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> Instead english spent soooo much time on fiction. Respectfully, I think this is a vital part of any English education—the more you read, the better your writ
by spondylosaurus 3y ago
> Instead english spent soooo much time on fiction.
Respectfully, I think this is a vital part of any English education—the more you read, the better your writing becomes. Conversely, it's very difficult to become a proficient writer without becoming a proficient reader first, and for school-aged children, fiction is both the most accessible point of entry (although good nonfiction can capture kids' imaginations, too) and a great way to cultivate analytical skills.
- hospitalJail 3y agoBtw Plato disagrees and I'm with him. (But I am aware of the argument that fiction can intrigue) Fiction sets unreasonable expectations. Why not use history? The bad guys sometimes win, but at least people learn something closer to reality. How much time was wasted learning about symbolism? How much time did we waste learning how to be entertained? Today I do none of this. Non-fiction is far more interesting than someone making stuff up. I'd much rather have good reading and writing skills than the ability to decode entertainment as an adult.
- SketchySeaBeast 3y agoFiction gives us things to shoot for, and a way to envision tomorrow. Think about all the things that science fiction envisioned that became reality. Would we have strived for those goals without it? It can also help us understand each other on a level that describing real events can't. Good fiction is art. We need art, and we should be able to be able to interact with it on a sophisticated level. I'm surprised if you honestly find all fiction uninteresting. History, and I say this with a degree in the subject, does not do the same thing. History too is important, but it is not art, it's a social science. It's a complex field, assuming you mean the study of history and not just telling stories from the past, which half of the time is basically fiction. History is a way for us to understand our past and past and contemporary modes of thought, but it does not fulfill the same role as fiction.
- fassssst 3y agoPerhaps you should consider the emotional aspects of fiction. There’s more to life than facts.
- deprecative 3y agoLife doesn't care how you feel. Life only deals in what you do.
- scubbo 3y agoLife doesn't care how I feel, but _I_ do; and I want to live life in a way that makes me (and the people I care about) feel good. Empathy, imagination, and innovation are important for that - and fiction helps feed those.
- ikurei 3y agoEmpathy and imagination can be found in plenty of non-fiction. I enjoy reading fiction, mostly for escapism although the good ones also enrich me, but there is plenty of non-fiction that can feed those qualities. Non-fiction that focuses on the psychology, motives and feelings of people, and focuses on special, different , or creative individuals, might dk just that. The autobiography "Lab Girl" comes to mind.
- scubbo 3y agoFair point well made!
- deprecative 3y agoSure, you do. Most folks care about how they feel. Life doesn't. It won't. It can't.
- scubbo 3y agoYou accidentally only read the first ~1/5 of the comment.
- watwut 3y ago> Fiction sets unreasonable expectations. Why not use history? The bad guys sometimes win, but at least people learn something closer to reality. Fiction does not require bad guys to loose. That is just contemporary American cultural expectation to make them always win. >How much time was wasted learning about symbolism? If you want to communicate with people, symbolism matters. It is part of the communication, just like analogies or figures of speach.
- sublinear 3y ago> I think this is a vital part of any English education I wouldn't say "vital". There are plenty of examples everywhere since language is like air. Fiction may be great art, but that's not representative of what most people write. I agree there should be a better balance. When I was growing up we didn't even analyze famous speeches until high school which is far too late.
- jackson1442 3y agoI think fiction has a place in education for sure, but I think nonfiction, especially longer nonfiction reads (not textbooks, something less dry), should have an equal or slightly larger presence than fiction. My favorite english class was either technical writing or freshman comp 1 because both were focused on nonfiction pieces, which was so rare elsewhere in my education.