I think you'd be surprised at what they were trying to teach you. At least in Texas the 3rd grade standards are pretty much the same as the High School standard

I think you'd be surprised at what they were trying to teach you. At least in Texas the 3rd grade standards are pretty much the same as the High School standards (for values of "complex" adjusted for grade level) https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/ch110a.pdf https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/ch110a.pdf - The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts - The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts - The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts - The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. - The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances What 3rd grade you thought you were supposed to be learning and what the teacher was actually trying to teach you were not necessarily lined up. Or, you went to a school with a particularly poor English department that just had you write book reports for books you didn't read for no reason other than that's what they always did. That's actually more likely than not. I was a very, very bad math teacher at my first school (I was basically "playing school" and acting like I remembered my math teachers acted.. I had a CS/Math major, not an Education major. I knew the content, but not the pedagogy). The next school I taught at had structures in place that helped me understand what the actual goals of a teacher are and how to reach them. I improved drastically (and noticed the students and teachers at that school were better overall than my first school)