/lit/ - Literature

>>11917186

Not holding my breath. Most HS students in the US simply don't have the preparation to read older writers fruitfully (most pre-Romantic writers probably). If you know nothing at all about classical languages or classical civilization or rhetoric or even English syntax it's difficult of access.

>>11917186
How long was his dick? The same as his height?

>>11917186
>be me
>be an english academic coach in a secondary school
>provide catch up sessions for struggling pupils
>poetry on the syllabus is mostly 21st century dreck and a few basic bitch oldies
>during sessions, introduce pupils to Dickinson, Pope and Milton etc
>resistant at first but they start to get the hang of it and begin to enjoy it
>get called in to my line manager and receive a massive bollocking from both her and the head of English for "teaching irrelevant topics" that won't be on the exam
The British education system is broken. Learning is no longer the objective. I honestly don't know why they bother.

>>11917242
The state of our education system is absolutely tragic. Most kids have only one stage in their life where they can be made to engage with higher order things and possibly acquire some kind of taste or interest in them, but the state continues to decide that this opportunity is worth squandering in favour of a completely mechanised focus on mark schemes - which fails regardless of this effort and still churns out kids that are unequipped to deal with basic numeracy and literacy skills. It fails on every level. Such a shame.

>>11917242
The state of our education system is absolutely tragic. Most kids have only one stage in their life where they can be made to engage with higher order things and possibly acquire some kind of taste or interest in them, but the state continues to decide that this opportunity is worth squandering in favour of a completely mechanised focus on mark schemes - which fails regardless of this effort and still churns out thousands of kids that are unequipped with even the most basic numeracy and literacy skills. It fails on every level. Such a shame.

>>11917242
>>11917385

Our children are introduced to poetry.

They get Carol Ann Duffy, Caribbean patois and endless confessional free verse about "the migrant experience".

>not even good caribbean writers like walcott

>>11917385
I don't think that anyone is at fault there. The educational system doesn't exist to raise someone up to a higher level, but to sort people out. Do you think MIT is good because it takes in dumbasses and makes geniuses out of them? That was never the point and I think anything else would be a waste of resources.

>>11917427
>Carol Ann Duffy
She is STILL our poet laureate. Good lord.

>>11917429
So in conclusion we are justified in teaching children how to enjoy Duffy instead of Keats? It hasn't always been this way, standards and expectations for schools have been deliberately and radically in the postwar era.

>>11917454
>deliberately and radically *changed

>>11917429
Then what is the point of teaching the stupid ones at all? You have a pretty good impression of who is smart or not by the time they hit at least 14 (possibly earlier). If the point isn't that certain things are worth knowing and that society has a duty to instill these things into our youth for cultural cohesion, an intelligent workforce and a level playing field, why are we bothering with this farce, wasting all this time and money? Just sort the clever ones out during early teens and send the rest to work.

Either education becomes egalitarian or it becomes elitist. This halfway house benefits no-one.

>>11917222
I'm 5'4'' with an 8 incher, my only redeemign quality desu senpai

how do I convert this into becoming a great poet?

>>11917520
Kill yourself then write a poem about it after.

>>11917440
Longest ten years in history. Her replacement will probably be even worse.

>>11917511
child labor is forbidden, they end up sorted out in the end anyway (depending on social status and skill), I've seen people who are intelligent enough for college but don't have the money for it, so they end up in a low paying job for their whole life, I've also seen people who are not good enough for college but ended up studying because they have the money and connections (now I'm implying that I have the capacity to
judge who is and who isn't good enough for something)

I'm not sure if you are an literature major aiming at becoming a teacher, but I think you are overestimating the importance of formal education and the role it plays in someones life, I would argue that the least problem is the material taught and the more important problem is the stress that teachers encounter during their work, if we consider how hard it is to actually get a job as teacher and add the fear of losing that job,

I had my fair share of stressed teachers during my life, they can be more of a burden for the kids than the shittiest poet

>>11917625
Were you inebriated when you wrote all this.?

>>11917780
I'm skipping around threads

>>11917429
Many people going into MIT either go to good schools or have parents who are diligent about teaching them well at home. Not every one has these privileges. You can whine about muh bell curve all you want, but early education does matter.

>>11917792
Which brings up another point. The ideal state would be more selective about who is allowed to raise children, and about who is allowed to have children. Bad parents can do a lot of harm.

>>11917511
Problem in the US is that there is stigma attached to certain jobs. Everyone would say that fixing cars is honest labor, and it pays ok, but don't you dare tell my kid that's where his talents lie, not in academics with a view to law, medicine, or an MBA.

>>11917242
When students have to spend time revising exam technique and not the actual content you've fucked up. The only GCSE that I wholeheartedly approve of is Maths because students are taught a certain way to work things out, but in the exam they can do whatever the fuck they want as long as it's logical, coherent and gets the right answer. And that's how it should be. Science is also pretty much fine. Any subject where you have to write essay questions (e.g. English or History) is chock a block full of arbitrary structures you have to follow with impossible to quantify marks. There is no good reason for History to be entirely essay questions, there should be a few smaller ones as well. As for English, you cannot make comparisons with any other works of literature, purely for the purpose of not giving the kids who read proper literature an advantage in fucking English Literature
>>11917950
This and it's bullshit. I am certain that anyone would respect an honest mechanic more than someone who clearly is better suited to being one but ended up getting a meme degree instead.

So anons, I'm sure we're all agreed that English in school is the biggest factor for kids not reading, right? How would you fix it?

>>11918016
Learn by rote again for poetry and other things, and start teaching the classics. If they're able to articulate their point well and show a proper grasp of the text, give them marks.

>>11917186
just keep posting him popeposter, the education system will take notice any minute now

>>11917186
How can anyone be passionate about Pope?

>>11918045
I heard he is admired a lot by Russians