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OT Thread XV: Too Deep For You

  • Thread starter Thread starter *Bob Richards*
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SFW said:
They're not mutua...oh, okay.
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Critical thinking and questioning is important for any field.

The thing is, questions like "What is space?" and "What is knowledge?" are questions that interest me and are good questions because really, What are these things? Puzzling.

On the other hand, analyzing an English story an symbolism seems very trivial to me. Does it help questioning and critical thinking? Absolutely, but only to those who find those analyses interesting. Otherwise, people who don't fins it interesting (like me) tune it out and see it as a chore.

Philosophical questions deal with real life situations and some of these questions haven't been answered after thousands of years.
 
Michael Del Ziti said:
It's unfortunate what English does to some people (including me)

It takes away their will to read. Students are given these great, great stories to read, that they would usually enjoy. Then they are forced to completely pick them apart and analyze them if they don't want to. It brings this boring, negative connotation to reading, and is also what has pretty much stopped me READING FOR FUN
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You have to understand that the authors intended for their books to be dissected. They're conveying a thesis. Anybody reading a book just to enjoy the plot line and not looking any deeper is completely missing the point.
 
Bob Richards said:
You'd be amazed how analytic some people can get. You can probably find an entire thesis dedicated to a single line in a poem or book.

That's what I love about it though. The chance to make everything from seemingly nothing. To be creative and make connections is like.....exciting.
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I don't know, I just feel like its never really "us" who write in English class. The teachers are basically there to prepare you for the Regents and their grading style. I don't know how English teachers read and grade so many essays, seems to me like they would all be the same.
 
SFW said:
You have to understand that the authors intended for their books to be dissected. They're conveying a thesis. Anybody reading a book just to enjoy the plot line and not looking any deeper is completely missing the point.
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Absolutely. I really can't think of a book I read where every single piece of the story was meant to be taken at face value. Nothing in literature is that black and white (other than Newspapers :D).

And that is what English has taught me. To not take everything at face value. To delve deeper into something to pick up on the subtitles. I find that it makes my world a bit more colorful.
 
SFW said:
For the record: it shouldn't matter whether or not if you'll utilize the concepts you are taught in school in whatever career path you choose to take. I want to learn because I want to become a more well-rounded individual.
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Up until about 75 or so years ago, that's what college was for. You used to be able to get a job straight out of HS and college was for people who just want to learn. Now college is pretty much required. My only problem with that is colleges now take advantage of that and force you to take these classes than have absolutely nothing to do with your major. I'm majoring in Computer Programming and here are some classes that everyone has to take no matter what major they are. I'm only going to list the ones that don't have to do with CP.

-English 1
-English 2
-Art History
-Music
-Philosophy
-Foreign Language 1 (which I'm going to argue that C++ is a language)
-Foreign Language 2
-Chemistry

There are much more that I can't think of off the top of my head.

I go to college because I want to become a programmer, not so I could learn all that other ****.
 
And everyone here talking about this "Regents" is going over my head. Never heard of it.
 
On a different note, the US education system doesn't teach nearly enough geography and social studies.

And by not enough I mean they don't at all
 
Michael Del Ziti said:
On a different note, the US education system doesn't teach nearly enough geography and social studies.

And by not enough I mean they don't at all
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My 8th grade SS class was one of my favorite classes. He always gave tests on the US map until we could point out every state. I think it really depends on the teacher if they teach the map or not. I know plenty of people who know it and some that don't.
 
SFW said:
For the record: it shouldn't matter whether or not if you'll utilize the concepts you are taught in school in whatever career path you choose to take. I want to learn because I want to become a more well-rounded individual.
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True, but you also have to be interested in the subject.

If a person sees little-to-no value in a subject, they won't want to learn it.

I don't find the reason why Daisy's green light at her house is flashing in The Great Gatsby very intriguing.
 
Jabroni1994 said:
True, but you also have to be interested in the subject.

If a person sees little-to-no value in a subject, they won't want to learn it.
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Which is why I should've dropped out. I have learned infinitely more on my own time than I ever have or ever will in school.
 
Michael Del Ziti said:
On a different note, the US education system doesn't teach nearly enough geography and social studies.

And by not enough I mean they don't at all
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True. I think it has to do with the fact that America is full of themselves and think they are the center of the Universe, so why teach about Europe or Asia?
 
Bob Richards said:
Oh sweet Jesus. This, this and this.
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In 4th grade (my first year in the US) we studied geography a bit with out teacher (he was british)
We always had these competitions, mainly boys vs. girls.

We always won because I learned this stuff in Austria, and knew pretty much every country in asia + africa, and every country + capital in europe
 
Michael Del Ziti said:
On a different note, the US education system doesn't teach nearly enough geography and social studies.

And by not enough I mean they don't at all
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Agreed. It's really sad that HS graduates can't find France on a map, or think that Africa is a country. I did geography for 1 year in Global. (We had map quizzes where we had to identify mountains, rivers, etc. of the place we were learning about.) It wasn't bad at all.
 
SFW said:
Which is why I should've dropped out. I have learned infinitely more on my own time than I ever have or ever will in school.
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I could see this.

The Internet has so much information that you could do a simple Google search and find a multitude of information on a particular subject.
 
I differ here. Geography is ****ing pointless. Borders shouldn't exist to begin with.
 
Jabroni1994 said:
I could see this.

The Internet has so much information that you could do a simple Google search and find a multitude of information on a particular subject.
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One of the things I like to do when I'm feeling somewhat depressed is learn. Makes me feel much better about myself.
 
As long as this happens:

American: 'where are you from? sounds german'

me: 'we're from austria'

American: 'they speak german in australia'

I will continue this belief that there is a problem with US education


Note: this represents multiple conversations i've had
 
Michael Del Ziti said:
As long as this happens:

American: 'where are you from? sounds german'

me: 'we're from austria'

American: 'they speak german in australia'

I will continue this belief that there is a problem with US education


Note: this represents multiple conversations i've had
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How do you mess up Austria and Australia...
 
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