<p>Raise your hand. I've been completely turned off by literature in HS. To me, it's completely BS... everyone analyzes lit and gives interpreations that they know the teacher wants to hear. This is why I hate lit classes... most of the teachers I've seen so far usually have an interpretation that they're looking for. Anything outside of that is usually disregarded in favor of someone raising their hand and regurgitating what the teacher wants to hear. I know that people love to hear their own words, but I find it dissapointing that literature is taught so narrowly. People are conditioned to analyze lit in a certain way at school, and this restricts them from thinking for themselves. The teachers really think they know the author's intent; their guess is just as good as anyone elses. I also think that way to much time is spent trying to find meaning in areas where none exists. Who knows where the author actually placed his meaning/intentions? We can only guess.</p>
<p>I cannot stand humanities courses unless it is Chinese. And yes, HS literature stinks: to where did reading a book for the sake of enjoyment vanish? Am I permitted to read As You Like It without analyzing it, just for the plot itself? Or do I have to take apart its characters and its language the same way as I have for six years to please a teacher who knows that no one cares whether or not one can analyze a passage in the real world?
Whatever happened to writing and analyzing current events in history? Why is it that World History all too often is told through the eyes of members of six European countries? This is why I can't stand history; the full story never gets told.</p>
<p>I know exactly what you mean. I think overanalysis of literature defeats the purpose of just reading.<br>
On that note, I think literary criticism is also pointless. Everybody has a different opinion. And, they're forming OPINIONS on a work of FICTION that is obviously another person's OPINION. There is no progress or advancement. I think it's fine to give your opinion once, but to debate the meaning of a work of fiction? Only the author knows what he meant to write, and constant literary analysis and criticism has no purpose.</p>
<p>kman, you bring up a good point with history, though at least, regardless of who's eyes we see it from, we at least get some idea of events that actually happened. For that reason, analysis of history is a lot more valid than analysis of literature (unfortunately, we don't really analyze history as much as it should be, like you also mentioned).</p>
<p>That's a shame--I've really enjoyed all my lit classes. My teachers have always been good about us throwing out our own analysis and interpretations. And reading for enjoyment never vanished; all you have to do is simply read outside of class.</p>
<p>I think literary criticism and analysis is valid in the sense that it adds a greater depth to the appreciation of a work. For instance, one could love Catch-22 for it's comedy and characters, and then also appreciate the various truths/commentary hidden in the irony and absurdity and themes.</p>
<p>I agree. anyone who has read my view on the collegeboard.. i'm going to write out my thoughts on AP Lit MC's... the opinion based answers where they screw us over if we get a different idea of what the author means.. ugh i hate those questions.</p>
<p>i love history, hate literature. poetry / prose is for reading and enjoying.. but not for disecting line by line by word by word.</p>
<p>Well, technically you're english teacher can never say your opinion is wrong. That's the thing, its so much easier to defeat an english or humanities teacher than a math or science one. However, you have to be able to argue a point effectively, and often the teacher has spent more time on this. For a lot of students, especially those who have better things to do than **** some teacher off, regurgitating the stuff the teacher spits out is an easy option.</p>
<p>well although I abhor the massive workload in my AP English Lit class...I still love the subject...and our teacher makes us do "Socratic discussions"...they're basically student-led round table discussions where we analyze literary works...everyone's opinion is valued...</p>
<p>but I still wish to pass the AP exam so I WON'T have to take the Intro Lit class in the fall...lol...I'm a science person...</p>
<p>^Socratic circle discussions are fun. Sometimes they get terribly off-track though, but those times are sometimes even more fun, especially when my teacher is just finishing a story about how Pistol Pete filmed a commercial in his driveway and asks "Now how the hell did I end up talking about this?" (We were discussing differences between the film and play versions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.)</p>
<p>Yes, I love socratic discussions also. Ours always turn into a political debate though over some topic that is a tangent to a book.. I wonder why? lol ;)</p>
<p>for example, our pride and prejudice discussion turned into a heated debate between this girl and I over women's rights and materialistic ambitions of women. :)</p>
<p>Of course it's a BS course... you probably don't learn anything in a setting like that... my friend in AP English Lit had a class free write and he ended up writing a beautifully written metaphor comparing rape to literature analysis.... this kid is like a genious, but he didn't think the teacher would collect it so she wasn't too happy when she read it.</p>
<p>I agree completely. A lot of English class is simply BS. I'd just put down my book and fall asleep the entire period if only class participation wasn't like 50% of your grade.</p>
<p>You managed to describe the IB English HL exam almost perfectly. You are given a passage (1-2 pages) and a poem, you choose one, and you write 6-7 pages analyzing it. No prompt, no questions, nothing. If you write what they are looking for, you do well. If you write something they don't agree with, you do poorly. </p>
<p>That's why AP English Lit is sooooooo much easier than IB Engish.</p>
<p>except for one thing: in an essay, you can justify your analyzation. with the multiple choice that AP people have to take, it is arbitrary and there is no justification involved. right or wrong.</p>
<p>Nope. They don't want justification; they want specific points. I've seen the answer sheet. They have a bullet list of specific things they want to see.</p>
<p>I took both exams. The AP English Lit exam was extremely easy. :eek:</p>
<p>I hate when teachers analyze stuff that might have no particular reason behind it. Like Animal Farm, yeah all that Russian Revolution stuff, you totally know that's what George Orwell was trying to do, but like a poem. How do you know they weren't just writing about flowers or whatever cause they wanted to. Why do the freakin flowers have to mean something? </p>
<p>"What do you think the author was thinking while writing this book?"</p>
<p>That he was hungry and needed money?
I would love to write a quick book and have highschool teachers have their students overanalyze everything just to see what kind of weird stuff they come up with.</p>