Summary Of Total Effect And The Eighth Grade By Flannery O Connor
In Flannery O’Connor’s short essay, Total Effect and the Eighth Grade, she proposes that “…fiction, if it is going to be taught in high schools, should be taught as a subject and a subject with history.” (p. 137) In other words, fiction should be taught as a true subject rather than just a genre of writing.
O’Connor supports the idea by explaining that “There is much to be enjoyed in the great British novels of the nineteenth century” (p. 138), and there is no valid that teachers could not teach students using this material. She then goes on to point out that to the less sophisticated or less motivated readers, these books can provide simple enjoyment. But for those who are willing and able to look deeper, many subtle meanings can be discovered
if the teachers themselves are able to find them. The students should be allowed to discover that, after reading a nineteenth-century British novel, nineteenth-century American novels are written very differently. By discovering these changes, the student will learn not only learn something about the individual works, but about the major difference that new environments can have on literature. With this experience, he will be better equipped to interpret modern fiction.
The premise that there were great British novels that were written in the nineteenth century and that they have value is not in dispute. People don’t dispute their value; rather they express a preference for using twentieth-century fiction in their classes.
O’Connor continues her argument by saying “Ours is the first age in history which has asked the child what he would tolerate learning.” (p. 137) Never before has the educational establishment decided that the student should choose the material rather than the teacher.
The premise that, “Ours is the first age in history which has asked a child what he would tolerate learning.” (p. 137) goes to show the importance of why fiction should be taught as a true class. Students are not qualified to choose what they are learning about because there is a reason that they are learning in the first place. They don’t know anything about the subject and therefore do not have the knowledge to say what content ought to be taut.
Fiction should be taught as a true subject rather than just a genre of writing. It has a history that should be learned and should be regarded more seriously when taught about in schools.
O’Connor supports the idea by explaining that “There is much to be enjoyed in the great British novels of the nineteenth century” (p. 138), and there is no valid that teachers could not teach students using this material. She then goes on to point out that to the less sophisticated or less motivated readers, these books can provide simple enjoyment. But for those who are willing and able to look deeper, many subtle meanings can be discovered
if the teachers themselves are able to find them. The students should be allowed to discover that, after reading a nineteenth-century British novel, nineteenth-century American novels are written very differently. By discovering these changes, the student will learn not only learn something about the individual works, but about the major difference that new environments can have on literature. With this experience, he will be better equipped to interpret modern fiction.
The premise that there were great British novels that were written in the nineteenth century and that they have value is not in dispute. People don’t dispute their value; rather they express a preference for using twentieth-century fiction in their classes.
O’Connor continues her argument by saying “Ours is the first age in history which has asked the child what he would tolerate learning.” (p. 137) Never before has the educational establishment decided that the student should choose the material rather than the teacher.
The premise that, “Ours is the first age in history which has asked a child what he would tolerate learning.” (p. 137) goes to show the importance of why fiction should be taught as a true class. Students are not qualified to choose what they are learning about because there is a reason that they are learning in the first place. They don’t know anything about the subject and therefore do not have the knowledge to say what content ought to be taut.
Fiction should be taught as a true subject rather than just a genre of writing. It has a history that should be learned and should be regarded more seriously when taught about in schools.