4 ms·

The curriculum consists of reviewing the history of comic books, reading a lot of comic strips, and watching several graphic novel driven movies such as Superma

The curriculum consists of reviewing the history of comic books, reading a lot of comic strips, and watching several graphic novel driven movies such as Superman and Watchmen. It is a consumption course. Kids don’t actually learn how to write graphic novels. That might actually might be worthwhile.

ceejayoz 3y ago
> It is a consumption course. Kids don’t actually learn how to write graphic novels. That's the norm for high school English courses.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  That doesn't sound normal. Ever highschool English class I ever heard of was an equal split writing and literature class. You read things and were expected to write as well. Not until university did I ever have a literature class where I wasn't expected to produce creative output of my own.
  - Broken_Hippo 3y ago
    And no one said they don't write in the class. THe original post was complaining that they do not learn to write graphic novels Which is normal. We don't tend to teach high school students how to write entire novels. We aren't really doing creative work at the high school level either: Most papers are research papers or talking about themes of novels the entire class read. Hardly creative stuff.
    - lupusreal 3y ago
      There is no reason a highschool English class shouldn't have students writing short stories or short 'graphic novels'. If they're just reading and not exercising their own creative processes then the class is a farce.
      - Broken_Hippo 3y ago
        English classes aren't there for creativity - that's a secondary option. English classes exist to help you process what others are communicating and to facilitate your communication with others. Most of this won't be creative endeavors, and the focus usually shys away from this stuff as kids get older. This is especially true with "advanced" and "AP" classes, which tend to model themselves after a more scholarly look at literature. There isn't much room for creativity there. This doesn't make things a farce, but merely a different take than what you think you'd want for a fun class. IIRC, they offered a creative writing elective when I was in school. Anyone actually interested would take it, but in modern times, I'd guess students are more likely to get tips from places like NaNoWriMo - and all it takes if for a teacher to mention that once or twice for interested students to do it. For fun.
threeseed 3y ago
The curriculum consists of reviewing the history of literature, reading a lot of literature, and reading several novel literature such as Great Gastby and Catcher in the Rye. It is a consumption course. Kids don’t actually learn how to write literature. That might actually might be worthwhile.
Broken_Hippo 3y ago
Kids don't learn to write novels in literature class either - you've missed the point of such classes. The point is to read and be exposed to different sorts of literature. This is much easier to do this with material that students are actually interested in instead of 150-year-old romance novels. And as a bonus, the students are a bit more likely to understand the symbolism and references than they would in an old book - the older literature is honestly more suited for a class that hooks both history and literature in the same course. Literature classes are consumption courses, too, and lead a few to develop a lifelong reading (and consumption) habit, btw. We definitely watched movies based on books: Part of my high school Lit class was doing a comparison between A Brave New World and Demolition Man. (We also had a 12-page senior paper, mine was on Kurt Vonnegut. But that's beside the point.) And perhaps part of the issue is that you haven't really read a lot of graphic novels so you misunderstand the depth that they can have, especially if you get into more obscure titles.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  What highschool "literature" class isn't heavy with writing exercises? I've never heard of an English class where you just read (except in college, where you're expected to also be taking dedicated writing classes.)
  - Broken_Hippo 3y ago
    Why do you assume that the class mentioned doesn't include writing? I'd assume they were writing about the graphic novels. But I also assume they were discussing the themes in class and we took multiple choice tests about things we read. It wasn't always writing. In current times, this would especially be the case if the school system had an initiative to cut down on the sheer workload of homework. (Which I approve of, most teens don't need hours of homework on top of school) What you don't learn to write are actual freaking novels, just like they aren't going to teach you how to illustrate and write a graphic novel in most high school classes. You write essays, research papers, and things like that. Not entire novels.
    - 3y ago

ceejayoz 3y ago

> It is a consumption course. Kids don’t actually learn how to write graphic novels. That's the norm for high school English courses.

lupusreal 3y ago
That doesn't sound normal. Ever highschool English class I ever heard of was an equal split writing and literature class. You read things and were expected to write as well. Not until university did I ever have a literature class where I wasn't expected to produce creative output of my own.
- Broken_Hippo 3y ago
  And no one said they don't write in the class. THe original post was complaining that they do not learn to write graphic novels Which is normal. We don't tend to teach high school students how to write entire novels. We aren't really doing creative work at the high school level either: Most papers are research papers or talking about themes of novels the entire class read. Hardly creative stuff.
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    There is no reason a highschool English class shouldn't have students writing short stories or short 'graphic novels'. If they're just reading and not exercising their own creative processes then the class is a farce.
    - Broken_Hippo 3y ago
      English classes aren't there for creativity - that's a secondary option. English classes exist to help you process what others are communicating and to facilitate your communication with others. Most of this won't be creative endeavors, and the focus usually shys away from this stuff as kids get older. This is especially true with "advanced" and "AP" classes, which tend to model themselves after a more scholarly look at literature. There isn't much room for creativity there. This doesn't make things a farce, but merely a different take than what you think you'd want for a fun class. IIRC, they offered a creative writing elective when I was in school. Anyone actually interested would take it, but in modern times, I'd guess students are more likely to get tips from places like NaNoWriMo - and all it takes if for a teacher to mention that once or twice for interested students to do it. For fun.

threeseed 3y ago

The curriculum consists of reviewing the history of literature, reading a lot of literature, and reading several novel literature such as Great Gastby and Catcher in the Rye. It is a consumption course. Kids don’t actually learn how to write literature. That might actually might be worthwhile.

Broken_Hippo 3y ago

Kids don't learn to write novels in literature class either - you've missed the point of such classes. The point is to read and be exposed to different sorts of literature. This is much easier to do this with material that students are actually interested in instead of 150-year-old romance novels. And as a bonus, the students are a bit more likely to understand the symbolism and references than they would in an old book - the older literature is honestly more suited for a class that hooks both history and literature in the same course. Literature classes are consumption courses, too, and lead a few to develop a lifelong reading (and consumption) habit, btw. We definitely watched movies based on books: Part of my high school Lit class was doing a comparison between A Brave New World and Demolition Man. (We also had a 12-page senior paper, mine was on Kurt Vonnegut. But that's beside the point.) And perhaps part of the issue is that you haven't really read a lot of graphic novels so you misunderstand the depth that they can have, especially if you get into more obscure titles.

lupusreal 3y ago
What highschool "literature" class isn't heavy with writing exercises? I've never heard of an English class where you just read (except in college, where you're expected to also be taking dedicated writing classes.)
- Broken_Hippo 3y ago
  Why do you assume that the class mentioned doesn't include writing? I'd assume they were writing about the graphic novels. But I also assume they were discussing the themes in class and we took multiple choice tests about things we read. It wasn't always writing. In current times, this would especially be the case if the school system had an initiative to cut down on the sheer workload of homework. (Which I approve of, most teens don't need hours of homework on top of school) What you don't learn to write are actual freaking novels, just like they aren't going to teach you how to illustrate and write a graphic novel in most high school classes. You write essays, research papers, and things like that. Not entire novels.
  - 3y ago