Alison Bechdel demonstrates on “compulsory reading” essay that children should never be pressured on reading books or stories beyond their desire ones, otherwise they develop aversion toward reading. She begins by admitting that she was a hardcore reader when she was young, but that change when her parents give her undesired books to read. Consequently, Bechdel develops a strong aversion toward reading. Furthermore, she loathes reading that anybody suggested her. She becomes an adult with a strong hatred toward reading, however that changes when she founds more compelling books on her parents’ book shelves. Children are naive and skeptical therefore adults should not force them to anything beyond their desire interest…
The school board is no longer certain fiction books and novels have a place in today’s curriculum. I disagree with this argument due to the following reasons. Oscar wilde once said ‘’ Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” This quote meaning when life imitates art, reality reflects what had previously been expressed in art (or literature, drama, etc). In many cases that is not always a good thing. For example, in the book “Crank” written by Ellen Hopkins; the innocent, adolescent main character Kristina Gorge struggles of drug abuse.…
Throughout the essay, Prose argues that literatures in high schools are dumbing down the English curriculum. She says books that are “chosen for students to read are for ‘obvious lessons.’” However, Prose does not mention “great” books that students should read and that will help them to understand what the characters are feeling. “…The weaker novels of John Steinbeck, the fantasies of Ray Bradbury,” (424). Prose explains how her sons never read the better of Steinbeck’s novels in high school and she makes the assumption that all high school students read the so-called weaker Steinbeck novels. She also makes an argument that the English curriculum is an important issue both culturally and politically. If both the teachers and books are not challenging the young students minds, then how can we expect them to understand challenging books. “We hear the more books are being bought and sold than ever before, yet no one, as far as I know, is arguing that we are producing and becoming a nation of avid readers of serious literature” (423). Again, Prose brings up her own personal experience and what she has heard. From what she has heard, people today are not reading “serious” literature. She does not even go to defend her argument and further explain what she means by “serious literature” and “avid readers.”…
Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience.” Rosen, Behrens and Leonard. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Second Edition New York: Pearson Learning, 2007. 358-370…
This is discussed in Francine Prose essay, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read.” Prose explains how not only is education important and that we have good teachers to teach but also that the teachers are teaching good material. Prose says in her essay, “... I find myself, each September, increasingly appalled by the dismal list of texts that my sons are doomed to waste a school year reading.” ( Prose, 1). In this quote Prose very clear passion for proper education is shown. Prose helps to state the fact that we must not waste our time of education reading literature that is bland and bad for the education of students. It is most crucial that we instill a passion of wanting to read and learn into students. Without this passion then we cannot properly educate children. And without properly educating them then they can not attain their highest ability of functioning in…
Rex Murphy’s “To Read or Not to Read” is a literary criticism on the works “How to Read and Why” written by Harold Bloom. Murphy explains his views on the importance of reading and asks the question “Why do we read?” His response to this question, he states “Plainly, we read because while it is not necessary to life that we do, life is much easier, more accessible, wider in its potential for those who can and do read, than for those who cannot and do not”. This essentially means that although reading is not a necessity to what we do in life, it makes what we do easier. Further on in this piece, Murphy states that literature teaches and delights and that we read to learn or to find pleasure. This point is extremely correct. Two major reasons…
It is in my opinion that it is better to get students interested in something literary as opposed to having them totally uninterested and stay completely like I…
Francine Prose believes that reading is extremely important in learning, therefore it is “important to make sure that high school students are actually reading literature.” (p.90) She is discontented when she found out that educators are not giving students the…
Where is our freedom of choice? When do we get to decide for ourselves what we are capable of thinking? Who is to tell us what we are supposed to think and what we are supposed to know? These are all questions that only a handful of people in Montag’s world asked. These questions can be tied into our everyday lives. Just look at the education system. They tell one that they are not allowed to say certain things and that thinking certain thoughts is a wrong thing to do. Clarisse says that all their school does is ‘teach you the facts’. Is this not what the education system is doing now? They are trying to fill one’s mind full of non-applicable data so that we can spit it back out for a standardized test for the county’s observation. All some teachers want to see are good test results, all the board wants to see are increasing test numbers from these standardized tests. Why does everything have to be standardized? Testing, testing, and testing. Yes we can spit back information, but can we apply it? How is knowing everything in the world anywhere close to going out and living it? She also stated that her school classifies her as anti social. What do psychiatrists do to teenagers or kids who are off in their own world thinking all of the time? They classify them as educationally challenged, ADD or ADHD. What if they are just on a totally different level of thinking? Have these ‘professionals’ ever stopped to ask themselves, “Is there something that we are missing here?” “Are we speeding by life to quickly to take a second and enjoy what other options we have?” Yes, rules and _____________ are fine, but just think if it gets carried out too far we might literally end up in Montag’s…
The title of the article read is “Getting Children from Low-Income Families to Read: What Works”. It was written by Janet Siew Poh Law and published in the Journal of Reading and Literacy in 2012. The article focuses on getting children from low-income families to read. Law also talks about why it is important for children to read and how people of all walks of life can help children. The author has the thesis statement of “Therefore, there is a compelling need to get children to read, especially those from families with low incomes” (Law, 2012, p. 8). The author has several key ideas which include how reading and academics are related, at-risk children are usually from low-income families, at-risk children need the most help, and some ways…
Richard Miller has a lot to say in The Dark Night Of The Soul but one thing that really stuck out to me was that there is only so much we can do to try and control the behavior of students. Reading and writing isn’t going to save every one of their problems. It can have just as much of an effect on someone today as technology can. In most of the stories he shows there is this concept along with many others that have to do with reading and writing.…
In her essay Prose calls out the methods in which children are being taught in American schools. She believes that America has fallen so far behind because teachers are forcing children to read classic literature in a way that leaves the student with no appreciation of the book nor the author, and instead students are "informed that literature is principally a vehicle for the soporific moral blather they suffer daily from their parents" (Paragraph 15, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read", Francine Prose). Students are, instead of closely reading and analyzing a text to understand the true meaning, forced to examine superficial topics within a novel and apply them in a way that has no benefit towards education or the grasping of the text, and leaves the student resenting not only the teacher and assignment, but the author and the novel itself. Teachers are no longer teaching the book, but teaching for some outlook that the author may or may not have had. A book is no longer read for the story it provides but is read for who the author is and what they represent. Prose mentions a motion passed in 1999 by the San Francisco Board of Education mandating that "works of literature read in class…
Graff states that “there is no necessary relation between the degree of interest a student shows in a text or subject and the quality of thought or expression such a student manifests in writing or talking about it” (250). By that, he means that what someone may read will not impact how well they write, even if the passage was at a third grade level. The ability to think and express academically should be something a scholar should have already mastered. With so, it is not the materials that is being used in schools that’s making things difficult for the students, but it is their lack of ability to not be able to be proficient in these handy skills that commonly used in literature…
"There's a Wocket in my Pocket!" is an interesting children's book created by Dr. Seuss. At first glance one is given the impression that "There's a Wocket in my Pocket!" is just another fantasyland children's book by Dr. Seuss with a goofy cast of characters and amusing, memorable rhyme scheme. However, when one digs beneath the surface he will come to realize that this expresses a tale of paranoia and insanity that has been unparalleled in modern society.…
Children need to be exposed to these strategies because “Knowledge, indeed...is also power; not only is it excellent in itself, but whatever such excellent may be, it has a result beyond itself (From The Idea of a University).” If children aren’t exposed to reading and writing strategies it will be hard for them to obtain useful and meaningful knowledge, which is needed to accomplish success. “ ...knowledge is not a mere extrinsic or accidental advantage… it is an acquired illumination, it is a habit, a personal possession…(From The Idea of a University). One important reading strategy is knowing how to mark a book as you read. “Marking a book won’t make understanding drop from the book’s tree, but it becomes a fruitful enterprise if the marks help one discover patterns. Patterns is the key to reading… (All books are coloring books).” Patterns are important in any writing because they help a reader identify style and main ideas. If a person is able to identify key points it makes it harder in adulthood,when they are faced with contracts and documents, to be tricked or deceived into signing or agreeing to unfair terms. Additionally it is important to know how to read and write between the lines, “Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most effective kind of reading ( How to Mark a Book).” Anyone striving to achieve literary success…