Most depressing thing I've read recently

[thebitterguy]

Yeah, I know, some of you don't care about this "Shakespeare" guy and stuff, and I can... Okay, I can't accept that either.

But this? This is just darn depressing. Remember, this is from an otherwise bright guy.

"Read? Hamlet?...actually about half of it in High School…then the teacher threw in the movie.

Since I worked at Blockbuster at the time I got bored of movies and fell asleep.

So….no."

Comments

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

I am pretty convinced that schooling, while it does expose people to wondrous things like literature and art and science, usually negates the good it does by being a complete buzzkill.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

My chemistry teacher told us that we needed to pay attention because the skills we learned in his class would at the very least teach us how to make drugs and explosives.

That got him in trouble, at least until even the juvenile delinquents handed in A's.

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

I believe we hinder high school students by having them read Shakespeare. Instead, we should show them the plays performed, preferably live. After hearing a few plays, reading them becomes far easier.

[madmanofprague.livejournal.com]

The usual teaching method in our english classes was to distribute parts and read them aloud over a series of classes. Also, there were hilarious presentations.

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's definitely better, and that's what I did when teaching (along with showing a few films), but of course some students still seize up when asked to read, and the hilarity can be both good and bad. Some of my nerd friends and I do that for fun these days, but not so much with the hilarity. Of course, we haven't done a comedy yet.

[noondaypaisley.livejournal.com]

I don't know, students reading to other students can be really bad.

I remember an appalling reading of King Lear in one of my classes.

It was an idiot cheerleader type reading Lears last speech

*Imagine a totally bored monotone* why should a horse a dog a rat have life and you no breath at all never never never (at this point she giggled, thinking that it was so repetative, rolled her eyes and continued)never never" *sigh*

Not a way to inspire understanding of the greatest play ever written.

[thebitterguy]

That's a teacher issue, too; they should have known not to give her the role, or if it was a round thing should have impressed on her how she should approach it.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Every teenager should be introduced to Shakespeare through his more "earthy" material. Dick jokes transcend the ages, and there's nothing like "Titus Andronicus" to catch people's attention.

But, yeah, it needs to be read, out loud. It just doesn't work on the page anymore.

[tfbretz.livejournal.com]

When I worked in a bookstore, I once had a girl (about 16 I guess) come up with a piece of paper in hand and struggle to ask me for a copy of "King Liar" by "William Sakesphere."

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

When I was in grad school, a middle-aged high-school teacher was struggling with Shakespeare. The class was a general survey, a bit boring to the rest of us who'd had more interesting courses as undergrads. One day, the woman slammed down her book in frustration. When Dr. Funston asked what was wrong, she said, "I don't see what's so great about this Hamlet. It's nothing but a bunch of clichés."

After an uncomfortable silence and some barely repressed tittering from the class, he began to reply, "My dear woman ..."

Couple weeks later, the department head and a few of her professors persuaded her to drop out, since she wasn't passing anything.

[thebitterguy]

{blink.blink}

That... That really happened? She was a high school teacher?

Aie.

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

It's true! I embellish nothing (this time). However, I should clarify that by "not passing" I meant "didn't have a B or better average," which was required to earn her Master's.

[anidada.livejournal.com]

*shrug* It was ever thus. Don't get me started about the idiocy that was grade 9 Romeo & Juliet (tragic teenage love! death! family feuds! what more could you want, you philistines?! READ THE G.D. PLAY!), but then, I was the freaky kid who read the Scottish play for fun one summer years before that, so YMMV. I'm more disturbed by people who don't read at all than people who don't read Shakespeare. :P

[innocent-man.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I see that and raise you this: When I was a junior in high school and taking British Lit, my teacher taught the Honors class (which I was in) and the Average class. She reported that when she tested the Average students, more than half of them labeled MacBeth as a comedy.

Oy.

[thebitterguy]

Oh, lordy. Was this just a very warped worldview on their part?

[terminal-pariah.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know what to think any more. I'm glad that I studied Shakespeare in school. But should everyone study it?
It seems like most students need to be reminded not to drop lol into their essays, repots and résumés. Maybe we need separate communication and literature courses starting at grade 9, instead of... 12 at the moment?

For the record, Strange Brew is the best filmic adaptation of Hamlet to date.

[thebitterguy]

A) The Internet will kill English.

B) Agreed RE: Strange Brew, at least as far as Canadian adaptations.