The kids in my Creative Writing Class had never heard of 1984...

[WCGreen]

Really...

College aged kids at least 20 years old and they never herd of 1984...

What the fuck are they teaching kids in High School...

But they liked my poem about Kim John-il...

I think every liberal arts class should have at least one geezer, like me, to shed a little light on the generations that appeared before Paris Hilton....

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. We're not all bad.

;)

[WCGreen]

5. I just wonder what is on their reading lists in High School...

Granted, it's a Junior College and the kids are nice solid kids, but I think the schools are failing them if they aren't even aware of one of the seminal books of the 20th century...

[Chan790]

26. It's worse than that

I read it in high school (I suspect because I went to Catholic school), but neither of my publically-educated brothers had to read it because our school district (like many others) pulled it out of the required curriculum as racist, irrelevent, overly-difficult and scandalous.

If you can figure out how 1984 is any of those things I'll send you $1.

[Pithlet]

46. I went to public school, and read it.

This would have been the late 80's, though.

[Broken_Hero]

68. from memory...

The books I had to read for high school...

1. The Pearl
2. Summer Lightning
3. Romeo/Juliet
4. The Grapes of Wrath
5. Black Like Me(I hated this one, alot)
6. Cry the Beloved Country(didnt' care for this one either)
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
8. Merchant of Venice
9. Watership Down
10. Various Edgar Allen Poe...
11. How to Kill a Mockingbird

thats about all I remember...high school for me was 91-95

on edit:I know there are more, but my memory isn't all that great right now...:)

[Chan790]

28. I like your screen name

My boss (at Starbucks) accused me earlier tonight of being an anarchist.

[evirus]

2. i myself havent read it or came close to reading it

but i get the gist of the book

[WCGreen]

3. They didn't even get the gist....

[Crabby Appleton]

43. It is definately a book worth reading

[HEyHEY]

4. Don't even try to tell them about Crime and Punishment then

[WCGreen]

7. After they got over their nerves, the kids stopped saying like

so much an have settled in to really write some great stuff...

But it lacks a certain depth...

[deucemagnet]

6. I never really felt old until I told some kids about an Iggy Pop concert..

...I went to, and they collectively said, "Huh?". I guess us old geezers should just curl up in a corner and die.

[WCGreen]

9. Once kid said he was born in 1984....

I said that's when I sobered up...

then I said I look around and said to myself, how the fuck did reagan get to be president...

They all laughed...

[MissMillie]

42. My son will need to read it in term 2 college english

I was pretty surprised that it wasn't required for high school.

[crim son]

8. That is a bad sign.

Both my older kids, 13 & 15, have read it, and Animal Farm. I bet you're the star of the class!

[WCGreen]

10. I have a lot of fun and they are great kids...

I think they really appreciate my comments and humor...

I asked a few of them today how come they never wrote about sex... Sex is the stuff that dreams and great poems are made of...

They were frank with me and said they were embarrassed...

I said you should never be embarassed by your feelings...

[crim son]

14. How about just disgusted and ashamed?

There are good, appropriate feelings, and then there are stupid, weak, dumbass feelings that must be burnt out with alcohol (or the recreational substance of yr. choosing).

I'm glad you enjoy the class. I'm sure you are a highlight.

[WCGreen]

16. Oh it's fun alright....

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

19. They need a few trips to put them on their asses, rip their heads apart

and open their minds.

[Idioteque]

11. Weird...I'm 18 and most of my friends have read 1984

It wasn't assigned reading but it's just one of those books that everybody has read.

[WCGreen]

15. WE read animal farm in eigth grade along wil Romeo and Juliet...

I want to ask them what was required reading..

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

20. Same here.

I'm 23, FWIW.

[WCGreen]

21. I guess it all depends on the high school....

I think alot of these kids weren't thinking about college in High School, now that I think about it...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

23. Yeah, I was in all advanced classes in HS (except for math)

plus I went to one of the top public HS's in the state. Probably the difference lies in that.

[reyd reid reed]

24. I'm planning on giving that to my daughter to read...

and she's eighth grade. It's time.

[WindRavenX]

12. As a college student...

...I'm sorry so many of us are retards. Some of us actually study and learn stuff


signed,

--a bio and english major at Boston College

[WCGreen]

17. I think I am gong to buy some books before the year is

over and give them out....

[Ellen Forradalom]

13. In the early 1960s

a student asked my father "When was World War II?"

It's not a new phenomenon.

[WCGreen]

18. No generation is spared.....

[reyd reid reed]

22. Hell...

If it makes you feel any better, I made my boys read it. And "Animal Farm". And Bonehead read "Lord of the Flies".

I bought...damn...what was it. Two new/old books just yesterday. I can't remember what they are, though.

Phooey.

[SeattleGirl]

25. Gosh, I read that book in high school. It was required reading.

Sounds like things have changed quite a bit.

[Crabby Appleton]

41. same here

[petronius]

27. I completely agree about the geezers...

I think one quasi-informed mouthy 40- or 50-something in every class would be more valuable than all the computer labs, learning management systems, DVD inserts, and active learning exercises combined. I'm always happy to see a grown-up looking back when I take roll that first day...

[reyd reid reed]

29. Hey...who you callin' a 'geezer'?

Hmmmmph.

Now....hand me my cane, wouldja, sonny?

[petronius]

31. LOL! - Sorry, I took the "geezer" from the OP and then stuck in the

age range without thinking (I'm not too far from those numbers myself.) Really, I just meant 'geezer' relative to the swarms of 18 year olds we normally deal with.

However, I'll hand you the cane just as soon as I find my glasses... :hi:

[alittlelark]

30. Reagan plus kids are not going to recongnize AM LIT.

By 1981 +/- they had dumbed down the schools and bought up the literature (in the form of 'textbooks') The great American writers have been reduced to a pile of memorized quotes.

I am old enough to have experienced REAL education. Sad - I am 42.


My nephews, nieces, and even a sibling are getting propagandist educations (they 'learned from' all the scholastic companies).



Damn.... we are in a shithole.


I can only hope our children will see the truth.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

33. Depends on the school district.

We had textbooks for English, plus we read a bunch of full novels & plays.

[alittlelark]

34. What were you tested on? Do you know 'The Jungle'nunabridged?

I look at it from the eyes of peers siblings,,,, w/in 4 years.... all was lost.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

36. Yes, we read that. We also discussed it in history.

Most of the tests in my English classes were essay tests.

Some of the books I remember reading were: Red Badge of Courage, Scarlet Letter, Johnny Got His Gun, Illiad, Odyssey, Beowulf, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Macbeth, Midsummer's Night Dream, Othello, As You Like It, To Kill a Mockingbird, Death of a Salesman, Saint Joan, Jane Eyre, Emma, The Fox, Passage to India, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners, Of Mice & Men, Wide Sargasso Sea, Catcher in the Rye, Marlowe's Faustus, Paradise Lost.

Plus a pretty wide range of poets.

[sakabatou]

32. Read 1984 in 10th grade

Have it on audio on my iPod.

[TimeChaser]

35. We read it in 10th grade

The year after me, apparently, there was an opportunity for extra credit if you made a video about the book. Somehow, I ended up helping my friend make 1984 the musical...

[NMMNG]

37. What is the world coming to?

I read that when I was 14--of my own volition. When 1984 actually rolled around I got an official "1984 Commemorative Edition" of the book, which is now well worn from repeated readings.

WTF are they assigning kids nowadays?

[Kickin_Donkey]

38. Maybe it's partly due to the fact that 1984 was 22 years ago ...

and to contemporary youth on a subconscious level it seems out of date. I know, I know ... it's the ideas in the book that are important and timeless. But just imagine, for example, if you were in high school in the 1960s, and there was a book titled "1936" -- you might be less inclined to think of it as important because the "due date" had passed.

As it was, I went to high school in the late 1970s, and 1984 -- both the year and the book itself -- was looming as a futuristic negative utopia. There was an immediacy to it.

That said, I think it's a travesty that your young classmates had never heard of "1984." I think it's more due to the standardized-testing mania that has swept American educational politics in the last decade or so. Schools are teaching to the test, in order to raise test scores, and there's little time to read classic books that expand your mind and make you question things.

I went to a public high school in a small town in rural California in the late '70s, and in sophomore social studies we were given a choice of books we could read for the class. "1984" was on the list; I chose "The Gulag Archipelago." This was an undistinguished little school in Podunk; most of the kids did not go on to college, or just JC.

[WCGreen]

45. I think you hit it....

The idea of standardize testing has lessened the qualitative in favor of the quantative...

[WritingIsMyReligion]

39. I'm reading "1984" now. It's a requirement at my school for juniors.

And rightfully so, of course. :D The. Scariest. Book. Ever. I dare you to name another book that is so dead-pan frightening.

[MiniMandaRuth]

47. Read 'The Handmaiden's Tale' by Margaret Atwood.

Scary stuff right there. Scarier than 1984,

[WritingIsMyReligion]

53. I have.

Nothing tops Orwell. Though Atwood cheerfully takes second place.

[WCGreen]

62. Yea cause 1984 was just manipulation

whereas the Handmaiden's Tale had Jesus thrown on top to give it that American touch....

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

40. I'VE read 1984

astoundingly creepy book, too

[johnnie]

44. Surprised they have never heard of it but..

Seriously, there has been so much put out since 1984 came out.

My father used to say that stuff to me. "What the hell they teach you at school? Back in my day...."

I would say, "Dad, you went to school 30 years ago. They have to cram that 30 years into the same amount of time that you went to school".

1984 is a good book, but there are better things that kids should be required to read and hear in my opinion.

[WCGreen]

48. But it's ver relevant to today....

That was the reason I was shocked...

[WritingIsMyReligion]

54. 1984 needs to be required reading for every human being alive.

Sorry, but I'm blanking on any book that's "better" to "read and hear." Certainly there are books as important as 1984, but can anything really be more essential than that?

[johnnie]

55. Honestly... I didn't think it was that great

I read it back in high school and I wasn't impressed.

I personally don't think it is any more relevant today as it was in the late 70s when I read it. Even back then everyone was saying how much it reminded them of "now".

I'm not really knocking it, but that book didn't do anything for me or to me.

[Ekirh]

60. My Sophmore year I hit my "Orwell" stride

1984 and Animal Farm back to back. Animal Farm is still one of my favorite books and 1984 would be on that list also.

Oh how I use to read back in high school . . I'm glad to say I'm finally getting back in the act of reading again . . just have to find the time. "In Cold Blood" is looking at me right now.

Those books weren't required reading. . . we had this accelerated reading program in which we picked the books we wanted to read and then took standardized tests on them for points. I never liked required reading all that much . . because they were never books I was interested it. . but I guess I understand it. . . gotta make sure they are reading something I s'pose ;).

[catmandu57]

49. I was in eighth grade in 1970

1984, lord of the Flys, Animal Farm were required reading.

[hedgehog]

50. It gets worse

My 15 year old nephew told his mother that he didn't get To Kill A Mockingbird. He said something to the effect that stories about the old days just weren't relevent to kids his age. What's even worse? His mother agreed with him.

[WCGreen]

51. To Kill a Mockingbird is a bit dated...

if taken on the surface...

But to talk about it as a man with conviction and a man who is willing to put it all on the line for principles is timeless...

[EFerrari]

52. That is worse. Yikes.

:scared:

[mitchum]

57. That's because marketing has conditioned your nephew to be...

a narcissist.
"It's young, fresh and modern...just like you! And...IT'S FOR SALE RIGHT NOW!"

[mitchum]

56. Frankly, those idiots don't belong in college

[datasuspect]

58. those idiots are the middle managers of tomorrow.

yes, it is true.

[mitchum]

59. Unfortunately, that is true

[Taverner]

61. Kids reallly have to go out of their way to get info other than party line

These days.

My cousin's home page is Wikipedia, so she's better off than most.

But take a look at a current HS textbook, and you'll see what I mean. Look up "Vietnam War" for example. Also look up "Wobblies" and "Spanish Civil War"

[datasuspect]

63. "but dude, i want to be an investment broker"

"how is that gonna help me get a new sportscar?"

[YellowRubberDuckie]

64. If you're the teacher...

I'd assign it...AND some assignment to make it stick.
Duckie

[Left Is Write]

65. So for those of them who watch reality TV...

that means they have no idea where the term Big Brother came from.

[Rowdyboy]

66. How very sad....my friends who teach confirm what you say.....

Its depressing. Literacy as we knew it is a thing of the past. Reading is becoming a lost art.

[WCGreen]

67. That is a shame....

But it's the testing that I think is at the root of the matter...

If it's not on the proficiency tests it doesn't exist....

[lonestarnot]

69. Do they know what habeas corpus is? or was?