The girl in charge is a voracious reader -- and has never been one to hold back an opinion. Here's her in-progress report on one of my favorite novels.
People, I weep.
And by the way, hold back on the obituaries for the liberal arts education. This girl (loving her theater class and tolerating her Victorian literature class) plans to major in the sciences. Oxford College of Emory University -- gotta love it!
Still sad about Jane Eyre, though . . . .
Jane Eyre was and is one of my favorites. I hope she changes her mind...
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, pretty soon the US government will effectively be removing literature from English class, so no one will have to "suffer" through these things. The Common CORE standards, which are already accepted by 46 states (thank God not Virginia--yet) mandate that 70% of the reading in English class should be nonfiction. I will weep for our ignorance and look for employment in private schools when it hits.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that literature is just about the only thing that teaches important and timeless life lessons to our children—certainly not music or TV, and most families have abdicated that responsibility (the neither read to or with their kids, and have little meaningful connection with the wisdom of the elder generations). What happens when we remove thought and philosophy from public school entirely and abolish memory in favor of electronic search engines?
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DeleteReading about these changes has once again made me grateful that my kids attend the high school they do. Every year their English reading lists have chock full of classics from all over the world. From BEOWULF to JULIUS CAESAR to CRIME AND PUNISHMENT to BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, my kids have gotten a great education! And their teachers' passion is demonstrated by Mr. Howard -- who started a Facebook event called "Read a Classic Book in 2013" (you should join!) and who comes to school on Superhero Day as "British Literature Man." A true superhero -- and total rock star!
DeleteI just hope these CORE Standards don't make it to Prince William County until the sunny girl has taken 12th grade English -- and I hope, I hope, I hope she gets Mr. Howard!