They are making us read classics, and they aren't even teaching us what the author's point was.

My class is currently reading Catcher in the Rye. I am finding this to be a fantastic view on the multi-leveled character of Holden; however, what my teacher is saying to us about the book is not at all what I believe J. D. Salinger wanted us to think.

Our teacher (who is teaching the standard for this book), keeps focusing on the actual plot of the story. As far as I'm concerned, the plot is worthless garbage in this book. The only reason there is a plot is to provide a means to show the reader the inner thoughts and feelings of a teenager. When you dumb down a book about someone's personality and feelings into a simple storyline, you're destroying the entire essence of what's written. I know it's hard to teach insight and interpretation; but please, don't force me to study crap that isn't relevant.

Just my rant about ****ty teaching.

That always annoyed me too. My teachers tended to focus on the plot instead of the meaning. Who gives a **** about the plot? The plot by itself is meaningless fiction.

I never had to read it.

I read it on my own. Amazing book, and yeah... not really much of a plot to follow. But there is a still a lot to chew on. Your teacher is really missing the point. Our highschool actually had a really good English department, though. We really picked books apart. Like Scarlet Letter, the Crucible, Great Gatsby, etc.

Yeah, doesn't sound like bad public school, sounds like bad english department (Which I guess is a function of bad public school).

Sign of a grade-based curriculum more like. The teachers are teaching what they are told to teach, because it's on the syllabus.

My english teacher made us watch the Star Wars trilogy because she said it compared to Beowulf. She argued that Luke was Beowulf but I maintained that Vader was Beowulf and his struggle with the Dark Side was his Grendel and Luke was just comedic relief.
She said something about either Vader or the Death Star being the dragon and thats where she lost me. I said that Beowulf was a fairy tale and that comparing it to Star Wars was blasphemy.

Yeah, because Star Wars isn't a fairy tale or anything.

One of my highschool english teachers swore by the notecard method of doing a research paper. I can't see why I'd ever willingly do that again.

My highschool english teachers were great. They pretty much just focused on the basics like vocabulary, grammar and they almost never got into philisophical stuff like what the writer was trying to say with a particular book.
They kept it to the facts for the most part.

Then your English teachers failed at their job.

like 95% of english teachers and 50% of teachers in general.

my mom has a plan for teachers. cut their pay by 50%. the ones who stay 'cause they believe in teaching children will get double what they were making before the initial pay cut. the rest can go get a union job in an automotive factory doing sweet **** all 'cause that's why they became teachers. work 30hr. per week, get summers off, get paid well 'cause they're in a union, and **** the dog 'cause they can 'cause they're protected by that union.

the mother of my children went to a parent teacher interview last week. although my son neglected to hand in a project on time, neglected to tell us about it and was given an extension to get it in, he wasn't penalized in any way.
she asked the teacher why there is no consequences for not having homework done on time and the school board policy is such that the students academic achievements are based on their knowledge not their promptness or responsibility to get work done on time. the teacher told her that even if my son handed all his assignments in on the last day of school he would still get full marks and pass.
wtf? what does this teach kids? do it when you want and you'll get paid. they're in for a big surprise when they get jobs.

My English teachers were pretty cool. We mostly did Shakespeare and random poems by random people and it was mostly crap, but it was pretty light-hearted and I came out with a B in both Lit and Lang at GCSE, so it can't all be bad.

Except for the two Canadian lesbians. They kind of sucked.

I despised "English" classes. I rarely got anything higher than a C.

Evad - Exceot teachers aren't paid well... At least not in America. Most of them cannot live on a teacher's salary and either A) Have another job, B) already have a lot of money, C) Have a spouse with a good job.

You're an idiot if you actually think this would work.

Teachers barely make enough to be self sufficient as it is, and many have families, forcing them to have second jobs. They wouldn't be able to stay because they wouldn't be making enough money to feed themselves.

My mom was a teacher, I can vouch

My mom is a teacher, actually.

Yeah well my mom is now a principal SO THERE

Well, you know what they say. Counselors are failed teachers, and administrators are failed counselors.

obviously something like the plan i mentioned wouldn't work. it's a theory to get rid of the teachers that are there just for the good job.
here in canada teachers earn a decent living.

everyone in my family has had several bad experiences with teachers and unfortunately it's made me prejudice. :/ and i don't like being prejudice against teachers.

I'm living with a teacher

They are teaching you HOW to read and comprehend.


Like when they have you read To Kill A Mockingbird, they probably won't focus on the plot much at all. Instead you're going to draw a map of the town based upon discriptions in the book.

They're giving you THE TOOLS OF COMPREHENSION.

I HAYT SKEWL TO

hawt

I've already read that book.

And no, they didn't make us do crap like that, but they stressed importance on what a chiffarobe is.

Your school sucks. :/


The only book we did where we discussed plot significance was Of Mice And Men

The rest were used for what they were actually written as, mental masturbation.

Whatever happened to Cloud?

Edit: oh yeah my mom is a principal too

Yeah, she said you were a pretty terrible sex ed student.

Maybe that's not the exact method that would accomplish better teaching, but he certainly did point out the extreme moral hazard that being in the teacher's union presents. My mother teachers at a private school and most of the teachers there that are secondary Ed and under are only making 30-40k, which is under the median that public school teachers get, and most of the public school kids who came there said that my private school teachers were much much much better than their public school counterparts. Just because they are getting paid less, doesn't mean that they will be worse. If a teacher truly has a desire to teach, there will come a point that they will value an environment that may pay lower. However, much of this has to do with quality of kids at the school, and that's an entirely different argument.

Teachers are not getting paid more than the other due to quality, and without some sort of massive reform where teachers are actually getting paid due to their quality, then we are gonna have crappy teachers who have no incentive to work at their jobs to truly educate.

Anyways, in regards to my English department, all my English teachers for the most part were very good. Freshman English was more focused on straight plot, but every year afterwards it was a definite progression in terms of how focused the class was on the meaning of the book. The progression of the books showed as well. Iliad, to Beowulf, Man Who was Thursday, then onto books like Crime and Punishment and Consolation of Philosophy. My experience might be different though, as I did go to a private school.

Your mum

Yes, how dare those teachers form a union and get some collectivism going. Anybody who thinks public school teachers are in it for the money really doesn't get it.

No, not all are just in it for the $$ but the ones who are standout as in they suck horribly.

What I truly hate is tenure. After a couple of years, your job should not be that secure. Teaching should be just like any other job. You get reviews and if your reviews suck, you're fired. Go back to school or find another career. How reviews are going to be done, I'm not sure. Most definitely not up to the students.

I hate my English. I love my English class.

Odi et amo.

Warlockmish is a prime example of the failures, short commings, and inadequacy of the modern public education system.

Coming from they guy who works at a UPS job, lives with his parents, never went to college, and circlejerks about his motorcycle.

Yeah I read your post.

[insert comment about Warlockmish crawling around a running track on his stomach in public]

Hey hey it was during xc.

[insert comment about sexuality]

US teachers do tend to make very little, which is a shame, really, considering the impact they can make on this country. But most of the people I know are majoring in education because they enjoy teaching. Some others are doing it because they want to major in something more academic, but want to have a better chance of getting a job after they graduate. Then there are a few others that are doing education because it'll work better for what they want to do in grad school.