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Oh, I don't know. There is also the very real possibility that it will seem hopelessly obtuse to the student who will never approach it again. IMO, a poor intro
by bbeonx 8y ago
Oh, I don't know. There is also the very real possibility that it will seem hopelessly obtuse to the student who will never approach it again. IMO, a poor introduction to a subject is worse than neutral.
And maybe that's okay, too, but high school isn't the only place that many students will get to experience Shakespeare and if it can't be done right there might be more damage than good done.
There is a difference between not exposing a student to something that they cannot understand at first glance and not having a teacher who doesn't understand the matter themselves try to muddle their way through a presentation the material. Making it part of standard curriculum means that we will have a heavy dosage of the latter, whereas making it optional means that only those teachers who truly have a passion for the thing will present it (theoretically, of course).
Then again, I'm in America so our teachers don't have time to teach anything that isn't showing up on a standardized test, and for me this debate is purely academic :)
- georgeecollins 8y agoStudents choose to never approach it again at good schools and bad. Should teachers that we don't think are good enough to teach Shakespeare teach Our Town instead?
- pavel_lishin 8y agoMy education was deficient; I don't understand the Our Town reference :) But in general, yes - if I were thrown into a classroom as a substitute teacher for a month, I certainly wouldn't teach Shakespeare, because I'm not anywhere near qualified to do so. My wife probably would be - she's the one who enlightened me about a few things in Romeo & Juliet that were completely opaque to me when I read it. But I'd probably focus on the things I felt qualified to teach without reading from a Teacher's Guide To Keeping Students Awake During Hamlet, or whatnot.
- georgeecollins 8y agoOur Town is an American play that, while dated, is easier for a modern audience to understand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Town
- magic_beans 8y agoThis is highly compatible to mathematics education in the US, which is largely taught by uninspired teachers who don’t quite understand what they are teaching.