Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich
Thoughts on TuesdayTax the Rich
(and some Movie Monday, sort of)
Well, a big weight has been lifted because I frogged my Advent Scarf. Life is good. Life is free. What was I thinking to tackle this now? More on Knitting Friday.
On Saturday, we walked to the only Barnes and Noble store with a sales annex in NJ. It's an easy walk in nice weather. Why didn't someone tell me winter is upon us? (OK, "upon us" is straight out of LOTR and yes, I have been watching it much too much lately.) I like to look at the books in the annex, sometimes I buy some and Saturday I had a "no strings attached" coupon from BN to all ex-Borders customers. Nice deal. Almost every book was a sale in the annex so I got a 1500 page literature anthology which was 1/2 of $6 + my 20% off coupon. (Of course, the cashier just scanned the bar code and said: $41.50, but we straightened that out.)
I think I've mentioned that lit anthologies are very good for upper middle school and high school. But I doubt they even exist anymore since the trend is to individual novels and usually teen lit novels. I have some anthologies from my dad and I've bought some at book sales. There are still "great works" anthologies out there; that is, 1000+ pages of classical literature with usually an introductory page for each section. But I'm talking about the anthology which presents a selection (no more than 5 - 1- pages or even a few stanzas of poetry) and after the selection presents questions for detail, discussion and essays. That type of anthology you don't see any more.
So, I was surprised to pick up this one at BN. It was a complimentary copy to the instructor (I wonder if it made the cut.) and was chocked full of works and questions.
And also, it was severely dumbed down. OK, the first selection was Frost but it was the old chestnut, The Road Not Taken. The first short play was by Wendy Wasserstein who is more culturally popular than classically grounded. There were some excellent probing questions after each selection but then there were pages and pages of student responses to the works. By page 100, I realized the author was using a lot of space walking the reader slowly through the stages of writing a good, analytical essay.
By then, I was trying to figure out just what group is being written to here. A lot of this is very basic: figures of speech, grammar, etc. Introductory college course? If so, just what did these kids learn in high school. Introductory community college course? Possibly. I'm not saying high school only because the damn book weighs so much those kids would revolt.
Now, you may have the impression that I'm trashing this book; I'm not. I am skipping a lot of the training she is giving to her intended audience and I'm concentrating on the selections and their questions. In fact, I spent the weekend polishing an analysis of Millay's poem, Pity Me Not. (A lot of the questions are: choose a work you really like and......) I did a close reading of PMN and for the first time, I saw things that previous readings (and there were many) failed to notice. It was a fun exercise. (Said by someone beyond the tediousness of school.)
Seeing this anthology, I realized that they still can be used as teaching tools and the argument of: Oh, we'd lose the kids if we do, is false. Obviously this text was including the students in the process. We may have to dumb down our lit but we don't have to abandon the classics. I'm not arguing to give them War and Peace instead of The Giver. I'm arguing, slip in a mix of the current and the classic. Bring back the anthology. It's a perfect way to present a panoply of literature in one place. But please, use lighter paper.
Which, if we're still talking about the dumbing of America, brings me to The Adjustment Bureau. We have a star (Matt Damon), and actress (Emily Blunt) and the keystone kops. What were they thinking? Watch it for a laugh. Or don't.
On Saturday, we walked to the only Barnes and Noble store with a sales annex in NJ. It's an easy walk in nice weather. Why didn't someone tell me winter is upon us? (OK, "upon us" is straight out of LOTR and yes, I have been watching it much too much lately.) I like to look at the books in the annex, sometimes I buy some and Saturday I had a "no strings attached" coupon from BN to all ex-Borders customers. Nice deal. Almost every book was a sale in the annex so I got a 1500 page literature anthology which was 1/2 of $6 + my 20% off coupon. (Of course, the cashier just scanned the bar code and said: $41.50, but we straightened that out.)
I think I've mentioned that lit anthologies are very good for upper middle school and high school. But I doubt they even exist anymore since the trend is to individual novels and usually teen lit novels. I have some anthologies from my dad and I've bought some at book sales. There are still "great works" anthologies out there; that is, 1000+ pages of classical literature with usually an introductory page for each section. But I'm talking about the anthology which presents a selection (no more than 5 - 1- pages or even a few stanzas of poetry) and after the selection presents questions for detail, discussion and essays. That type of anthology you don't see any more.
So, I was surprised to pick up this one at BN. It was a complimentary copy to the instructor (I wonder if it made the cut.) and was chocked full of works and questions.
And also, it was severely dumbed down. OK, the first selection was Frost but it was the old chestnut, The Road Not Taken. The first short play was by Wendy Wasserstein who is more culturally popular than classically grounded. There were some excellent probing questions after each selection but then there were pages and pages of student responses to the works. By page 100, I realized the author was using a lot of space walking the reader slowly through the stages of writing a good, analytical essay.
By then, I was trying to figure out just what group is being written to here. A lot of this is very basic: figures of speech, grammar, etc. Introductory college course? If so, just what did these kids learn in high school. Introductory community college course? Possibly. I'm not saying high school only because the damn book weighs so much those kids would revolt.
Now, you may have the impression that I'm trashing this book; I'm not. I am skipping a lot of the training she is giving to her intended audience and I'm concentrating on the selections and their questions. In fact, I spent the weekend polishing an analysis of Millay's poem, Pity Me Not. (A lot of the questions are: choose a work you really like and......) I did a close reading of PMN and for the first time, I saw things that previous readings (and there were many) failed to notice. It was a fun exercise. (Said by someone beyond the tediousness of school.)
Seeing this anthology, I realized that they still can be used as teaching tools and the argument of: Oh, we'd lose the kids if we do, is false. Obviously this text was including the students in the process. We may have to dumb down our lit but we don't have to abandon the classics. I'm not arguing to give them War and Peace instead of The Giver. I'm arguing, slip in a mix of the current and the classic. Bring back the anthology. It's a perfect way to present a panoply of literature in one place. But please, use lighter paper.
Which, if we're still talking about the dumbing of America, brings me to The Adjustment Bureau. We have a star (Matt Damon), and actress (Emily Blunt) and the keystone kops. What were they thinking? Watch it for a laugh. Or don't.
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