• Captain Aggravated
    link
    fedilink
    English
    43 days ago

    It does feel a lot like that, doesn’t it? Why else would the Bronte sisters be on the curriculum if not to snuff out any interest in literature?

    • @Treczoks
      link
      13 days ago

      It could be worse. We read Brecht and Kafka. Several works of them. I’ve never encountered worse waste of paper and ink than those idiots. And the rest was not much better.

      • kronisk
        link
        33 days ago

        Just because it was wasted on you doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea, Kafka’s short stories especially (Die Verwandlung, Ein Landarzt etc) are accessible for teenagers and a good gateway drug to get interested in other things. Which is really important for kids that don’t have natural access to literature at home.

        • @Treczoks
          link
          13 days ago

          Sorry, but I experienced “Die Verwandlung” as written diarrhea of a person with severe mental problems. “Der Prozess” didn’t improve my opition of him, either.

          • kronisk
            link
            03 days ago

            Well, lead a horse to water etc, doesn’t mean we should stop making teens read books in school they wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise. At least now you have both read and formed an opinion on two of the most influential and well regarded works of world literature. (And hopefully they also made you read a lot of other literature in diverse styles and genres.)

            • @Treczoks
              link
              12 days ago

              The problem is not about “reading books they would not read otherwise”. Sadly, many, if not most, kids don’t get exposed to books anymore except in school. And then they are confronted with unlikable stuff that makes them shy away from ever touching a book again.

              I still hope that one day the people who decide what children and teens should read in school get their elitist heads out of their asses and actually try to get kids to read because they enjoy reading a book. Problem is that most people in that area seem to hate books that actually sell in the shops because people like to read them. Like I said about Reich-Ranizky once: he would not notice a good book if it bit him.

              • kronisk
                link
                12 days ago

                So the obvious solution is they should read more books, more varied stuff, not less. Popular, niche, basic, normative, weird, etc.

                Of course, your assumption that all teens hate Kafka just because you do is demonstrably false. The assumption that books sell simply because they are actually better and more enjoyable to read is also false, there are a lot of other factors at play.

                The kids that enjoy reading will find what is pushed in the book shops anyway, but kids from working class homes will never be exposed to anything else - and therefore have no chance to decide if they like it or not.

                • @Treczoks
                  link
                  12 days ago

                  Of course, your assumption that all teens hate Kafka just because you do is demonstrably false.

                  Ask my class. They all considered him seriously mind-fucked.

                  • kronisk
                    link
                    12 days ago

                    Sure, send me their phone numbers and home addresses, I’ll conduct a little survey.

    • kronisk
      link
      03 days ago

      Only boring kids would find Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre boring. Both books would be excellent choices in any curriculum. If you wanna talk boring early 19th century authors, Jane Austen is the name you’re looking for.