This really hits home with me:
Remember the essays you had to write in high school? Topic sentence, introductory paragraph, supporting paragraphs, conclusion. The conclusion being, say, that Ahab in Moby Dick was a Christ-like figure.Oy. So I'm going to try to give the other side of the story: what an essay really is, and how you write one. Or at least, how I write one.
…
The most obvious difference between real essays and the things one has to write in school is that real essays are not exclusively about English literature. Certainly schools should teach students how to write. But due to a series of historical accidents the teaching of writing has gotten mixed together with the study of literature. And so all over the country students are writing not about how a baseball team with a small budget might compete with the Yankees, or the role of color in fashion, or what constitutes a good dessert, but about symbolism in Dickens.
With the result that writing is made to seem boring and pointless. Who cares about symbolism in Dickens? Dickens himself would be more interested in an essay about color or baseball.
How did things get this way? …
That's all I've read so far, but he certainly has my attention.
If I ever get to teach writing, I hope it will be by helping my pupils to write about what they want to write about, and to think about what they want to think about. Letters soliciting career advice. Explications of the Premier League scoring system and what difference three points for a win instead of two has made. Why rap is great despite what parents and teachers (and I) say about it. Why I am bored. Which were the best movies this summer. Why girls are stupid. Why boys are stupid. Why boys are still stupid but …
You can be logical and entertaining and informative and persuasive about anything. I strongly agree that confining it to being logical and entertaining and informative and persuasive about English literature is a big mistake.
Thanks to Arts & Letters Daily (which really is daily for me) for the link to this.
On the other hand, if you really are interested in symbolism in Dickens …
I would say that by observing what they've assigned to my freshman daughter, your observation would be correct. However, I also remember (it was only two years ago) my college english courses. Writing 121, Tech writing, I hated it, they really didn't care about what I wrote about (I knew the subjects that I chose) but they would nitpick the papers to death. I really don't write THAT bad, but my grammar isn't the best, either. I do well in the business world (better than most) but I was never much better than a B in writing class.
I remember english lit in high school, they pointed out some of the nuances and symbolism in the various classic books. For the most part I didn't care, I only care (as does my daughter) if the book is well written and if I find it interesting. Otherwise reading it is a chore. Now they are trying to get the kids to understand (by themselves without too much teaching) what the 'theme' of the book is. Why? Who really cares? My daughter had to read a book over the summer, due to circumstances we ended up with "The Day No Pigs Would Die". She hated the book, due to what happened in it. I hated it for the same reason. She had to write a paper, NOT on what the book was about (i.e. a book report) - no, they wanted the various themes that ran through the book. I really don't understand what the kids are suppose to learn from it.
It's like going to a movie (to me). I go for enjoyment, I rarely go for the 'philosphical' content. If I see a link, or how it hooks up with a cultural/social/political theme - great, I guess I enjoy it on another level. However, I go to dang thing for enjoyment. It could have all sorts of themes running through it, but if I'm not enjoying it at the entertainment level (same with books), you'll have a very hard time getting your other messages through to me.
Just my two, okay three cents worth.
And three very welcome cents worth, I assure you. Thanks, Mike. And I don't konw if I always succeed, but I am generally trying to entertain with the stuff I fling up here, even if it sometimes doesn't seem like that.
Your point about doing only so-so during schooling but much better at business is particularly worth us all being told.
I found writing history essays at school much more interesting than english essays. In history you were actually allowed to have important ideas about the world around you, to draw conclusions and to defend them. E.g. thinking about the impact of long-run inflation on the poor in Tudor/Stewart England has an impact on your thinking about inflation today. In English - well, hey, if you can find a series of symbols in the book, no one's going to argue that they're not there or bring up counter-examples. (I actually find English essays quite interesting now, when they're about books I like they add another depth of experience. But I didn't like most of the books we studied at school).
The history essays we wrote sound much more like the essays the author talks about writing.
BTW, I always thought the reason for a conclusion was for the inattentive reader, or someone just skimming. I know frequently in reading professionally I jump to the conclusion to get the results and to get an idea of whether there's anything new in the main body's arguments.
Hmm. Well, as a future teacher of English and currently enrolled in methods classes right now, I see the need for both. I think books, movies, and media are important not only if you find them interesting, but yes, the philosophical value. I'm sure most of us can find the value in Orwell's 1984 now that we have the "Patriot" Act. However, letting students express their ideas about what they are interested in and wha'ts important to them is equally needed in school. There will arguably, be more times in our lives when we are apt to write a piece on what we're interested and why rather than the representations of the wallpaper in the "Yellow Wallpaper". Even though I don't like that particular story, I see the point of using it to represent feminism and illustrate points about the history of women's rights (or general history of the late 1800"s). I think that books are things we can reference to all in our lives, for inspiration or what not. And being able to express these things in an essay improves our ability to articulate our relationships and situations in our reality. I really think it comes down to being able to put coherent thoughts together and use texts (or other reference) to prove your point.
