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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (17729)	4/28/2000 6:00:00 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Actually, with the current elective system prevailing in high schools, and the time dedicated to non- literary courses, there is not much chance of promoting extensive reading lists. Most students in high school are fortunate if they spend a quarter on a novella (such as "Of Mice and Men"), and not all quarters are dedicated to reading, some focus on writing or extraneous matter dumped into the English syllabus, like career research. Additionally, few students have the requisite sophistication to pursue ambitious lists, which accounts for a great deal of the diversity in offerings: honors students get better lists in lit. courses. There are common touchstones: my wife and I both studied "Julius Caesar" in tenth grade, despite a five year and 1200 mile difference in school systems, and my son just finished it, but that only scratches the surface. In such a situation, you are right to worry that pushing a list, which must necessarily be highly exclusive, is a covert way of pushing an agenda. On the other hand, it may be that the sort of "great books" curriculum I had in college is suited to high school. Not all texts, mind you, but a sufficient array to expose students to a variety of culture shaping books, and give them a greater insight into the "deep background" of their civilization. To do this, the way that students are taught would have to be very different, though, permitting much more time for reading and discussion.......

To: one_less who wrote (17729)	4/28/2000 9:33:00 PM
From: nihil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

All I want for school teachers is what I have for myself as a professor. Once I am hired, I choose (within broad limits) what I will teach. As long as I can get students to sign up for my classes, I teach exactly what I want to teach. If I teach departmental core courses, I have to cover (appear to cover) certain specified subject, but I may choose and assign the reading that I wish. If I and my colleagues (some of whom may be communists and some capitalists, for all I know) screw up, we can lose our accreditation. Otherwise, no one would dream of telling me what to teach, what books to assign, how to grade, or anything of the sort. No decent university in the world would impose restrictions on a reading list. Elementary and high school teachers are treated like intellectual slaves. A group of ignorant school boards often try to prescribe what is to be taught and how. There is far more latitude in fact than what there appears. But people with first class minds will not submit to this kind of dictatorship. I have never in 48 years had a college student's parent complain about what I taught. A few students have objected to some things I have taught. If we want good education for our kids we've got to get better teachers, pay them six figures, give them intellectual authority, and hope for the best. No two of the teachers will agree. Students will learn to sort them out.