General Discussion

RobinA

(10,478 posts)

110. I Think It Comes Down

Mon Dec 10, 2012, 01:20 PM

Dec 2012

to choosing appropriate books for highschoolers. Not only the hardness and complexity of the book, but the subject matter itself. I remember slogging through "Return of the Native" in 10th grade. We could read the book and understand the surface, but we didn't have the life experience to understand what was really going on, as it commented on adult society. Consequently, it was a horrible bore about people in old-fashioned clothes and I swore I hated anything by Thomas Hardy. I got absolutely nothing out of it. Much, much later I saw the movie "Jude" and decided to read Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure." I LOVED it. Of course, I was in my 40's and knew what the hell they were talking about, also a comment on adult society which I then understood.

I was in a "special" reading group in 6th grade where we read adult novels, including Shakespeare, but the teacher picked books in which the subject matter would be of interest to intelligent 6th graders. We read about 10 books, none of which turned me off the way "Return" did.

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Catcher in the Rye dropped from US school curriculum [View all] proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 OP

I'm sure the English Classes will at least read a couple of novels and at least one Shakespeare. WCGreen Dec 2012 #1

No. Probably not. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #4

But 70% of my High School reading was Non-Fiction.... WCGreen Dec 2012 #27

That was then. This is now. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #64

That's a bit like unifying everyone's immune systems... AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #82

Yes. And scripted lessons too. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #112

I read that piece on Friday about the automated burger making machine... AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #116

My high school required 3 years of english. AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #80

I, too, didn't understand Catcher in the Rye when I read it at 16. And I was a pretty SharonAnn Dec 2012 #99

That is one hallmark of a great work of literature, i.e., that one can "re-read coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #148

I believe we had English all through six years of Jr. High and High School hfojvt Dec 2012 #109

100 books? progressoid Dec 2012 #158

I was always a rabid reader and read far more than what was required. WCGreen Dec 2012 #160

not according to the program's website dlwickham Dec 2012 #79

It's not just the notion of reading a couple of pieces of fiction here or there. Skidmore Dec 2012 #14

How many history classes did you take? How many "history" books did you read? AnotherMcIntosh Dec 2012 #22

We were taught History by looking at the great themes that ran through certain ages... WCGreen Dec 2012 #51

. AnotherMcIntosh Dec 2012 #70

This message was self-deleted by its author HiPointDem Dec 2012 #25

This is obscene. Skidmore Dec 2012 #2

Common Core. It's awful. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #5

the dumbing down of americans spanone Dec 2012 #3

Continues.... SammyWinstonJack Dec 2012 #8

Americas' Number One Product. STUPIDITY! n/t RKP5637 Dec 2012 #17

my sentiments exactly! Dalai_1 Dec 2012 #76

I find this really reprehensible lunatica Dec 2012 #6

Doesn't matter whether teachers are outraged or not. Smarmie Doofus Dec 2012 #11

The 70% is not restricted to English classes alcibiades_mystery Dec 2012 #7

This is not nonsense. CC emphasizes non-fiction. proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #13

I not sure that is true. Look at the Common Core website. Jennicut Dec 2012 #26

Thanks AlexSatan Dec 2012 #31

look here as well: HiPointDem Dec 2012 #37

This is great literature and English Class is the best way to talk about WCGreen Dec 2012 #41

I have no problem with analyzing these texts. But that used to be done in history/social studies, HiPointDem Dec 2012 #44

It is great writing that has a deep meaning. WCGreen Dec 2012 #45

Regardless, reading historical documents in english class takes class time away from reading HiPointDem Dec 2012 #53

I am of the opinion that Social Studies and English should be integrated exboyfil Dec 2012 #129

They were when I was in high school, all taught in "home room." Eleanors38 Dec 2012 #153

They tried to integrate history and English at my high school XemaSab Dec 2012 #171

I agree the Constitution et al is crucial – but what are they studying in the Poli Sci class? snot Dec 2012 #58

Those things are specifically legal and political documents, they are not literature. Spider Jerusalem Dec 2012 #192

They are, indeed, legal in nature, but the choice of words make them, to me, at WCGreen Dec 2012 #193

Are you sure it won't still be? Just because it's called "reading" doesn't mean pnwmom Dec 2012 #115

Maybe this is more of a "reading across the curriculum" thing. The items here would all fit into pnwmom Dec 2012 #111

Or talk to the teachers who know what's in this curriculum proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #66

CC includes a 'set' of base items. AtheistCrusader Dec 2012 #86

The person who are responding to is a teacher duffyduff Dec 2012 #106

Thank you proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #174

Do we really want a national curriculum? marions ghost Dec 2012 #68

Not me! n/t pnwmom Dec 2012 #113

Don't we want equality? oldhippie Dec 2012 #137

Teachers involved could answer this Q better than I can marions ghost Dec 2012 #154

Bill Gates needs to butt out of education policy duffyduff Dec 2012 #100

Indeed, he only went to elite private schools TexasBushwhacker Dec 2012 #163

We've had almost a national curriculum for a long time... jmowreader Dec 2012 #194

shop classes have nothing to do with common core. HiPointDem Dec 2012 #30

Ah--the Edumaction threads!!! Now, using the Torygraph! nt msanthrope Dec 2012 #75

This of course is not true duffyduff Dec 2012 #105

Killing creativity marions ghost Dec 2012 #9

I just read the English Curriculum for English and it is spelled out very well. WCGreen Dec 2012 #43

you 'just' read all 66 pages of the standards (not a curriculum, btw)? why do i doubt that? HiPointDem Dec 2012 #49

USA, Incorporated, preparing Americas' future serfs and lemmings for their RKP5637 Dec 2012 #10

You forgot the 2nd Commandment: Thou shalt diddle thy smartphone incessantly. - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #83

Definitely, and that could get one life for disobedience of the 2nd Commandment! n/t RKP5637 Dec 2012 #91

They have been teaching keyboarding and data entry for years in grade school. RC Dec 2012 #12

The Common Core Standards melm00se Dec 2012 #15

Thanks for the link. Very informative Freethinker65 Dec 2012 #23

Goddamned phonies! JVS Dec 2012 #16

Nicely done! Tom Ripley Dec 2012 #19

When will they start recommending that we burn books as in the book "Fahrenheit 451".... OldDem2012 Dec 2012 #18

Didnt Sarah Palin have a banned books list? davidn3600 Dec 2012 #35

Short list - she only "wrote" one book, IIRC JustABozoOnThisBus Dec 2012 #56

It's ironic that book is one of the books studied under this English Language Curriculum. WCGreen Dec 2012 #48

Farenheit 451 Brainstormy Dec 2012 #61

The study of "yellow journalism" should be part of the English curriculum FarCenter Dec 2012 #73

Couldn't students just pick up a copy of any Gannett paper from today and coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #84

The objective should be to analyse the rhetorical techniques of yellow journalism in a class setting FarCenter Dec 2012 #90

I can't imagine what use the California Invasive Plant Inventory would serve XemaSab Dec 2012 #20

The thing about art or music or literature ... LisaLynne Dec 2012 #21

Tough call. sadbear Dec 2012 #24

I'm of a few minds on this XemaSab Dec 2012 #32

Great Expectations. progressoid Dec 2012 #157

I Think It Comes Down RobinA Dec 2012 #110

To be fair, "Invasive Plant Inventory" is a lot more interesting than you might think jberryhill Dec 2012 #28

. XemaSab Dec 2012 #33

you sound bullish on invasive plant species Enrique Dec 2012 #47

I, for one, welcome our Oriental Bittersweet and Porcelain Berry masters FarCenter Dec 2012 #63

Bravo! Instant DUZY! Tip of my hat! - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #89

Here is where parental involvement Aerows Dec 2012 #29

Yup, but every spring and fall they should be voting the fuckers out that support this horseshit TheKentuckian Dec 2012 #38

Was it ever in the curriculum? Brickbat Dec 2012 #34

To Kill a Mockingbird is standard reading in middle schools around the country, but duffyduff Dec 2012 #59

I've never read either one. We had "Moby Dick" and "Beowulf". TwilightGardener Dec 2012 #87

The prudes will probably zero in on MD next, for all the latent coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #152

Hell, if I had known there were ANY interesting themes in Moby Dick, TwilightGardener Dec 2012 #155

MD is a wonderful novel and bears repeated readings. Unfortunately, its length and complexity coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #165

Good TuxedoKat Dec 2012 #181

Moby Dick is the greatest book I've ever read CrawlingChaos Dec 2012 #190

In My School RobinA Dec 2012 #114

We read To Kill a Mockingbird in 6th grade in a Catholic school proud2BlibKansan Dec 2012 #119

I just went through the list of the Fiction for the high school aged kids and there was a lot of WCGreen Dec 2012 #36

The book is titled 'The Catcher in the Rye' and the article gets that wrong... Bluenorthwest Dec 2012 #39

"Catcher in the Rye" is an acceptable short-form title in popular parlance, methinks. Not coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #92

It seems like they want to kill all beauty, art, and the human imagination. sinkingfeeling Dec 2012 #40

They want a nation of compliant worker drones woo me with science Dec 2012 #132

"The Catcher in The Rye" is a horrible book. FarCenter Dec 2012 #42

We read A Separate Peace instead.... WCGreen Dec 2012 #50

I read both... sadbear Dec 2012 #52

I Suppose If Someone Has To Explain It To You... WiffenPoof Dec 2012 #54

What percent of public HS students have the experience to relate to Holden Caulfield? FarCenter Dec 2012 #65

Yeah, but that goes for pretty much every piece of literature they make kids read. sadbear Dec 2012 #77

Oh, I'd guess about 99%. But I'm assuming that the prevalence of phonies is coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #95

Phonies... sadbear Dec 2012 #97

This Minute Percentage RobinA Dec 2012 #118

Me too...^^This^^! Surya Gayatri Dec 2012 #128

(*sigh*). WiffenPoof Dec 2012 #122

I imagine many people believe the reading lists should indeed be dumbed down LanternWaste Dec 2012 #166

Our English class read The Sound and the Fury junior year. Starry Messenger Dec 2012 #179

Ha-ha. I get to tell my Faulkner joke. Turns out William sent the galleys of coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #186

OMG. Starry Messenger Dec 2012 #189

I didn't like it either, far better options out there. KurtNYC Dec 2012 #62

Ever since Charles Manson, the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" has been on my coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #98

Your reading assignment this week, should you accept it, is to coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #94

I'm busy with "Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence" FarCenter Dec 2012 #169

OK, you're excused this week. But I will expect it re-read over the holidays and coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #176

"Thinking Fast and Slow" and "Physics of the Future" are already in queue FarCenter Dec 2012 #180

i didn't have to read it for school ... chose to read it on my own ... wanted to slap that spoiled Scout Dec 2012 #96

OMG. Holden is John Lauber to Stradlater's Mitt Romney. You coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #101

LOL Scout Dec 2012 #142

OK. I live my life vicariously through the protagonists of novels and histories, I confess. But coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #144

Second your sentiment exboyfil Dec 2012 #172

Joyce more overrated than, say, Horatio Alger? More overrated than, oh, coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #175

Most best novels list exboyfil Dec 2012 #178

Technical note: JC and RandJ are 'plays,' not 'novels'. If I were going coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #185

My daughter loved Julius Caesar exboyfil Dec 2012 #188

"Midsummer Night's Dream" is an eminently watchable play. I vastly prefer seeing it to coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #191

I don't think that was part of the reading list when I went quinnox Dec 2012 #46

Long before there was DU, there was 'Catcher in the Rye Underground.' I went coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #104

I didn't read it at school either. And I can just imagine the complaints that classmates would have JVS Dec 2012 #136

This sounds incredibly misguided frazzled Dec 2012 #55

Common Core is a Bill Gates scam duffyduff Dec 2012 #57

curriculum is definitely one of the issues that needs to be addressed liberal_at_heart Dec 2012 #60

Has always been this way. One of the most read and most banned books for harun Dec 2012 #67

yeah you can't have controversial books in the school curriculum liberal_at_heart Dec 2012 #85

This is outrage! RoccoR5955 Dec 2012 #69

i just figured out what to give my grandsons for christmas. barbtries Dec 2012 #71

Ridiculous, uninformed hysteria. There's no such thing as a "US school curriculum" Bucky Dec 2012 #72

Not here in Texas... sadbear Dec 2012 #78

Ironically, I teach in Texas. Plenty of them assign Catcher in the Rye to read. Bucky Dec 2012 #146

you're a teacher and you've never heard of common core? no, it's not a curriculum -- but HiPointDem Dec 2012 #139

They probably keep Bob Ueker's Catcher in the Wry. n/t brewens Dec 2012 #74

Heretical notion here. "Catcher in the Rye" should not be 'taught' in coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #81

These people are frickin' mental. jonthebru Dec 2012 #88

Yeah, 'cause fuck the arts Matariki Dec 2012 #93

Maybe we could find a way to sneak Smedley Butler's "War is a Racket" in to the curriculum... cascadiance Dec 2012 #102

Or any article by Chris Heges in the past 10 years.- n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #107

It's the Telegraph. Say no more. Say no more. struggle4progress Dec 2012 #103

And of course this news comes from offshore, but thank God for it! ReRe Dec 2012 #108

Other than saying that Catcher in the Rye has been banned in many schools, can anyone explain why AnotherMcIntosh Dec 2012 #117

I Can Tell You Why RobinA Dec 2012 #121

It's not. It's just a lousy whinefest Arkana Dec 2012 #124

It's just a lousy whinefest about some overpivileged white kid . . . who suffers coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #127

Yeah, I read Huck Finn and Grapes of Wrath, and those are different Arkana Dec 2012 #138

Have you ever known someone whom you saw headed for potential coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #141

Holden stands among giants like Ignatius Reilly, he doesn't need redemption. JVS Dec 2012 #145

Holden stands on the shoulders of Huckleberry Finn, imho. - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #149

What precisely leads you to that conclusion? LanternWaste Dec 2012 #167

Both Huck and Holden are willing to throw themselves away to rescue coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #170

Hmm, not sure I can answer why the book is "important." I can tell you that I have read it coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #140

This message was self-deleted by its author Surya Gayatri Dec 2012 #120

I can see dropping Catcher in the Rye Arkana Dec 2012 #123

Sad commentary on the state of American education--true education Surya Gayatri Dec 2012 #125

Big Brother hates the Arts. Rex Dec 2012 #126

I did bother to go to the site and print out and read these new curriculum standards. Not as bad as kelliekat44 Dec 2012 #130

this article is bullshitty. Warren Stupidity Dec 2012 #131

This message was self-deleted by its author devilgrrl Dec 2012 #133

Read that, didn't think much of it but had a great time. JVS Dec 2012 #134

This message was self-deleted by its author devilgrrl Dec 2012 #135

Remind me to avoid your DU movie coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #143

I don't give the 42 'fucks' that are in it; I'd teach it anyway. Point of view, irony are crucial to ancianita Dec 2012 #147

LOL Ever hear of Camazotz? Puglover Dec 2012 #150

I was a book worm as a kid in the 50s HockeyMom Dec 2012 #151

George Carlin put it best once.... AnneD Dec 2012 #156

Yet another reason to homeschool your chilren if possible. nt kelly1mm Dec 2012 #159

Ugh - informational texts? Politicub Dec 2012 #161

Everyone should be able to read and understand IRS Publication 17 before they can graduate FarCenter Dec 2012 #162

Lots of literature, lots of writing in high school Thirties Child Dec 2012 #164

I read Catcher in the Rye during my first year of High School. bluestate10 Dec 2012 #168

Yeah. Wouldn't want to stimulate anyone's imagination now, would we? WhoIsNumberNone Dec 2012 #173

it's all about militaristic schooling Mothdust Dec 2012 #177

"Facts. What I want are facts. Nothing but facts." Um, that was from coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #183

Teach kids to be slaves to the machine instead of enriching their creative senses. Roland99 Dec 2012 #182

Read Dickens' "Hard Times." He nailed it 150 years ago. - n/t coalition_unwilling Dec 2012 #184

sad news njcamden_25884 Dec 2012 #187