<p>It would be nice if more grammar could be incorporated into the curriculum.</p>
<p>One thing I learned in English class was the authors were for the most part alcoholics and/or on drugs which helped them to see things differently. And forcing students to read old English Shakespeare is wrong. I didn’t learn anything from trying to analyze a work which I couldn’t even read.
The university professors who get paid to ask students to read books, then discuss the books in class should have to get real jobs. They are so lazy and don’t have to teach anything like real teachers do. It is a shame the Universities need these departments to have well rounded students.</p>
<p>^ Reading works from the guy who help modernized English, wrote about modern issues 400 years ago, and created over 1,000 words that YOU use everyday. Yeah, really horrible -_-</p>
<p>schools should teach more practical aspects of the English language. journalism, perhaps. even the SAT essay is much more useful than those written in English class.</p>
<p>^^^ lol God help you when you have to read Troilus and Cressida then</p>
<p>^ Try Finnegan’s Wake on for size… I’ve read that book five times, the text is beautiful but I have absolutely NO IDEA what it is about…</p>
<p>haha yeah</p>
<p>the first four chapters of A Portrait of the Artist were like that with me, but understanding the fifth was like being born</p>
<p>I almost bought a copy of Ulysses the other day, but I didn’t think I’d have time to read it since I had ordered a copy of Guermantes’ Way</p>
<p>^ I highly recommend Ulysses… Also The Sot-Weed Factor (John Barth)</p>
<p>The first page which I read was very good, and I found out that it has Stephen Dedalus again, who is my fave! (I get attached to characters lol, which is why I’m sad that Faulkner only wrote two books with Quentin Compson as a major character)</p>
<p>^ True in all novels Characters > Plotlines.</p>
<p>That’s definitely true. I never really thought about that</p>
<p>That may be why I hate Steinbeck and don’t find Orwell particularly interesting :b</p>
<p>I agree with you regarding Steinbeck and again with Orwell for everything except 1984. I really liked 1984 but again that one is far more character driven than his other works.</p>
<p>learning english is kind of like learning history. english classes help teach culture</p>
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<p>No[right]. .[/right]</p>
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<p>I’ve only read The Grapes of Wrath but I did like it. Orwell is a great author.</p>
<p>My favorite is prob. Tolkien though.</p>
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I prefer plot over character.</p>
<p>I think that writing does need to be more emphasized, and stupid plot questions need to be eliminated. What English class does is it makes sure that students read the book, but what it should do is just give passages and ask people to analyze it. Analyzing books helps with your critical thinking and can also give you insight into what the author was trying to say. Also, I think that it is important to read books as well because reading in turn helps improve your writing skills.</p>
<p>English class is very important because everyone needs to have the communication skills that English can teach. If one does not have those skills, he or she might turn out to embarass themselves like Bush has in various speeches.</p>
<p>You might say that by high school, everyone should have the basics down. Sadly, they do not. I kid you not, there were some juniors who could not explain the difference between an adjective and an adverb. If one does not have the basics like that, things are not going to go well. They might miscommunicate or get the point across but sound silly while doing it.</p>
<p>As for literature, I feel that literature can have an important social/cultural/historical aspect. Books, whether they are fiction or non-ficion can teach the reader something. I’ve seen some people mention that it is pointless because the books are fiction, but not all of the books that English classes read are fiction. For example, in one of my high school English courses, we read six books. Of those, three were fiction (Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace, and Animal Farm) and three were non-fiction (Black Like Me, Alive, and A Day No Pigs Would Die).</p>
<p>I think English class is essential for a literate society. It teaches people to read and write (the basic test of education for the UN), and also to think deeply about basic human themes/ideals.</p>
<p>Many students do not read outside of class, so if there was no English, there would be no literate citizenry, because they wouldn’t read at all (or very slowly).</p>
<p>Reading opens up a whole new world of experiences/places/ideas that people might not otherwise encounter (Bible/Communist Manifesto/The Jungle/Narnia, etc) which allows them to be more informed and therefore make better decisions about the world (voting, etc).</p>
<p>^ Quite well said, especially the part about human themes and ideals</p>