Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

Given the question as posed, I'm firmly in the fiction camp. The power of a creative narrative to deliver a message, illustrate a concept, spark the imagination, and inspire a sense of wonder is unparalleled. Nonfiction, by contrast, is pretty irrelevant. We don't need accounts that are presented as fact - the content of a story doesn't depend on whether it really happened, and since textbooks/etc are allowed abandoning nonfiction wouldn't greatly affect human knowledge.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

A narrative can be good, whether the events narrated are real or not. I, for one, have found plenty of inspiration from non-fiction reading.... and such little bits of fiction as I have enjoyed have been the ones that created an exceptionally strong sense of "this really could have happened", not the ones which were ridiculously fanciful.

It's a shame to have to make all-or-nothing decisions. I would like to see about 90% of the world's fiction disappear, and about 90% of the world's nonfiction remain.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

Good thread, btw. I am pretty divided on this! I guess I'd pick fiction since I tend to remember the stories I've read as opposed to textbooks and assume your typical student tends to forget most of the stuff from the textbook after the school year is over anyways. But I like creativity, perspectives, and interpretation of it and I feel that lack of imagination and stuff would make life dull.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

Fiction by a mile.

I learnt more about living through WW1 reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdsong_(novel) 'birdsong' than I did studying it for a year for GCSE history.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

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Fiction by a mile.

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Once I discovered GEB was in the fiction category it really doesn't matter to me anymore. I assume "Intentional Stance" and "Brief History of Time" and "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" fit it also. so, ok, fiction. Autobiographies and first person accounts would be fiction also ( always suspected they were anyway :-)
Math texts with scenario word problems ... hmmmmmm.

luckyme

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

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Fiction by a mile.

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Once I discovered GEB was in the fiction category it really doesn't matter to me anymore. I assume "Intentional Stance" and "Brief History of Time" and "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" fit it also. so, ok, fiction. Autobiographies and first person accounts would be fiction also ( always suspected they were anyway :-)
Math texts with scenario word problems ... hmmmmmm.

luckyme

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Well admittedly, when we look at fiction and non-fiction we know they are 'intertwined' do a degree that makes separating them v/hard, so we'll have to use a little common sense and a little biased guesswork to separate them properly.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

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I would do neither. Both fiction and non-fiction are important to a balanced education.

The caveats are to make sure the person you are mentoring understands that while fiction is made-up, it often offers hypotheitcals uselfull in making real world judgments, and while non-fiction is not made up, no writer is objective and will slant research/statistics/examples to fit into a preconceived conclusion.

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Yeah, I think most people here agree on that, so that is why I asked which one would be the 'worst' to take away.

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If I have to choose, the fiction is the worst to take away simply because of the implication that everything else is true.