an observation, in two parts
(okay, so possibly I am still stewing over my most recent batch of evaluations)
1. There are students who want to receive "the right answer" about a work of literature (which implies that the answers are completely external and collectively agreed upon)
2. There are students who believe that the study of literature is really about talking about one's feelings about a text, or how the characters match up with one's predetermined ideas about what people are like, what they should do, etc. (which implies that the answers are all internal, and that one has nothing to learn from the text)
The really weird thing? Sometimes these are the very same students. I can't wrap my head around that, or what to do about it.
1. There are students who want to receive "the right answer" about a work of literature (which implies that the answers are completely external and collectively agreed upon)
2. There are students who believe that the study of literature is really about talking about one's feelings about a text, or how the characters match up with one's predetermined ideas about what people are like, what they should do, etc. (which implies that the answers are all internal, and that one has nothing to learn from the text)
The really weird thing? Sometimes these are the very same students. I can't wrap my head around that, or what to do about it.