Happy New Year!
You JUST figured that out? *facepalm*Originally Posted by Eosian
I didn't know who Tennyson was, didn't care, but I googled him anyways. Now I know.
Not everyone needs to know who Tennyson is to succeed anyways. I mean, look at me! I'm so much more successful just by knowing about him!
Familiarity with a wide array of creative works assists in thinking outside the box and creatively adapting to situations and environments.
You might be able to live your life happily as an order taking grunt who never has to think but that isn't the same as living to your fullest.
Even if you're naturally creative, wider horizons give you more places to go.
B> more time to live my life to the fullest (unless that means to live with certain detractions and donotwants)
Not saying I reject your ideals, there's the occasional through-provoking story like "Bloodchild", but 70% of most anything seems to be similar to something these days.
I completely agree with this mantra, but it also doesn't give the arrogant right to condescendingly interact with people like you are. You want people to read more books and become enlightened and creative? Persuade them by saying "Read more books and enjoy the ideas they contain!" rather than "Read more books or else you're ignorant, unintelligent, and incapable of adapting to situations and environments."
I suppose this comment was aimed more at the opinion that it's essential to know who Tennyson is, as your quoted reply is persuasive from an encouraging standpoint, but you had made such comments earlier, so I just wanted to step in and contribute my two cents.
Exactly where is it condescending to tell someone that their school system is failing to educate them as fully as it could be?
For it to be arrogant or condescending I would've had to imply they had equal opportunity and still came out inferior, or for that matter stress their inferiority in some way.
I pointed out they're not being given a fair chance. That's observation.
Why is it a failure not to cover one specific person? There are countless poets and artistic styles out there, and in any reasonable curriculum, for each thing that is taught, there are many more that must be left out. It's an impossibility to cover everything that can be.
Saying that a school system that doesn't cover Tennyson is a failure
is like
saying that a diet that doesn't include three kumquats every two weeks is unbalanced.
Yet you'd likely agree that them not covering Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, or William Shakespeare was a failure.
Every subject has some people who are considered the basics. Keats, Kipling, Poe, Tennyson, Byron, plantaininson.
Even if they don't do an exhausting curriculum on every major contributor they should at least have identified them.
Excuse my wording before; what you are is ignorant towards how other school systems operate. While I agree there are some people who one might consider basics taught in the basic subjects, clearly not every school district includes every one of such people and chooses to focus on others. I can understand surprise at not someone not knowing something or someone you consider widely known, but remarking that someone's school district failed them is crossing the line into snide rudeness.
Was more appalled horror, but I can see how it'd be hard to judge without tone.
Although you say that you did not mean to condescend, I initially indeed interpreted your post as such. But...I will try to explain what I know.
Different states have different cultural distributions and backgrounds. For example, my state (CA) has arguably more Hispanic and Asian immigrants than most other states here in the U.S. Thus, it makes sense if education differed a bit from other white-majority (or whatever the ethnic domination) states to suit cultural needs and adaptations. Perhaps to most students in this state, it is more important to focus on grammar, mathematics, and basic linguistics instead of the more sophisticated old English poetry and literature analysis, where there might perhaps be greater difficulty for the material to be absorbed and less application in fields post-high school. In addition, each state's school system priorities also relate directly to the universities'/colleges' emphasis as well as job opportunities in that state, as well as the overall politics towards technology, literature, physical education, etc. Given that each child learns things at a different pace, and perhaps children from a variety of different cultural backgrounds having different needs...the values and emphasis of an education, therefore, cannot be so black and white in our society today.
And well...in terms of identification (for poetry authors...name identification is a bit different in this case from simply naming Galileo and the Heliocentric theory)...that serves pretty much no purpose if they aren't going to be studied in detail...as they would be forgotten not long if there's only just bare mentioning of name. So either the chances are that they weren't taught, or we all have forgotten them - both would seem to indicate to you that our school systems have failed us...and thus again, I point to my explanation above.
Also, not everyone was born here in the U.S. or came here in time to be taught certain things.
Operation of school systems is a lot more complicated than just a bulleted list of things to teach based on "classics."
I hope this explanation can open up your mind more...beyond what literature books have taught you. =)
P.S. I've never heard of/remember this guy (nor Keats and Kipling - even though I do know of The Jungle Book), and I'm a 4th year computer science engineering major at U.C. Davis.
Last edited by MysticHLE; 2010-01-05 at 02:05 AM.
Really seems to just boil down to "what do we have to cram them on to pass standardized tests so we get funding". Which goes back to my original point about them failing to actually educate.
We've wandered too far off topic for this thread though so let's just call it difference of perspective.
You don't need to read his work in school to know about him.
Heck Nexon has even heard of him and they're a bunch of Nexons.
Then again, Americans have an unreasonable amount of dislike for British authors (and poets, rr so gay) so I guess it's to be expected that he would be glossed over in favour of Twain and such.
Last edited by Stereo; 2010-01-05 at 11:07 AM.
Whoa whoa! Actual poetry from an actual person, in MY Maplestory?
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