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But why Shakespeare, especially given that the consensus amongst schoolkids is that it's indecipherable (given the language difference to today)? Shakespeare i

But why Shakespeare, especially given that the consensus amongst schoolkids is that it's indecipherable (given the language difference to today)? Shakespeare is taught...because Shakespeare has always been taught. It's recognized as important; to be fair, it is from an objective sense, but subjectively there is no reason to read it, nor even to watch it performed unless someone wants to. You learn language by practicing language. You can read or watch anything and better understand the nuances of a language; even better to talk to people who speak it. English evolves because of the latter; Shakespeare doesn't. Everyone who speaks a language other than English learned to do so without Shakespeare. I am unconvinced of the necessity of reading/watching Shakespeare unless someone wants to; it is but one means to an end.

sandworm101 5y ago
If I were a highschool English teacher I would point the kids at more recent British works. I'd point them at Blackadder or Upstart Crow. Understanding that language, getting all the jokes, requires a degree of english comprehension that is probably slightly higher than the average highschool student. If I wanted to improve their spoken word while teaching them science, I'd assign them every single Attenborough or Brian Cox documentary.
- meristohm 5y ago
  Blackadder has crisp enunciation, helping make the humor more accessible.
andrepd 5y ago
Shakespeare is taught because Shakespeare is excellent. I disagree with the methods that are often used to "teach" literature (memorise this "official" interpretation, then spill these bullet points on the exam so the teacher is happy), but nobody can deny how brilliant it is. The mark of great art: they speak of things universal to the human condition, and transcend the time and space where they were produced. You are simply not a complete person if you do never read literature in your life. > Everyone who speaks a language other than English learned to do so without Shakespeare Well duh, they learn the masterpiece of whatever language they're learning. Be that Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Victor Hugo, or Luís de Camões.
- mumblemumble 5y ago
  Shakespeare is excellent, but it took me years - long past when I graduated from school - to recognize its excellence. I place the blame here squarely on how it is presented in schools. First, it was dropped in abruptly, after years of focusing heavily on largely apoetic work like Old Yeller and Great Expectations. When poetry was introduced, it was typically dropped as part of some hermetically sealed unit, and all possibility of enjoyment was eradicated by analyzing each poem to death. [1] How are people supposed to learn to enjoy play on words when any hint of actual play has been surgically excised from the experience? And then, since this is a class, there will be a test, and so you have to format the presentation in a manner that makes it more amenable to testing. This means that, if the play is a comedy, then you'll have to stop every few lines to have the teacher explain, in detail, why what you just read is funny. Which it may not be, because performance comedy is all about presentation and timing, but we're not watching a performance, we're reading the text. Imagine encountering Spaceballs for the first time in script form, so that you're completely unable to associate any of the lines with the performances of John Candy or Rick Moranis. It won't be nearly as good. And having someone sitting over your shoulder repeatedly interrupting you to say, "Now, in the actual movie, this part is hilarious because..." only makes it less funny. If the work being studied is a tragedy, well, it's a similar story, only in this case it is kind of funny because the tragedy has gone meta. Not that anyone sitting in the classroom is in a position to realize that. They're too focused on taking notes so they can remember details - especially details about the teacher's interpretation of the story - for the coming test. Because furiously scribbling in notebooks and trying to memorize every detail is an essential part of the way in which members of the groundling audience, literate and illiterate alike, experienced performances in the original Globe Theatre. Ugh. It makes me irritated all over again just thinking about it. Primary and secondary education classes are seemingly predicated on the notion that the best place to study everyday human experience is in a cadaver lab. Largely only because the courses are being designed by people who sell scalpels and formaldehyde for a living. [1] Exhibit A: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/07/poet-i-cant-answer-questions-on-texas-standardized-tests-about-my-own-poems/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/...
  - lostcolony 5y ago

sandworm101 5y ago

If I were a highschool English teacher I would point the kids at more recent British works. I'd point them at Blackadder or Upstart Crow. Understanding that language, getting all the jokes, requires a degree of english comprehension that is probably slightly higher than the average highschool student. If I wanted to improve their spoken word while teaching them science, I'd assign them every single Attenborough or Brian Cox documentary.

meristohm 5y ago
Blackadder has crisp enunciation, helping make the humor more accessible.

andrepd 5y ago

Shakespeare is taught because Shakespeare is excellent. I disagree with the methods that are often used to "teach" literature (memorise this "official" interpretation, then spill these bullet points on the exam so the teacher is happy), but nobody can deny how brilliant it is. The mark of great art: they speak of things universal to the human condition, and transcend the time and space where they were produced. You are simply not a complete person if you do never read literature in your life. > Everyone who speaks a language other than English learned to do so without Shakespeare Well duh, they learn the masterpiece of whatever language they're learning. Be that Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Victor Hugo, or Luís de Camões.

mumblemumble 5y ago
Shakespeare is excellent, but it took me years - long past when I graduated from school - to recognize its excellence. I place the blame here squarely on how it is presented in schools. First, it was dropped in abruptly, after years of focusing heavily on largely apoetic work like Old Yeller and Great Expectations. When poetry was introduced, it was typically dropped as part of some hermetically sealed unit, and all possibility of enjoyment was eradicated by analyzing each poem to death. [1] How are people supposed to learn to enjoy play on words when any hint of actual play has been surgically excised from the experience? And then, since this is a class, there will be a test, and so you have to format the presentation in a manner that makes it more amenable to testing. This means that, if the play is a comedy, then you'll have to stop every few lines to have the teacher explain, in detail, why what you just read is funny. Which it may not be, because performance comedy is all about presentation and timing, but we're not watching a performance, we're reading the text. Imagine encountering Spaceballs for the first time in script form, so that you're completely unable to associate any of the lines with the performances of John Candy or Rick Moranis. It won't be nearly as good. And having someone sitting over your shoulder repeatedly interrupting you to say, "Now, in the actual movie, this part is hilarious because..." only makes it less funny. If the work being studied is a tragedy, well, it's a similar story, only in this case it is kind of funny because the tragedy has gone meta. Not that anyone sitting in the classroom is in a position to realize that. They're too focused on taking notes so they can remember details - especially details about the teacher's interpretation of the story - for the coming test. Because furiously scribbling in notebooks and trying to memorize every detail is an essential part of the way in which members of the groundling audience, literate and illiterate alike, experienced performances in the original Globe Theatre. Ugh. It makes me irritated all over again just thinking about it. Primary and secondary education classes are seemingly predicated on the notion that the best place to study everyday human experience is in a cadaver lab. Largely only because the courses are being designed by people who sell scalpels and formaldehyde for a living. [1] Exhibit A: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/07/poet-i-cant-answer-questions-on-texas-standardized-tests-about-my-own-poems/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/...
- lostcolony 5y ago