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Well put james. Ive got Oliver twist on deck. Looking forward to it.
Give it time, once you get into it I promise you will not regret it. Best of luck.
Reading a lot of 'classic' writers like Dickens, Hardy, Conrad, we are reading a denser, more detailed narrative in English language considerably different than how we speak and write today. But I agree that it's so worth the effort to get used to these writers' styles, and that of translated writers too. And not that there has to be a pay-off, but getting used to that kind of writing really helps if you do graduate work of any kind because that reading material is often quite dense too.
Great that you're getting into those books, you've just stepped into a bigger library.
I didn't just step into a bigger library. We read those authors in high school and I have read them ever since. I think it's a mistake to withhold them as too difficult or 'boring' for high school students. There is no better time to begin than then. Some will respond, some will not, but high school should help students learn how to read more difficult text than in newspapers and mainstream magazines. They will be dealing with denser text if they continue their educations. I have worked as a TA; reading is a major hurdle for unprepared students.
Archipelago, have you read or listened to For Whom The Bell Tolls? As I mentioned previously, I am not a big fan of Hemmingway but that book was pretty good to listen to on cd.
Kallie, Some people like to read and some do not. Each person has different level of ability and interest. I am an avid reader but my three children seem to have inherited their reading ability and interest from their father. None of them really care for it all that much. It hurts my soul but then they are full of common sense and ability to get by in the world while I am on disability for ocd. We can't lump everyone together and that is where schools seem to get it wrong in my opinion.
Dianna, I don't think reading well defines all important forms and expressions of intelligence. People in the pre-literate world probably did a lot of things better than we do. I'm talking solely about academics. At present, there is no way to take a survey course about anthropology without reading and comprehending a great deal of material, because obviously students can't go visit and compare other world cultures within a semester. Even if a person who didn't read well made a better ethnographer than many people who do read well, they have to get over those first, introductory reading hurdles. There would also be little point to their research if they couldn't communicate about it in writing, and people who don't read well usually don't write well either. I'm not saying that coming up with better means of learning and communicating is impossible, but so far no one has come up with better ways. I also agree with you that their could and should be more diverse approaches to teaching children how to read since you are right in saying that lumping them all together doesn't work.
You are exactly right Kallie that reading is just one expression of intelligence. That's pretty much what I was trying to say.
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Andrew
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Apr 15, 2014 09:33AM
Well put james. Ive got Oliver twist on deck. Looking forward to it.
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Give it time, once you get into it I promise you will not regret it. Best of luck.
Reading a lot of 'classic' writers like Dickens, Hardy, Conrad, we are reading a denser, more detailed narrative in English language considerably different than how we speak and write today. But I agree that it's so worth the effort to get used to these writers' styles, and that of translated writers too. And not that there has to be a pay-off, but getting used to that kind of writing really helps if you do graduate work of any kind because that reading material is often quite dense too.
Great that you're getting into those books, you've just stepped into a bigger library.
I didn't just step into a bigger library. We read those authors in high school and I have read them ever since. I think it's a mistake to withhold them as too difficult or 'boring' for high school students. There is no better time to begin than then. Some will respond, some will not, but high school should help students learn how to read more difficult text than in newspapers and mainstream magazines. They will be dealing with denser text if they continue their educations. I have worked as a TA; reading is a major hurdle for unprepared students.
Archipelago, have you read or listened to For Whom The Bell Tolls? As I mentioned previously, I am not a big fan of Hemmingway but that book was pretty good to listen to on cd.
Kallie, Some people like to read and some do not. Each person has different level of ability and interest. I am an avid reader but my three children seem to have inherited their reading ability and interest from their father. None of them really care for it all that much. It hurts my soul but then they are full of common sense and ability to get by in the world while I am on disability for ocd. We can't lump everyone together and that is where schools seem to get it wrong in my opinion.
Dianna, I don't think reading well defines all important forms and expressions of intelligence. People in the pre-literate world probably did a lot of things better than we do. I'm talking solely about academics. At present, there is no way to take a survey course about anthropology without reading and comprehending a great deal of material, because obviously students can't go visit and compare other world cultures within a semester. Even if a person who didn't read well made a better ethnographer than many people who do read well, they have to get over those first, introductory reading hurdles. There would also be little point to their research if they couldn't communicate about it in writing, and people who don't read well usually don't write well either. I'm not saying that coming up with better means of learning and communicating is impossible, but so far no one has come up with better ways. I also agree with you that their could and should be more diverse approaches to teaching children how to read since you are right in saying that lumping them all together doesn't work.
You are exactly right Kallie that reading is just one expression of intelligence. That's pretty much what I was trying to say.
