancient Greek and the like. Knowing what I know now, having worked here and there in the field of education, I assign a high probability to most of the students not really bothering to read/learn the works more than enough to get through their schooling and just parroting the interpretation of their teachers. Would there be any way to try and figure out, say, how many university students in the U.S. and Britain from 1845 to 1885 actually entered knowing the classics vs. how many were just winging it and had rich parents? What historical data could I use to investigate this?R.A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10338907885654636308noreply@blogger.com