What do you think of High School/Secondary School Req. Reading?

[Katy North]

Reading this makes me realize how lucky I was in my high school... not only did we read Huckleberry Finn (despite the presence of the N word), we also watched Apocalypse Now as a companion to the Heart of Darkness!

My advice to any student attending a High School that bans books:

Read Farenheit 451.

Create your own summer reading curriculum.

[myrna22]

The answers you get from literature depend upon the questions you pose.
- Margaret Atwood

[BjorkPlease]

Thats really quite interesting myrna22. I assume you're in the US? I would think that you teaching in a private school wouldmake a difference certainly to what you read. It's interesting to see that in school I read quite similar material to what you are teaching.

[myrna22]

Thats really quite interesting myrna22. I assume you're in the US? I would think that you teaching in a private school wouldmake a difference certainly to what you read. It's interesting to see that in school I read quite similar material to what you are teaching.

Why would being in a private school make a difference to what we read?

I don't understand your point.

[BjorkPlease]

Why would being in a private school make a difference to what we read?

I don't understand your point.

I'm not sure of your location but here in England children in private schools almost always have higher reading ages. I'm certain you would never find a state school reading "The Brothers Karamazov".

[myrna22]

I'm not sure of your location but here in England children in private schools almost always have higher reading ages. I'm certain you would never find a state school reading "The Brothers Karamazov".

The answers you get from literature depend upon the questions you pose.
- Margaret Atwood

[dfloyd]

My teachers were so poor I didn't read a thing from high school graduation untul I was 21. Studying Shakespeare consisted in listening to every member of the class recite, very stumblingly, Hamlet's soliliquy. Can you imagine how boring that was? Thank god for people like our poster.

I enlisted in the Air Force and was sent overseas to Japan. The service libraries were pretty good. I would learn about a novel then inquire about it at the base library. I saw a movie called A Place in the Sun so I read the book the movie was based on, Dreiser's An American Tragedy. I viewed movies at the base theater, then read the book. This was how I was introduced to Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, The Brothers Karamazov (this was my first intro to the Russians by the movie with Yul Brynner as Dmitri, Richard Basehart as Ivan, and a very, very young Captain Kirk as Alyosha), and War and Peace.

I attended college after the service, but took engineering instead of liberal arts. I had many good professors, including one in an elective course who introduced me to Dickens, Somerset Maughan, Thomas Hardy, and Laurence Sterne.

I think with my affinity to literature I would have done something in the field, bur I was really turned off by the high school teachers I had. A good teacher, especially when you are just starting to read, is worth his/her weight in gold.

[myrna22]

I think that the English class should just focus on one area of literature. British one year and American the next.

The answers you get from literature depend upon the questions you pose.
- Margaret Atwood

[LitNetIsGreat]

I despair of secondary school required reading. It is woefully inadequate. But then again instilling a love of literature is not part of the agenda of National Curriculum or the state schools which follow it. Currently, on average one novel a year is the standard in most state schools, one novel a year! I read equivalent to that in a day, every day. So for me it is a bit of a sick joke, but like I said schools have other agendas and pressures so it is hardly surprising. If anybody can come through a standard state school with love of reading then they are surely in the minority and have somehow slipped through the net.

[Drkshadow03]

I despair of secondary school required reading. It is woefully inadequate. But then again instilling a love of literature is not part of the agenda of National Curriculum or the state schools which follow it. Currently, on average one novel a year is the standard in most state schools, one novel a year! I read equivalent to that in a day, every day. So for me it is a bit of a sick joke, but like I said schools have other agendas and pressures so it is hardly surprising. If anybody can come through a standard state school with love of reading then they are surely in the minority and have somehow slipped through the net.

In the U.S. technically "instilling a love of literature and learning" is one of the supposed goals of school. Everyone I know certainly includes that in their mission statements, or other buzzwords like teaching our students to be "lifelong learners." However, it still has all the flaws you describe. They read like one novel a year, a few poems, a play maybe.

On the other hand, even when we did have assigned reading I remember just not reading any of the books or only skimming them. Why the hell would I read those boring *** books when I could be playing Final Fantasy 7 or some other pretty graphical video game? Or so I thought when I was younger. Now, of course, I'm an English major who reads all the time. Sometimes, I think it just clicks or doesn't. And sometimes, I think it can click rather late.

[Art Cordoba]

Is all garbage! Not enough time devoted to the Greek and Latin stuff; only snippets at a time. Never enough to feel the goodness of it all. I felt no goodness.

Too political and too weak. In America, the kids, they're so stupid. So we read weak stuff. I was always bored in class because I would read far ahead and then have to wait for the stupids to catch up.

[Jazz_]

Yr 7 - Odyssey and Hatchet (really enjoyed both)
Yr 8 - The Messenger? (can't really remember)
Yr 10 - Much Ado (worst Shakespeare), Cloudstreet (loved), Far From The Madding Crowd, To Kill A Mockingbird
Yr 11 (Eng)- Othello, I'm Not Scared, GATTACA (movie - really enjoyed)
Yr 11 (Lit) - Hamlet, Pride & Prejudice, Brave New World
Yr 12 (Lit) - Much Ado (again ), The Importance of Being Earnest, Regeneration, T.S. Eliot poetry

(Yr 9 was Romeo and Juliet - but I missed out on that)

The only Australian work we studied was "Cloudstreet" - but I suppose if you're going to pick something Australian it is one of the best

Overall I was happy with the quality of what we studied - except for MAAN (which I unfortunately had to do twice because I skipped Yr 9).

[Jazz_]

Is all garbage! Not enough time devoted to the Greek and Latin stuff; only snippets at a time. Never enough to feel the goodness of it all. I felt no goodness.

Too political and too weak. In America, the kids, they're so stupid. So we read weak stuff. I was always bored in class because I would read far ahead and then have to wait for the stupids to catch up.

I think that's too much of a generalisation. I'm sure there are many intelligent American kids. I am curious what "weak stuff" you read though...

I despair of secondary school required reading. It is woefully inadequate. But then again instilling a love of literature is not part of the agenda of National Curriculum or the state schools which follow it. Currently, on average one novel a year is the standard in most state schools, one novel a year! I read equivalent to that in a day, every day. So for me it is a bit of a sick joke, but like I said schools have other agendas and pressures so it is hardly surprising. If anybody can come through a standard state school with love of reading then they are surely in the minority and have somehow slipped through the net.

A novel a year? Really? How does it take a whole year? We studied at least a novel per term (4/year) plus plays, poems, short stories (and all were studied in-depth, especially in the later years). Maybe it's different elsewhere, but I came through a state school with a great love for literature...

[kilo]

You can't really make people like to read. It's just not in some people; they like to do other things like cook, garden, or paint. I think it's kinda weird when I find people who never read, but I think they must think I'm weird for not being able to garden. I think it's determined by the perspective you have on knowledge. I love to read all kinds of books, and I wasn't greatly influenced to read much of anything in highschool.

[Jazz_]

I must admit that I loved reading well before I started High School - but I can say with confidence that it didn't adversely effect my love for literature. I believe High School helped to foster my love, and encourage further reading - something which may have helped others establish a love for reading (though I know some were put off by being forced to read).