The whole time I was in high school and not reading whatever book was assigned in english class, I was tearing through any Stephen King book I could get my hands on. Now if someone had sat me down with say, Needful Things and said, "Okay, now why are these characters doing these things? What does this event/thing mean? Should you take it at face value, or look for some deeper meaning, and if so what might that deeper meaning be?" I probably would have paid attention. I would have paid attention because it was about something I actually liked.
I posted a response to this LiveJournal a few weeks ago about how I found myself doing a lot more critical thinking about the things I read and watched than I used to. The more I think about it, I think that's because I didn't really get into critically analyzing the things I read and watched until I moved to Bloomington, and a lot of my friends did that (more so than previous friends ever had). I got the habit from them. The reason I got the habit from them is because they were doing it about things they were interested in, which many times were things I was also interested in. I have now learned what I was supposed to have learned in back high school. I am almost 30. Kinda' seems a little late doesn't it?
Also interestingly enough, now that I'm almost 30, and have started to critically think about and analyze every thing I read, I'm planning on going back and reading a lot of that literature I was supposed to have read and got something out of in High School. I'm actually quite looking forward to it. I'm going to start with Mark Twain (just 'cause) and go from there.
My ultimate point being, if they had tried to teach me these critical skills in high school using something I was genuinely interested in I probably would have picked them up a lot sooner. That is why I hate the forced teaching of "literature" in high school. That curriculum didn't teach me what it intended to teach me, unless it actually intended to teach me how to piggy back off the work of other people to achieve a good grade.
no subject
I posted a response to this LiveJournal a few weeks ago about how I found myself doing a lot more critical thinking about the things I read and watched than I used to. The more I think about it, I think that's because I didn't really get into critically analyzing the things I read and watched until I moved to Bloomington, and a lot of my friends did that (more so than previous friends ever had). I got the habit from them. The reason I got the habit from them is because they were doing it about things they were interested in, which many times were things I was also interested in. I have now learned what I was supposed to have learned in back high school. I am almost 30. Kinda' seems a little late doesn't it?
Also interestingly enough, now that I'm almost 30, and have started to critically think about and analyze every thing I read, I'm planning on going back and reading a lot of that literature I was supposed to have read and got something out of in High School. I'm actually quite looking forward to it. I'm going to start with Mark Twain (just 'cause) and go from there.
My ultimate point being, if they had tried to teach me these critical skills in high school using something I was genuinely interested in I probably would have picked them up a lot sooner. That is why I hate the forced teaching of "literature" in high school. That curriculum didn't teach me what it intended to teach me, unless it actually intended to teach me how to piggy back off the work of other people to achieve a good grade.
Tony