Darn Kids
Vampires are literally everywhere I look the last two weeks. It started with those silly Twilight novels. (Don’t get me wrong when I say silly, I’m totally for them even though I hope never to read them. People read t
hem and right now the fact that anybody is reading anything is just pure awesomeness) Then the second movie is making it to DVD so anytime I go anywhere/open a web page/open my eyes, people are talking about them. Then, in this class I’ve kind of been teaching (sort of), we are reading Dracula. If you haven’t been forced to read it yet, I highly suggest picking up a copy. I am thoroughly enjoying my experience and it is a surprisingly quick read.
So anyways, the class is set up so that my fellow TAs and I mostly just run online discussion boards and then we get to have two “breakout sessions” where we actually get to talk to the students face to face. Let me tell you, it was like pulling teeth to get anyone to say anything about the book. Personally, I feel like I had this set-up pretty well. I had the class arranged so we were sitting in a circle to encourage a Socratic discussion, I showed a video clip, and I had my discussion points laid out pretty well and pulled them from places like Spark Notes so I knew they weren’t too hard. But when push came to shove no one would say anything except for few of the older women in class. Finally, I had to do it, I asked them if they read the pages they were supposed to. All of the eyes in the class immediately looked away from me. I think only four people in a group of 19 read the mere 150 pages they had a week and a half to read. So I asked if they were struggling with reading or if they were confused about something. The only answer I got was reading was really stupid and they didn’t think they should have to read a book. It was too much work. It was terrifying. Not to sound crotchety or anything, but what is with kids today? Is it laziness? Is it that they really don’t know how to read? Is it that no one has ever failed them? There have been times in my life when I didn’t do my homework, sure, but when I screwed up I got a bad grade. No one felt sorry for me. I got what I deserved.
What really bothers me is that we are raising a generation of illiterate people and giving them a diploma because we want to say we have an educated workforce. I used to think that the reason people weren’t reading anymore was because writers write stuff that only writers would like. Now I think that as a society we are becoming illiterate and so books that are anything more than juvenile vampire literature is too much to handle.
not sure if you’re still teaching “dracula,” but if so you might want to check out http://infinitesummer.org/dracula/ – it’s sort of like an online book club that got started last summer with “infinite jest.”
as for having a generation of illiterate kids, there might be some truth to that. but i think to get at the root of the issue, you gotta go back way before high school. kids aren’t necessarily learning what they need to at even the earliest stages of education, but teachers and schools are afraid to hold them back because of how teacher evaluations are done and how federal and state education money is distributed. because failing a student is kind of admitting that the teacher/school failed, too. and if the kid’s parents aren’t committed to their child’s education on top of that, then your average student doesn’t have much of a chance.
on the other hand, i was just reading the other day that the proliferation of MFA programs is creating a whole new generation of really avid (and astute) readers.
Good thoughts! I was having a negative nancy moment. I hadn’t thought about the MFA thing.
This is true in all subjects Carly, homework just isn’t done. Some of my students say that in their highschool, just showing up for class was enough to earn the top grades. Attendance was the most important thing, not what you accomplished. This may be because of what Jason included in his comments.
Jason’s right on here. And on top of what he laid out, there’s also the pride issue–no parent wants to have a kid that failed, so when a kid is a poor student, the parents blame the teachers/school system. Can’t possibly be the student’s (or parents’, heaven forbid) fault. It’s pretty disgusting. Several of my immediate and extended family members work or used to work in education, and they all feel the same way, but there’s so much pressure from parents and from superintendents/principals that teachers are stuck in a hard spot. They get the brunt of the student and parent hatred but also have the least power to enact real change. Kinda sucks. And people wonder why the US is behind on a lot of test scores. Unfortunately the response is and will be to try and come up with easier tests rather than educate people better. How nothing is being done about this is beyond me.
(And with that I’m excusing myself from the discussion because I don’t want to start talking about public policy. It’ll just make me angry/sob.)
Carly, I like that you’re addressing a larger sense of responsibility here, too. It’s not just in education; there doesn’t seem to be much accountability in life in general.
I had a student in one of my college courses who missed more than half my classes and only turned in a couple of assignments, and this student still wanted, expected even, for me to give a passing grade. Not cool. That was a pretty severe cases, but I often have students come to me near the end of the quarter, having done little work, and want to know what they have to “do” to pass, which is code for “can’t you just pass me already?” and I generally tell them the huge load of assignments they would need to make up to pass the class, and they leave dumbfounded. I consider it a gift. Maybe from my class forward they will think twice before skipping out on their education, or maybe they’ll just think I’m a big meanie and keep doing what they’re doing. sigh.
I’m glad you have the ethical fortitude to do what’s right in those situations. Even if they think you’re a big meanie, there’s still hope that someday they’ll realize that you did what was best for them. Or that they’ll teach their own kids to do the work if for no other reason than to avoid big meanies. Or something.
I think some of what Jason was talking about also stems from the teachers. They’re in high demand at the secondary level, and from what I saw of the students in MSU’s teaching program, they were handheld through the entire degree process. One girl didn’t know Egypt was a country. Another didn’t understand the introduction to our literary theory for beginners book. It’s just sad. That, coupled with the push to show results (whether they exist or not) for federal funding, and it’s amazing we’re even still moderately competitive on a global scale.