CliffsNotes for CliffsNotes? Yeah, Pretty Much.
If there’s one thing that’s wrong with this country, it’s that our poor, overworked, not-nearly-pampered enough children have too much reading to do. Why, there’s Twitter (“#lindsaylohan Hate when i record a show, then i dont have the episode that follows it!”), Facebook (“Yassi is missing old the days”), and SMS (“I was like LOL”), not to mention a myriad of long and complex bus and roadway signs.
What a shock it must be, then, for these little darlings to show up at school and be told by a teacher that they have to go through the entire 250-page Tom Sawyer! (Bowdlerized version, of course.) Or, Lord help them, the massive 600-page Invisible Man. And let’s not even mention the cruelty inherent in assigning any Dickens novel — littered, as they are, with sentences of more than eight words! It would take an ordinary high school or college student years to read one of these books. Which means that by the time he got to the end, he would have forgotten what took place at the beginning.
Luckily, the stalwart, not to say patriotic, publishing firm CliffsNotes looked with horror at what this nation’s future adults faced, and so that company designed its famous yellow-and-black summaries which cut student labor by at least fifty percent. For example, Tom Sawyer is down to a slim 96 pages in the CliffsNotes’ version, and Ellison’s book shrinks to just over 100. As one grateful student said in an Amazon review:
I had the read Ellison’s Invisible Man for AP Literature — and after struggling through the first five unbearably long chapters — I made a decision — To through th book out the window!!! Save yourself the agony of reading this “great” work of American literature — buy the cliffs notes — they have all of the info w/o the boring stuff!
You could almost see the tears of relief on his cheek, no?
But that was, as they say, then. And this is now. By God, civilization has moved beyond the printed word! We have iPhones, iPads, cell phones with apps aplenty. Why are we still forcing kids to read?
Well, we won’t, because CliffsNotes has not forgotten its mission. According to various news reports, that company is now producing brief internet videos of its famous crib notes which will be shown initially on AOL, since “everything in today’s world seems to be headed towards speedier and shorter ways to get information.”
Twain and Dickens are information you see; not art.
One cannot speak to Ellison, not having read him. But, Dickens? What a treacly, tedious, pernicious bore! His dialog isas bulky as the ‘text’ in the first paragraph is obscure. Why in the world would anyone think that the best way to inculcate an enthusiasm and appreciation in a child for reading would be to force them to read Dickens or anything comparably detached?
Style and content are what matters in a compelling read, and whatever value one might find in Dickens, most assuredly comes later in life, when one has matured. We’d do much better giiving students material that they could relate to in plot and understandable dialog. High-schoolers in the majority aren’t ready for sophisticated fare.
Speed and comprehension should be the goals in high school. not what some clueless ‘sophisticate’ wants to ram down some kid’s throat to “enlighten” him or her.
Get them to like reading, and they will find their own way.
Yeah, but Dickens on tape is hilarious. My 12 year old twins agree!
I’d rather think that the problem lies not with Dickens, but rather with the kids and the they are treated. They should be able to handle Dickens in highschool. Boring? Perhaps, but then again, so are the bulk of the text books they have to read. I like history, but the texts were always a snooze. However, I learned how to get through them to do my assignments.
If they don’t have an appreciation for reading and literature by highschool, it’s too late. They need to be progressively challenged, and learn how to deal with onerous tasks – like reading history text books – school is also part of learning about real life. Also, if they can’t handle classics of literature, whether they enjoy the classics or no, by the time they get to college (if they go, or even need too- I’m a fan of trade schools as an option), they will be in for a rude surprisein their first lit class (hopefully).
We seem to keep dumbing down expectations, either as expedience or in an effort to not damage self-esteem. Let’s not dumb them down further just because we had a bad experience with Dickens.
You’ve got to be kidding. Dickens still sells today because he’s one of the best writers of the last 200 years. The twaddle that preoccupies the chatty morons who flit around the Internet will be gone and forgotten in one day. Enviously calling someone who sees value in Dickens a ‘clueless “sophisticate”‘ addresses nothing to the truth apparent in these relative longevities.
It doesn’t take “sophistication” to read Dickens. He wrote for the masses and was very popular. All it takes is the slightest patience with the effect of reading from today’s vantage, and a little creative imagination.
This might not be apparent to one who feels that not being up on the breathless gossip of the moment makes a person “clueless”.
Invisible Man is the ultimate unreadable book. Utterly worthless, nothing but a crybaby grievance-fest. Adolescent angst poetry translated into prose. Anybody who puts this on a required reading list is committing a crime against the human mind.
however, ellison’s protagonist was “free” to pursue a life of isolation, self-pity, and angst
A kid wrote to me that Obama is a “genious.”
I would have settled for the CliffsNotes version of that.
Both Obozo and the kid who wrote to you have shown themselves to be, as lolspeak would have it, id10ts.
And the next step will be to minimize and shorten all history courses in this country as well. That’s probably why college kids today, not to mention high school kids, have such a horrible understanding of American history, not to mention European history. This is really, really, sad because if we do not know our past we are bound, as a nation, to make the same mistakes in the future. We also will not fully appreciate how great our history is and how much we have achieved as a nation in a little over 200 years. Perhaps that is the biggest accomplishment of a guy like Glenn Beck. Like him or hate him, at least he’s getting people to read more about American history. For that alone he should be applauded. It’s just sad that, with the billions and billions of dollars we spend on education these days, we have to rely on a guy on television to do that for us.
Cliffsnotes is too long a word. We need to start calling them Cliffs to save time….
In my last ten years of teaching English, I felt that I had to read the Cliff’s Notes and Spark Notes, in order to make it a point to include some quiz questions that could NOT be answered from them. Teachers should also be using plagiarism.org, or simple Google searches to look for suspicious lines in student-written work. I moved more and more toward in-class essays in which I had more control over the plagiarism piece, but some papers have to be longer, take-home works.
The internet has made cutting corners a way of life. The modern teacher for all the flak that he/she takes here, has to anticipate where the corner-cutting will be and assign accordingly. Some are good at it, some don’t have a clue, but as more teachers come in who grew up with the internet, they should be more savvy about the whole process. You will never catch everything and the “checking” eats up a lot of time, but otherwise you move more toward an education of students pretending to perform. Of course, once they go off to work in offices, they will spend some of their “work” time posting on Kos, Huffpo, PJM, and Facebook.
Oh brave new world that hath such creatures in it.
I went to get my car serviced at the local dealership first thing in the morning and while waiting I noticed that one of the receptionists was on Facebook. Ridiculous. Now that it’s an iPhone app I know people that are on it all day long.
“…you move more toward an education of students pretending to perform.”
D-White, are you obliquely dissin’ Mr. President?
Interesting, when commenting about your own personal domain, you are conservatively inclined. From personal experience, many “lefties” are that way.
Is Lather past 30?
I would like to think that I look at things the way they are. You are apparently among the kool-aid drinkers who think that Obama is the worst EVER, and can come up with a lot of creative reasons why; that puts you out on the edge, not me. You probably do not even see that he has held teachers unions feet to the fire more than in liberal President in memory. I see more clearly than you do. You would say it is because I am up on the fence. I say that you are seeing everything through your partisan tinted lenses, which finally cuts down on your vision I state facts and analysis; you usually dwell in obscure Lather-laced, name calling and innuendo. How else are you going to attack someone who attempts to tells it like it is with some historical context, not in some oddly tinted Founding Fathers or Jefferson Airplane mythology?
Well how ’bout that D-White! The mere mention of conservative inclination does what? How do you illustrate snarling in print?
No, Mr. President is not the worst ever. Check the record D-White, on what has been posted.
First, Mr. President as a President is inadequate, indeed, and without a doubt, his resume consists mainly of… his education. Mr. President’s lack of broad perspective reflects this, as does his inability to connect with others, and instill confidence. This is his failure. There will not be “change”, regardless of the outcome the of election cycle. He is not the worst, he but is the “best”. What does this say about the process? Quite a disconnect.
When a personality puts forth an agenda based on “Hope and Change” one need not go any further in their analysis. Using government in that context is simply anti-human in nature. “Hope and Change” is implemented on a person level, and those who wish (and believe) a Mr. President to implement it for them are living in a world that does not exist. Further, because of the nature of the wish, the ability of those who wish this for themselves is diminished, as well as those around them. Is short, wishes in do not equal wishes out granted.
This is a profoundly dishonest situation. Propagated by and used to deflect by Mr. President.
The D-White “centrist” label was, now is, merely window dressing, hence the allusions to fences, ping pong and Lather. Many leftists attempt this “compromise” routine. The powers observation are not the sole domain of those who by words and deeds characterize themselves as “hip” or who “…see more clearly than you do”, with “kool-aid” tossed in. The lame culture that has been sold (to you) post WWII has arrived with full force. It is also an abject failure. Something new is happening. Does the spirit of this reside in Alaska? As Rand said, “Check your premises”.
On the historical elite thing, the jab is at association vs. cause and effect. Rich + White + historical period does not = moral superiority or moral depravity. Again, cause and effect determines validity, not personal social construct, with Stalin is bad, therefore the Sun does not rise in the East, because he said so. Quoting any bible does not make it so.
In some ways, you may be more of an educator than you might think.
But that’s all over… ???
Sometimes you have some odd turns of phrase and syntax. I can’t tell if they are typos or you just think differently than English syntax dictates.
“he but is the “best”. ???
“Using government in that context is simply anti-human in nature. “Hope and Change” is implemented on a person level,” a person level?
“Further, because of the nature of the wish, the ability of those who wish this for themselves is diminished, as well as those around them. Is short, wishes in do not equal wishes out granted.
This is a profoundly dishonest situation. Propagated by and used to deflect by Mr. President.”
Profoundly dishonest? Really? Sounds like boilerplate political speech to me, which maybe by definition is dishonest because events always trump platforms. But government in conjunction with individual initiative can help make life at least a little better for the average person. Righties talk out of both sides of their mouths on this. On the one hand, they say that even our poorest are so much better off than 70% of the world’s population. But wait, we are going to hell, possibly we are already there. Hmmm.
“The D-White “centrist” label was, now is, merely window dressing, hence the allusions to fences, ping pong and Lather. Many leftists attempt this “compromise” routine.”
Because a “leftist” is someone who does not embrace your soon-to-be-mystically hopeful view of Alaska as Bethlehem? If you are saying all centrists are really leftists, then there is only 40% of the vote left for you. There is something oddly NON-pragmatic about the minds of many of the righties around here. Frankly, they seem to have more hope, belief (and despair) than I, for one.
“The powers observation are not the sole domain of those who by words and deeds characterize themselves as “hip” or who “…see more clearly than you do”, with “kool-aid” tossed in.”
Hip? I am what I am; reasonably well educated seeing things as I see them, often quite possibly through the glass darkly. Possibly even a poor vision, sir, but mine own (sort of).
” The lame culture that has been sold (to you) post WWII has arrived with full force. It is also an abject failure. Something new is happening. Does the spirit of this reside in Alaska? As Rand said, “Check your premises”.”
The culture is an “abject failure?” As opposed to what? As opposed to when? Alaska may be a last frontier, but if you are alluding to Ms. Palin for your hope and change, good luck with that. You can’t be serious.
“On the historical elite thing, the jab is at association vs. cause and effect. Rich + White + historical period does not = moral superiority or moral depravity. Again, cause and effect determines validity, not personal social construct, with Stalin is bad, therefore the Sun does not rise in the East, because he said so. Quoting any bible does not make it so.”
Cause and effect? Evidently, you think you see CLEAR cause and effect in…something. What were the CLEAR causes of the Great Depression or even our current extended housing crash-related recession?
“In some ways, you may be more of an educator than you might think.”
What? I suppose so, if I have elucidated things for you, but somehow I am guessing that’s not what you mean.
“But that’s all over… ???”
As I said to you very early on; you have some odd plot/vision which plays out in your mind. It is a very inner-directed thing, which latches onto a phrase or two of mine here and there, tries to mock it, but leads nowhere other than some Ayn Randian aura. Are you waiting for the New Jerusalem? I certainly had no expectation of it from Obama and it defies credulity that you would be expecting such from Palin, but I suppose that stranger things have been yearned for.
Life is always in tension between the things that are done for us and the things we do for ourselves. Neither vision works alone, despite whatever Ayn Rand says. Different periods calibrate the mix differently and our two party system makes it somewhat self-correcting. It is extremely messy, but we are born in blood and we die in our own sh*t. It is what it is.
Thanks for the red pencil treatment. Feel free…
D-White, the basic unit of human experience is the individual. If there is no “Hope and Change” on that level then there will be no “Hope and Change” on the group level. There is the implication of the use of force, or simply relying on the supposed lack of knowledge on the part of the individual. A group can never make a decision. For better of worse it is a but a vehicle, and is not the motive power of human existence.
Culture is meant to mean the dominant culture, that is the overwhelming representation of the Left in the political and communication/entertainment fields, since FDR. FDR is mentioned only as reference, the Progressive Era or Marx or Hegel or Plato or you name it is valid context.
The dominant feature of today’s culture, as defined here, is one of intense insecurity, and a lack of trust and truth seeking. There is little nuance, as one only need look at the political composition of this “culture” on an individual level. From this point of view, the Modern Liberal has come to personify this phenomenon. Certainly, as stated above, groups lead to less precision, and there is a multitude of individual positions. Nonetheless, a general sense of what is can be discerned.
When you first appeared on PJM, there was a trumpeting of the “centrist” ideal. Your comments revealed otherwise. The knee jerk put downs of those deemed conservative (blathering?) were/are all too apparent. This is a feature of Modern Liberal thought. It has become so reflexive that bringing attention to it elicits indignation, with the common blatant and/or thinly disguised allusions to “conservative” mental conditions. This is what the stock and trade of Modern Liberal discourse devolves to when challenged on the their basic premises. This is what the “culture” has become. You do know this on some level, and the comment on your students cheating is a reaction to this unpleasant reality.
Palin is something that has been present, but not to the Modern Liberal. This new aspect of reality arises in part because of the attention afforded her by the very forces that wish to wish her away. It’s not working in this case, hence the massive overreaction. What Mr. President represents is old school thought, a repetition the past, accenting the failure modes, and so far lacking in the ability to diverge from that imprint. That lack of flexibility (the very feature that you desire in others)is a symptom of intellectual/cultural failure. He is but a symbol.
You misjudge those on these pages at times. Many are libertarians, that old conservative caricature died sometime ago. The inertia of that paradigm has been picked up by the Modern Liberal, and its desperate application has revealed some unpleasant realities about that line of thought. And some “conservatives” fit that bill, they too reside in the past.
On a personal level, I was raised in one of the most liberal environments that exists. Marin County, Mill Valley, San Mateo County, Bay Area educated, employment in San Francisco proper, with a stint in Massachusetts. Professionally a musician/entertainer from an early age, and 15+ years in the Engineering field. So my exposure to liberal and Modern Liberal thought and action has been through. There is no sense of apartness from this, integration has never been an issue. And Rand is a sign post.
“Laying into” Modern Liberals has proven to be interesting, in that they are by far the least prepared intellectually to respond in a meaningful manner. Like many liberals, I think you are more conservative on a personal level and more liberal on the macro level. This is not about you per se. Take all this with a grain of salt.
Whether or you agree with this, is relevant to only to yourself. Others may view it differently, that is their prerogative.
An aside – The entertainment world has provided much insight into this. Mr. or Ms. Big or Little Star, in many cases, fit this analysis. What you see so often is not their personal political reality. From an early age, one observes and learns.
Making a joke towards a Modern Liberal from the stage in front of their peers is often devastating to them. Anger is expected. Interestingly, their peers enjoy it greatly, as long as it is not directed towards them. It’s vicious at times. So called conservatives could care less.
They just laugh with you.
Yeah, the back pages of PJM.
Mr Lucky, You wrote:
“D-White, the basic unit of human experience is the individual. If there is no “Hope and Change” on that level then there will be no “Hope and Change” on the group level. There is the implication of the use of force, or simply relying on the supposed lack of knowledge on the part of the individual. A group can never make a decision. For better of worse it is a but a vehicle, and is not the motive power of human existence.”
I say that there are at lest two basic units of human experience the individual and the group. Groups begin with the family and move all the way up to citizenship in the country. Such groups make decisions all the time. I don’t know Rand all that well; it has been a long time since I read The Fountainhead, but it seems that she worships the individual ONLY, to the denial of any responsibilities to the group.
“When you first appeared on PJM, there was a trumpeting of the “centrist” ideal. Your comments revealed otherwise. The knee jerk put downs of those deemed conservative (blathering?) were/are all too apparent. This is a feature of Modern Liberal thought. It has become so reflexive that bringing attention to it elicits indignation, with the common blatant and/or thinly disguised allusions to “conservative” mental conditions. This is what the stock and trade of Modern Liberal discourse devolves to when challenged on the their basic premises. This is what the “culture” has become. You do know this on some level, and the comment on your students cheating is a reaction to this unpleasant reality.”
I react to wacko remarks. It is possible that someone who believes that the “individual” knows all, tends to be more self indulgent in assertions of his/her own “individual” beliefs, because they are less mediated by societal “common sense.” As individuals (and I include myself” we are capable of all sorts of fantastic imaginings. Over my lifetime, I have learned that these gut feelings/beliefs have to be mediated against (to use conservative words) “shared tradition.” Or think Eliot “Tradition and the individual talent.” People who are religious subjugate (supposedly) their individual ego to the larger group/belief.”
“Palin is something that has been present, but not to the Modern Liberal.” This new aspect of reality arises…”
What IS Palin that is a new,but not new aspect of reality?
On a personal level, I was raised in one of the most liberal environments that exists. Marin County, Mill Valley, San Mateo County, Bay Area educated, employment in San Francisco proper, with a stint in Massachusetts. Professionally a musician/entertainer from an early age, and 15+ years in the Engineering field. So my exposure to liberal and Modern Liberal thought and action has been through. There is no sense of apartness from this, integration has never been an issue. And Rand is a sign post.”
Don’t understand those last two sentences at all.
————–
“Laying into” Modern Liberals has proven to be interesting, in that they are by far the least prepared intellectually to respond in a meaningful manner. Like many liberals, I think you are more conservative on a personal level and more liberal on the macro level. This is not about you per se. Take all this with a grain of salt.
Whether or you agree with this, is relevant to only to yourself. Others may view it differently, that is their prerogative.
An aside – The entertainment world has provided much insight into this. Mr. or Ms. Big or Little Star, in many cases, fit this analysis. What you see so often is not their personal political reality. From an early age, one observes and learns.
Making a joke towards a Modern Liberal from the stage in front of their peers is often devastating to them. Anger is expected. Interestingly, their peers enjoy it greatly, as long as it is not directed towards them. It’s vicious at times. So called conservatives could care less.
They just laugh with you.
Yeah, the back pages of PJM.
—————-
I would go back to these last paragraphs and try to make them cohere. You really are all over the place, a bit of this jumps to a bit of that. Really.
That’s a Hot Red Pencil, teach! Ebay it!
“You are apparently among the kool-aid drinkers…” Then…
“Don’t understand those last two sentences at all.”
Really? Avoidance D-White. It was just a laying out of the best Modern Liberal indoctrination you can get. If you equate experience (“In my last ten years of teaching English…”), then most of my personal experience has been with interacting Modern Liberals. There’s no animosity “…that puts you out on the edge…”, some of my best friends are Modern Liberals. Even so called communists! 90% of them that have had success and therefore $$$ are, in the least, stone cold fiscal hypocrites. When it comes to their money. Do touch it! But your $$$? The group owns it. Were talking Big Liberals.
Assuming a political affiliation simply because one is not a Mr. President fan reveals some pretty narrow thinking. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Mr. President is of little consequence at this point, as he has maginalized himself. Unless he gets it. It’s a matter of maturity, leadership and seeing the past as now, and leaving it behind.
Look at what Palin represents, not the person. Get past the “fascination.” Play a tune before an audience and you get a reaction. Crack a joke in front of the class and you get a reaction. Be what Palin is and there is a reaction. You can learn quite a lot that way. Cause and effect. Vs. association. She’s a Republican. He teaches English. He’s a musician. Placing a person in a group by definition diminishes their individuality. This is the province of shallow stereotypical thought.
Yes, those last paragraphs are difficult. Because there is a bit of D-White in there. Living in Liberalville will bring out the Marlin Perkins in many. It’s a different species in its natural, protected environment. “Clinging to their guns…” “… you move more toward an education of students pretending to perform….”, etc. Away from the protective cocoon, there is so much anger. Yeah D-White anger. Understood.
My writing? Too much Lib Ed. They love that stream of consciousness stuff. Diagram a sentence? Nah! Break that syntax, get an A and praise! Interesting, though, in the engineering field I did quite a bit of technical writing.
As you would say, “go figure”.
Lather’s dead.
walls of text— ffs
why the need to correct typos on a website that does not allow one to edit
As an iThing user (just got my iPhone) and a College student again (only took me 10 years to go back to college. :p ) I just have to say don’t knock what an iPad or Kindle can do for aiding in college classes. I remember way back in ’97 (Heh) how heavy and cumbersome all those books were when I did College the old way. I now do college online with ebooks when I can (I still have physical books BTW) which allows me to still do my real job while working on getting those stupid BS letters (literally) needed to go somewhere else.
As for the “Classics” I have to say I never really liked any that I was forced to read. I LOVE reading, don’t get me wrong, but EVERY English class forced me to read something or another and then dissect it in the stupidest ways. Are they great works? Oh no doubt they were major steps in literary history, but I shouldn’t be forced to go through them just because they are “good for me.” If I don’t enjoy it I’m not going to remember it. To Kill a Mocking Bird stands foremost in my mind as one I was forced to read but I can barely tell you two things about it. But I can give you full plot lines of the Foundation series and tell you every scene that’s missing from the Lord of the Ring’s Movie adaption.
To Kill A Mockingbird is political correctness enshrined as literature. It’s preachy, it’s uninteresting, and it’s a means for indoctrinating and guilt-tripping students.
All I can say about it is that the pages are too small to make for an effective lining for the bottom of a bird cage.
“To through th book out the window!!!”
“through…out the window”?
The dear mite is doing AP Lit? Wow!
But we must still pay due respect to the mite’s POV. Oh, yeah. That’ll happen.
Get used to it! Those born before, say, 1970 represent the last generation (in the West at any rate) of those who read books. Of course there will always be holdouts but literature (and non-fiction for that matter) expressed as compressed electronic media will eventually dominate everything. Eventually a five-minute video summary of a great classic will become far too burdensome to endure and all communication will be compressed into text-message versions of those cards used to signify action on the old “Batman” series such as “Wham”, “Splat”, “Thunk” and “Kapow.”
I teach at a large mid-western university and more and more undergraduates have no more conception of “the book” any more than they do vinyl records or reel-to-reel tape. I bust kids in class who are tweeting, texting, gaming, and doing every other “ing” on their phones and i-pads all the time. I have told kids to put their $%&x&%%* phones away or I would flunk them out of the class and they still keep using them. If I physically take the phone away from students then they keep staring at it on my desk like smack addicts contemplating their next fix.
Alfred Hitchcock said that “Drama is simply real life with the dull bits cut out.” After sixty years of first television and then every new advance in broadcasting technology we now have a generation that increasingly can’t endure anything that resembles “a dull bit.” An increasing number of our youth (the little dears) refuse to acknowledge the existence or importance of anything that isn’t communicated to them on some sort of screen or through a set of earphones.
Jean-Luc Godard says, “Cinema is truth 24 times per second.”
Reading allows one to at least begin a conversation with strangers. It might not develop further, as Jacques Barzun points out in _The House of Intellect_, “I disliked the man, but we had an excellent conversation,” but it does offer a good start. Or even listening to a brilliant monologue, A. Waugh, for example, writing of, and here I must paraphrase, a man’s words floating across the room, his talk light and sparkling, bursting in mid-air like soap bubbles. Or one could nod sagely in agreement with Wilde, that only a cynic can read of the death of Little Nell without laughing. Or one could shake ones head at the thought of Wilde thinking it’s funny. We could, however briefly, have a meeting of minds.
It only takes a few short comments, and then there is the beginning of a conversation. During the time I take here to write I am not adding to global warming, and so far as I know, I am not engaging in violence. World Peace, man, and all of this from writing about reading.
Kudos to the author.
When students use the internet search button to do research and they all pull from the same site because it came up first, or now when they use a Cliff note short sound bite, teachers end up with test essays that all sound suspiciously, exactly the same.
Yes, but as I explained earlier, due diligence by the teachers should be taken.
Signs of intelligent life abound. I am restored.
There is plenty of evidence in neurophysiology and psychology research to suggest that the human brain is physically restructured as the result of activities individuals engage in. Athletes, for instance, improve their physical performance in activities like skiing when they view videos again and again that show more expert skiers performing. Similarly, practicing mathematical problem-solving for several hours each day leads to lightening-swift calculating abilities in young adults who have engaged in such practice over a period of months. On the basis of a mass of evidence of this kind, we can now predict that individuals who expend time and effort reading highly structured, complex works will have qualitatively and quantitatively different brains physically than individuals who do not engage in this kind of complex behavior.
The lazy behaviors of college students will predictably lead to a large population of future American leaders who will literally not have the brain capacity to compete with people of other nations, where a respect and learned liking for complexity and difficulty still hold sway. Lazy college students are not cheating anybody but themselves when they refuse to do the things that we now know increase brain complexity.
Yeah, except they also hurt us when they vote for people they know nothing about, like muslim marxists who are “cool” ‘cos they listen to rap and talk about “green energy.”
Well, Invisible Man was pretty tedious…
At least the Cliff Notes version of Atlas Shrugged is 144 pages….
I imagine that that med school textbooks were pretty tedious too.
A few were….but it was surprising how few of the ‘required’ textbooks were actually required, used, or useful. The professors lectured and I took notes.
There are some medical reference books (of 2,000+ pages) where no doubt some medical school ‘gunner’ (overly abrasive student) have read cover to cover (Harrisons’s Internal Medicine, for example) where I’m sure the editors haven’t bothered to read all of them.
What, you never heard of 30 Second Bunnies Theatre?
Many college professors say that some of their best students are home-schooled.
A boy of about 10 years of age was sitting in a church meeting I attended. He sat still, was attentive, and obviously followed all that was being discussed. Amazed mothers approached the boy’s mother to ask how this miracle could be?
The mom said, “Okay, you may not like this, but here it is. We don’t have a TV in the house.” She suggested they all read Endangereed Minds by Jane Healy. This book was written about 20 years ago, but still speaks directly to our situation today.
I’ve thought of taking some kids out to the country to look at the moon through a telescope, but I’m pretty sure they would probably say, “This is lame.” We’ve conditioned kids to expect some kind of gag (TV) or payoff (video games) every 10 or 15 seconds. They can’t sustain their attention long enough to read books that would show them what life and thought were like before TV and video games.
I haven’t had a TV since 1993. I read, I write, and can speak knowledgeably in conversation with everyone. It is especailly pleasant to ask where someone picked up a piece of suspect information and hear them say, “TV”. I try to be gentle when delivering the real goods.
Do it, Elisa, kill your TV. You will be amazed.
Amen to that. (However, I do have a small addiction to political blogs.)
The West grows more contemptible with each passing day.
Woh, let’s not bash Western Civilization. I’ll take it over sharia any day.
In defense of Cliffs Notes, I must say that it does have it’s place. I’m almost 50, have advanced degrees in both math and computer science, and work in a research organization. But I can honestly say I’ve never actually read a novel … at least read with a reasonable level of comprehension without the need for some other aid (e.g. Cliffs Notes). My brain is not wired that way. I’ve read plenty my whole life … usually reference material or technical briefings. However, I’ve never had the least bit of motivation to sit down with a several-hundred page work of fiction … and I have not suffered one bit, socially or professionally, because of it.
As a society, we seem to be perfectly willing to accept remedial math and science skills in a person with the excuse that, “Oh they’re just not a math person.” But we seem adamant to advance lists of novels that represent some level of “minimum required reading” one should attain before entering college.
You sound like a great person; one who would be fun to know. But when you [almost proudly] say
it gives me a sad realization you – as well as the majority of today’s youth – will have lost something worthwhile in life without really comprehending the cost. In spite of that, best wishes.
Thanks for the empathy. I do sometimes feel like I am missing out on something worthwhile. But realize at the same time that other people are missing out on something I can experience and consider worthwhile
I say this merely as a point of information; there is a fair amount of evidence that people who are very good at math and/or science are less adept at picking us social cues and socializing. Literature tends to be about such “personal” things.
An educator’s challenge is to determine how much material to make mandatory and at what age for the students who are not good at it and may never be. There will always be some student who feels that he/she is being tortured by having to study x.
The concept of various learning styles is somewhat of a “liberal” idea. The concept of studying the basics and the classics is a “conservative” idea. Finding the proper blend is the challenge in a class where you can have a student who has read fifty books in the last year, but hates math, or is five years ahead in their math ability, wins science fairs, but hates reading “stories.”
I like cliff notes. Not because I don’t like books. Its because I don’t have the right emotional responses that the book wants me too.
Grapes of Wrath when Lenny died? I couldn’t stop laughing and I don’t know why. I just thought that the whole scene was funny. It wasn’t until I read the cliff notes that I found out that the whole book was supposed to be sad.
I sort of looked at the yellow little thing and said to myself BULLS!!T!. Took me a while to realize you were supposed to cry for Lenny. Not bust out with gut wrenching laughter.
Do you also bust out laughing at funerals? I have taught that book to hundreds of students, and can’t recall anyone admitting to such a response. George has to shoot his best friend…and that’s funny?
Seek help.
No offense intended, but if you find “The Grapes of Wrath” and death funny, maybe you’re watching too many modern movies.
By the way, it is “Of Mice and Men” in which Lenny dies at the end, not “The Grapes of Wrath;” both are by Steinbeck.
Gloria: “The lazy behaviors of college students will predictably lead to a large population of future American leaders who will literally not have the brain capacity to compete with people of other nations…”
Compared to say, today’s leaders, like self-proclaimed Professor Obama?
FWIW, my 8 y.o. absolutely *LOVES* the “No Fear Shakespeare” graphic novels. The designers actually did a decent job at retaining the plot and even much of Shakespeare’s original language while making the play more understandable. I wish they had all the plays available rather than only the 3 most famous (Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo & Juliet)
While I remember many learning struggles (learning to print, write cursive, the mystery of multiplication tables, etc.), I don’t recall learning to read. One day it was “See Sally run.” Soon after, I (a relatively well behaved, compliant child) was INSISTING the librarian retrieve a book from the top shelf for me. I was in second grade, and the book was classified for middle schoolers. “You can’t read that,” she said. Stubborn about few things, eventually I convinced her. (I think she made me read aloud from the first page.) The book was Johnny Tremain, and I remember it fondly to this day.
Like Jean Luc Picard says, sometimes nothing satisfies quite like a good book.
I’m an avid (male) reader, and I’m saddened that so many younger males (I’m 31) don’t read at all. I think most of the problem stems from the fact that high-school and college English professors assign works that are either incredibly dull and pointless (Great Expectations), or only appeal to women (Austen and Bronte). There are plenty of “guy books” that are classics, for example:
1. “Crime and Punishment,” Dostoyesvky
2. “Conquest of Gaul,” Caesar
3. “Inferno,” Alighieri
4. “1984,” Orwell
5. “The Fountainhead,” Rand
6. “Lord of the Rings,” Tolkien
7. The Foundation Trilogy, Asimov
8. The stories of Kafka
9. The stories of Poe
10. The writings of Thomas Paine
11. “Beowulf”
12. “The Odyssey, Illiad,” Homer
Get these for your son.
Literature can only ever mean what it means to the reader’s soul. The best literature course can never truly hope to do more than guide a reader to something that they may enjoy. Attempting to tell someone what they should get out of any story is pretty much the same as telling them how they have to think. In an age where there are a thousand score stories at every turn, how can a few select stories win through, and, as a secondary question, should they necessarily be the ones to win through?
Shakespeare is the one author ascribed to be the storyteller of the West. But, if he actually existed as an individual, there’s quite a bit of argument whether ‘he’ wrote all new material or simply codified all of the popular stories of his age.
I’ve read Shakespeare. I’ve read Dickens. I’ve read Sophocles. And yet, none of those spoke to me like, for example, early Stephen King. Christine was an absolutely great story of how young friends grew apart. Cujo truly had nothing to do with the dog and everything on how a marriage fell apart. The dialogue fit, and the people were people.
“Great Literature” can’t be dictated, but merely suggested. If a story is forced on a person, then they’ll do their minimum to get past it and resent it.
I wasted my money on Cliff Notes a couple of times, and I discovered that if the book was too boring to read, so were the Cliff Notes.
As a kid, I tried to read “Moby Dick”. I got through the first few chapters and was thoroughly bored. As an adult, I tried it again, and again did not get past the first few chapters. The book didn’t get any better over a 20 year period. The problem was not with the story, but the author’s ponderous writing style.
“Wuthering Heights” gave me a great opportunity to criticize soap operas for ever. I mean, who ever heard of someone like Heathcliff (Notes?) running aroung with a thunder cloud on his brow. A book like this helps develop mental BS meters.
Some classical reading is a treasure trove of BS and archaic writing. Kids and adults can only grade this stuff by actually trying to read it. Plus, today’s kids need to suffer just like my generation did.
I think the most important reason to read literature is because it teaches you to be articulate. Cliffnotes does not do this. Perhaps teachers should be de-emphasizing themes/plot and emphasizing basic writing skills and style. Have students rewrite passages of classic literature and then analyze what is inferior about their versions. That sort of thing.
let us not forget the writer’s of the ancient greek world
like all humans, though quite archaic in progressive circles, they deal with the exact same issues as today and do so in a much more epic fashion
most writers 2000 years later can’t match homer
There are some interesting closing dates on this article however I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There’s some validity but I’ll take hold opinion until I look into it further.