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You're reading Why must teachers torture students with "classic" literature like "a tale of two cities"? they could learn just as well doing reports on more modern novels by people like Asimov, Heinlein, r.a. Salvatore, piers Anthony or harry turtledove.
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Comments
what i mean is, why not something more "in the now" something that is more comprehensible.
my little sister loves to read as much as i do, but reading and reporting on "a tale of two cities" is cruel and unusual punishment.
I am trying to help her and it makes my head hurt just reading this drivel.
why couldn't the schools assign something that the students would enjoy reading rather then something they hate and want to forget as soon as they finish the report?
by zwatcher on January 5th, 2009
The concept is that all story lines are the same - Dickens, Shakespeare, and the modern writers - they simply become more personalized with relative context. Dickens was a fantastic story writer that painted a vivid picture of his times. We cannot deny people the right to read contemporary novels, unfortunately there are very few people today that would even read a Tale of two Cities without being forced to.
by Hyacinth is not a Shrinking Violet on January 6th, 2009
that's because it hurts, like trying to read the directions for your new Russian made exercise machine, which were written in Cyrillic, translated to Japaneses and then from Japanese into English by a Spanish translator making $2.50 an hour.
by zwatcher on January 6th, 2009
Another reason that a teacher may want you to read a classic novel would be perhaps to allow you to explore (even if it is forced) new kinds of writing (or old, in this case). Although some people will find this as nearer to a form of torture rather than a new experience, some may find a love for classics that they never would have guessed they would contain, a love which they would never have discovered if not for a little persuasion from the teacher. I am into the classic reads, and I definitely encourage them to any reader, but I will say that there is a difference between being forced into reading a classic and being given a recommendation.
by Tojointhemoon on January 12th, 2011