Stupid high school shit for the win.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

Namely English. Oh holy fuck. I'm never going to use any of this again in my life.

Two more years.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

1. Boy do I feel ya.

3 more years, lol.

At least you don't have religion class :)

[Iris]

2. you're never gonna talk, write, think again?

Sorry. Had to say it. I work in education.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Yes, you are.

Half the high school material that I thought I'd never use again came in handy later on.

[Iris]

4. yep. And I now wish I had taken more math. n/t

[Left Is Write]

6. So do I!

I can't think of any concepts I learned in high school that I didn't have use for later on, and I do wish I'd taken more math.

Additionally, the value of the education isn't always the subjects studied, but exposure to study methods and development of critical thinking skills.

[Critters2]

57. Me three! nt

[WritingIsMyReligion]

8. Minutely analyzing each word of a passage?

Didn't think so.

:P

[Breeze54]

9. Yes, Each word can be critical to the meaning, as it is

in life.

Remember President Clinton?

"It depends on what you mean by the word, 'it'?"

[RoyGBiv]

13. Oh, you will ...

If you learn it well enough, you'll do it essentially in your subconscious, but you'll do it. Since you write, you already do it to an extent. It becomes more instinctive the more you actually know about it.

I avoided advanced grammar in college until I absolutely could not do so any longer because I thought a similar thing. Break down a sentence so that it resembles an algebra equation? What manner of ivory tower would ever need this?

The one literature class I took that semester became easier and easier as we went along. I now use that fairly regularly when doing the occasional editing work.

[asthmaticeog]

14. Go into GD or GD:P.

Look at how many people are unable to parse the meanings of relatively simple sentences.

Then come back here and tell us that what you're doing in school is unnecessary. ;)

[Left Is Write]

55. ...

:thumbsup:

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Sorry, WIMR but that's really going to pay off later.

I know it feels silly and useless right now.

[tigereye]

17. ah, some would say deconstruction has ruined literature

I'm glad I studied English LIt in the era of "themes."

;)

[Fleshdancer]

25. I'm STILL bitter about doing that in HS

Not so much because I had to analyze stuff, but because if I analyzed it in a way that was different from the answer book, my answer was quickly dismissed. There was no conversation whatsoever. No exploration. When does accurate analysis form from hearing a question and then raising your hand with the perfect answer? In real life, a conversation actually takes place.

My funniest English class memory was in my Junior year and being denied the opportunity to read to the class Camille Paglia's analysis of The Scarlet Letter. For the rest of the week I had classmates come up to me and ask about it. Some laughed, some argued, and some became even more confused...but at least they were finally thinking.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

32. the skills you learn from it will be invaluable

especially if you ever consider going to college or grad school

[Iris]

38. It will help you minutely anlayze the hidden meanings of the corporate speak used in the mainstream

media today.

[RandomKoolzip]

56. No, seriously; you will honestly be VERY glad you learned that stuff.

[Orrex]

35. Well, that's the half that they should teach, then

And skip all that other shit.

[Danger Mouse]

5. what about english...

and what aspect are you never going to use again?

[BreweryYardRat]

7. Unless they've got you doing literary analysis, you're wrong.

English is the stuff you'll be using most.

Any math past basic algebra and statistics, on the other hand...

[Iris]

39. Skills used to analyze literature can also be used elsehwere.

Analyzing news stories, movies, and information presented by seedy mortgage lenders, just to name a few places critical thinking skills might come in handy.

[BreweryYardRat]

47. Critical thinking is great.

But hunting through a document for symbolism is generally pointless -- if the author intended it to be symbolic, the symbolism will be clear.

Look at Dickens. He came right out and made his points blatantly in his work, so far as I recall.

There's a difference between "what point is this author making?" and "is this a Jesus metaphor?"

[Iris]

48. Well, some authors are like Dickens and some aren't.

Analyzing symbolism and other literary elements in a work can uncover a whole other level of meaning.

[Ekirh]

10. I find it amusing someone

With the name WritingisMyReligion... doesn't think she'll use anything in a English class again. :P

Note: I know what your getting at, I'm just being a wise ass.

That and I'm just a failed and grumpy ex-english major.. so listening to me to begin with is not a good idea.

[Breeze54]

11. As they say, "You can't make this stuff up!"

:P

"WritingisMyReligion... doesn't think she'll use anything in a English class again."

[LostinVA]

20. So do I

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. I didn't learn to write in an English class

I learned to write by studying journalism.

[Mythsaje]

22. I learned writing by reading and writing...

Still learning, come to think of it.

[Iris]

40. you learned a style of writing in journalism.

Journalism is a different style of writing than academic writing, but that doesn't mean people don't learn to write by taking English courses.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

27. I usually love English.

I usually love even grammar. :o But this stupid shit of examining what someone means by, say, "is" is not really going well. I've already come to the exact same solutions subconsciously, without having to count how many frigging times the word "blue" is repeated and what that means for the passage's significance. I know what it means, and when blue is repeated 12 times in a paragraph, I get what the writer is jonesin' at. So does the wall.

[Orrex]

36. Can you give us an example?

What passage or author do you feel that you are being forced to over-analyze?

[Ekirh]

37. Like I said I understood what you

were getting at.. cause I had those moments in high school also, I just couldn't let that slide without busting your chops ;).

[Iris]

41. ah! My Shakespeare professor was fond of pointing out that the use of words

can give lots of clues to various levels of meaning in Shakespeare's work. "water" was one of the favorite words to "watch for"!

[jgraz]

12. I totally get where you're coming from

There is a way to teach high school English (and math and science, etc) where you actually WILL use just about everything you learn. I don't mean in a job-training, join-the-capitalist-machine way of use, but actually use to enrich your life.


Unfortunately, very few high schools teach that way.

ETA: Love your Avatar. I was just working on Waltz for Debby. :hi:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

29. Yes, that's what I'm talking about.

There's nothing wrong with learning to analyze literature, even in minute ways. The tools this class gives you to do so, however, are nontransferable to any other area in your life, unless perhaps you were to parse through the company training manual or something.

My boy Bill is one of my ultimate favorites in any genre. He has the touch. I personally LOVE your birds--they are too cute, in that bird way. :)

[Breeze54]

15. Just wondering if you were ever taught to diagram sentences?

That was drilled into me in parochial school, starting in 4th grade.

I don't know if they teach it anymore in public schools or if they ever did.

[liontamer]

19. I did that once!

It's actually a useful skill. I use it to help my students understand scientific writing. It helps to break it down to the basics. :hi:

and I've had students born in the 90's (:scared:) so they must still be teaching it.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

28. They apparently teach it.

I never learned it. I learned subject/predicate breakdowns the book way and have assimilated advanced grammar through reading and random Wikipedia/Google searches (yes, I search for things online when bored).

[Iris]

42. I learned in public schools - late 70s'/early 80s.

Thank God.

I use the technique frequently with my ESL (English Second language) students.

[redqueen]

53. They sure do.. I learned it about that same time...

and my daughter started on it in 3rd grade.

[DarkTirade]

61. It was covered once in my 12 years of public school...

7th grade gifted english. Never before and never again.

I think in elementary school some teachers tried to do basic diagramming, but since they never taught us anything more complicated than subject and verb, there wasn't much to diagram.

[Redneck Socialist]

18. Yeah I really regret being forced to read Walden, Antigone, The Great Gatsby...

Catcher in the Rye. Terrible, they should just ban that stuff.

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

24. Yeah but the Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick are pretty awful.

It's good to see more Lovecraft and Poe in English classes nowadays.

[Redneck Socialist]

43. Yeah, SL is a pretty tough read, but I love Moby Dick.

Though I have to admit I didn't really come to appreciate it until I studied it in College.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

26. Those are great.

:hi:

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

23. English Lit is surprisingly useful.

Calculus and Spanish not so much. (Mainly because one tends to forget almost everything foreign language and advanced math related)

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. You're never gonna use English again? Ballsy statement.

[DarkTirade]

31. Two more years of repeating the same lessons you learned 10 years ago,

or are they actually teaching you something new?

I swear to Thoth, I think I actually unlearned some english every year. I think 7th grade was about the peak, then every year they would actually teach us less than we'd covered the year before. It spiked up again when I got a good teacher in 9th grade, but that was a fluke.

[Iris]

44. As someone who tries to help college freshmen write better,

I WISH the same had happened to them.

Seriously, every year from 7th grade until I graduated we started the school year with Harbrace's grammar book for at least 4 weeks. And when I work with kids who don't even know what a complete sentence is, I thank my lucky stars for my drillmaster English teachers.

[DarkTirade]

50. As someone who took college english fairly recently

I can tell you for a fact that the kids who went through the same school systems as I did managed to get through without learning a damn thing. Considering that I know I'm the exception, being someone who was an avid reader from childhood, I think this says more about the school systems than the kids.

[Iris]

52. I didn't really mean to fault the kids.

I know they can learn because they are playing catch up with some success.

[DarkTirade]

60. I'm not saying you were, I was just saying that from my experience, it isn't their fault. :)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

45. Yup.

Pretty much it. What a waste of a potentially useful (VERY useful) subject.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

33. analytical skills are highly important. when you take your SAT's and GRE's the math questions

arent really about math knowledge but instead require critical reading and analysis. this stuff will be important to you regardless of which field you eventually pick (assuming you are not picking manual labour: in which case i really dont know)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

46. I've taken the SATs twice, so I know how weird the math questions are.

:crazy:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

62. my maths score both sat and gre were over 95 percentile.

only because my analytical abilities are great.

[Sugar Smack]

34. Oh, come on! You can appear urbane & witty at cocktail parties

later on. Work it, baby! :P

[Arugula Latte]

49. I actually used ALGEBRA the other day.

My son is in 5th grade and he had a problem that looked to me like an algebra set-up (even though his class isn't exactly solving for two unknowns yet). I was able to set up the equation and solve it. Haven't used algebra since the early 80s. :woohoo:

[Blue-Jay]

51. Yes. English classes are a waste of time for a writer.

You should take more math classes or learn to play the oboe.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

59. Oboes suck.

Sort of literally. :D

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

54. You need a comma between

"fuck" and "I'm". Maybe stick it out, eh?

;)

[GOPisEvil]

58. Wait until you have to read what other people write.

You will wish that everyone took English seriously. Sometimes I find it difficult to believe the stuff I read was written by native English-speakers.