English Classroom

[aliquisa]

I'm playing with the point of my blog a bit.  I'll still post fiction because I like doing so, however I will also be posting frequent open ended questions pertaining to the field and study of English Literature.  Most likely I'll also include art

Comments

[formendacil]

Oh dear... let's see if I can write an decent account in the time I have before disappearing for Mass

[lariren_shadow]

So I know I've talked to you about this before and everything, but now that I've also seen it at the high school I'm teaching at(they are reading the memior about the boy solider in Africa) I kind of want to respond

[lalwendeboggart]

I like your questions ;)

Yes, we should keep a 'canon' (albeit a non-static one) as it forms the basis and history of literature and just as an architect needs to understand old forms in order to create new ones, a reader/writer needs the same. If you do not possess the basic grounding in the 'greats' of literature then you may find the literature which follows less enriching in terms of not understanding reference and form.

Plus, of course, much of that literature is still very relevant today.

I fight shy of anything which would threaten to remove learners' rights to know about the classics of the Arts. Which is why I hate the UK's National Curriculum, it's vile and trendy and irrelevant right now.

[aliquisa]

A National Curriculum? Like, as in everybody has to learn the same thing?

[lalaith1]

Actually the National Curriculum, and even the much-maligned SATs, do some good...like forcing all schools to teach Shakespeare. Now that there are no more KS3 Sats, heaven knows what some schools might do.
I actually think the best way to find out if a piece of literature is 'canon' class or not, is to teach it.
Eg, I would like to place a small bet that in 50 years time Atonement will still be read and admired, but the Kite Runner will probably not. I really enjoyed reading both books, but when I came to teach them, it was pretty clear which one had more 'meat' on it, for analysis.

[aliquisa]

But should schools be forced to teach Shakespeare? Is it really that important that students slog their way through outdated speeches about family honor and duty?

[lalwendeboggart]

Fair enough, yes, it does force teachers to permit kids to read Shakespeare, though it is very, very restrictive and I question the value in endless lessons about slavery and Hitler as though History is just something to make Europeans feel guilty....

But yes, I have plenty of horror stories of people denied the chance to study the greats. People who spent all their English lessons learning how to write job applications and letters to the water board. Dave says all their history lessons were about the post office and trade unions and little else.

I also have a 'thing' about kids studying out of context extracts instead of the full texts. This is fine in a 'Language' lesson, studying form etc, but not in a 'Literature' lesson unless it is to compare another text's style with the major one you are studying.

Life is too short for all the good books.

[volobm]

I certainly don't regard myself an artsy person - though ironically I read an hour of Sandman and used the rest for writing today - but I'll shout my opinions anyway

Re: Life is too short for all the good books.

[aliquisa]

Do you mean 'in Finnish' the way I use 'in English' to delineate a course which is based on the literature of the culture? Or do you mean written in the language by natives of the country/culture?

Re: Life is too short for all the good books.

[volobm]

The language. Though in this case it doesn't make a difference.

Personally though, I'd really like to learn the canon of classics.