mangas vs. novels

[richvh]

Kates wrote:
[

richvh:
Babbling brooks bring bubbles boiling briskly;
Shivering students stare silently at the scene.

This is ALLITERATION.

I knew that, I was just playing around with the neologism, hence the smiley.

ALITERACY is "the quality or state of being able to read but uninterested in doing so" (according to Webster).

That, I didn't know. I thought you were trying for the more common "illiterate."

Alliteracy is not a word. Both of us missed that one.

Like I said, I knew I was using alliteration. Were it a word, "alliteracy" might mean "the quality of being alliterative." "The author of 'Beowulf' was alliterate."

What? No one is groaning yet? I must be slipping.

[Narutofan]

What is 'sooo not fair'?

You know, I hear that arguement from my 5 year old son. Grats on being up to par with a 5 yr old's arguementative techniques.

hey... I have a 4 year old brother so i guess i picked it up from him, and i typed that at school. It's not like i can type something really wordly when you have to hide it from the teacher now can you...

You're bored, because you've let your english skills suffer. You're content to let yourself be mediocre, or perhaps even inferior. You don't care, so long as you're having fun, right?

you're only a kid once and i don't really want to wate my time reading when i can enjoy the outdoors... i already have homework in algebra, not good to take 2 years ahead if you hate homework. I have to spend as much time as i can enjoyng being young before i gorw up to be a grandparent looking down at this moment, wnadering what the hell i did to have a discussion with an english teacher and a parent.

I think the teacher SHOULD let you read comics. And as long as you pass the tests with a D or better, should pass you up to the next grade, and get you out of the school system as fast as possible. You're not worth a great teacher's time and effort.

the one good thng that came out of the hell of a reply you sent me

althought i do like it... it just disses me too much.

[mandolin]

Mediocre children grow into mediocre adults with mediocre jobs.

You neglect your schooling now, you're going to find that you will end up in jobs that in order to cover your bills, you have to work more than 40 hrs a week, possibly at two jobs.

On the other hand, if you work hard through school (starting now, since you're so close to high school, get in the habit), you can get a very good paying job in your chosen field, work your 40 hrs, and have plenty of time left over to do fun things.

So, for the "2 years ahead" algebra student, let's have an algebra equation.

Childhood = 18 years
Average lifespan of a male = 80 years

Time as an adult = average lifespan - childhood
time as an adult > childhood
62 > 18

Being able to go outside, read manga, watch anime, play sports, goof around, get drunk, play video games for 62 years is better than doing it for 18.

My husband and I do all those things. We're no longer children. We have the time, and the money, to have all sorts of fun, and also the freedom of being adults that you don't have as a 'kid' so we can enjoy it more.

But hey, it really is your choice to choose 18 years instead of 62. But for me, it's no contest. I didn't have a lot of fun in school, but I am glad that it has paid off for the rest of my natural life.

[AJBryant]

Mediocre children grow into mediocre adults with mediocre jobs.

Hey, the world needs ditch-diggers, too....


Tony

[nprz]

Hey, the world needs ditch-diggers, too....

Yeah, don't want to give out secrets that we had to think of.

If his parents don't tell him to work hard in school so he will have an easy life, then either his parents didn't learn this (through enjoying a mediocre life) or they don't think he can achieve anything above mediocracy.

Nothing personal really, I just hate when kids whine so much about how they don't get to play as a child. It is so much more fun to be able to play as an adult.

[AJBryant]

It is so much more fun to be able to play as an adult.

Hear, hear!


Tony

[Infidel]

I blame American alliteracy on the crap books they make everyone read in school. It only teaches students that reading is torture and best avoided. I think things like classics, which are more a study of the evolution of literature, should be saved for college. k-12 should nurture a child's love for reading by presenting entertaining works that still present a worthwile message.

Instead it is Shakespere, and other complete crap. Save studies on how Shakespere influenced others for college. Delay his unfunny comedies and his untragic tragedies for later. Children shouldn't be taught that reading is unfun and a chore.

Having to read Absolutely Awful Literature (AAL) in college is acceptable. Like Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal. My copy is all mangled from throwing it and tearing it because each sentence was a struggle, and my hate, derision, and disgust for the main character consumed me so much that I could not read but maybe a couple of pages per hour because I was so busy cursing the Author's mother. But it was a Humanities book to give insight into Czech culture, so I persevered and then disagreed with all my teacher's conclusions.

[AJBryant]

Dude, I *love* Shakespeare. And I have ever since my introduction to him in the fourth (!) grade. My mom got me a record when I was a kid that had excerpts from Shakespeare's plays on it -- snippets of speeches and some dialogue. It was on my turntable about as often as my "greatest hits of Gilbert and Sullivan" record.

Personally, I hate Romeo and Juliet, however. (I keep wanting to give both protagonists a boot to the head!)

Tony

[nprz]

All students think that schoolwork is unfun and torture. Now it is getting so bad that they don't even enjoy PE!
And plus people like me avoid literature classes in college, so we don't get to benefit from any of the classics. I enjoyed all those books but there would be no way I'd read those in my free time.

[Kates]

I'm with Tony and actually enjoy Shakespeare myself as well. :P Though I'll admit that his comedies are much funnier when actually SEEN instead of read--the language is too different for most students to understand what the meaning is without seeing the action.

But you make a point, ishnar... perhaps most literature that is taught in Lit class today should be saved for either college or your own personal reading-time. Kids don't really need to know about the evolution of American literature... in great detail anyway. *makes some mental notes for her future sllyabi* Thanks. ^_^

[Infidel]

Well I haven't read all Shakespere. But I have read R&J, Othello, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and MAAN. I had to memorize Brutus' speech to the senate in the 6th grade, that was fun. "Friends Romans, countrymen, Lend me your ears. Blah, blah, blah." I don't think I'll ever forget the first line. But Caesar was probably the only play I've liked by him. Until I had to recite that speech anyway.

Romeo & Juliet really killed it for me, especially when we were supposed to write five paragraph essays about the use red in West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet during two specific scenes. I never really understood why kids are expected to critique literature in that way. If it were me teaching I'd stick to teaching kids to identify plot holes, subplots, and to identify forshadowing. Also, I'd teach how to separate truth from fiction, since all fiction requires truth, but where is the line really? I'd show them how to tell the difference. I'd show how a seemingly insignifigant act can change the course of a book, and help them to better see how all the character's actions are interrelated. I'd also use it to show relationships and applications between literature and life. How literature is actually useful and pertinant.

What I wouldn't do is tell the students to critique stupid things like the use of red in a play and in a movie, or memorize a speech, or name each person who died in the Romeo and Juliet, in the order they died. Then even a play or book that was enjoyed becomes hated, which eventually becomes a hate for reading at all.

[AJBryant]

But Caesar was probably the only play I've liked by him. Until I had to recite that speech anyway.

Man, that's a GREAT speech. Excellent use of rhetoric. (I know. No one studies rhetoric anymore these days, either. Along with logic. It's another reason so few people know how to actually argue a point.) There's a part of me that longs for the days when Latin and Greek were part of the PRIMARY school curriculum. Students used to learn, and learned how to think. Now it's all spoon-fed pablum and no academic challenges 'cause we have to bring along the lowest common denominator.

Possibly my favorite Shakespeare play is Titus Andronicus, but I'm a sicko.

Tony

[Kates]

<3 Othello for tradedy/drama and Much Ado About Nothing for comedy <3

[Infidel]

Man, that's a GREAT speech. Excellent use of rhetoric.

Yup, untill I had to memorize it and recite it before the class. I didn't like that part at all. I think it would have been better to have the students model a short speech off of Brutus', but instead it was rote memorization which I am not a fan of.

In the end, Rhetoric is saying something with many words that could as easily be said with a few. Was Shakespere paid by the word?

Hey Senate, Let's kill Caesar.

rykk

[AJBryant]

I think it would have been better to have the students model a short speech off of Brutus', but instead it was rote memorization which I am not a fan of.

Dude, that's called ACTING. If you thought of it as just saying words, you really missed the point.

It's emotion. It's the attempt (and power) to sway minds. That was Mark Antony was doing (I'm assuming it was actually *his* speech you did). That repetition of "And Brutus is an honorable man" is a stroke of literary (and rhetorical) genius! You needed to think of it that way.

Tony