Why make kids read Shakespeare?

[Pog0]

Shakespeare isn't meant to be read. It's meant to be watched.

A friend of mine has put together a troupe to travel to High Schools and perform plays for English and Drama classes. They're just getting started though.

http://www.upstartcrow.ca/bardbusters.html

[godBoy]

One thing which I detest is - listening to young girls on the train.

Noo wayy like, like like that is sooo like retarded!
Yeah like [censored] that, that's just so totally [censored].

I wish there were far more youth talking old English.

[vhawk01]

I think you should read Shakespeare to save time. You spend a few months reading the entire works of Shakespeare and you will never have to watch a sitcom again for the rest of your life, nor will you have to watch 95% of movies.

Best bang for your buck out there, IMO.

[vhawk01]

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Shakesspeare probably won't help your kid make more money, but that's not the point. Or is it?

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It probably will, although I suppose spending that time getting his wpm up or working on memorization tricks might help a bit more. Maybe not though.

You can learn everything Shakespeare has to teach about human beings without ever reading Shakespeare, but I bet it would take you a hell of a lot longer.

[vhawk01]

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I don't get it---what would you rather be reading? Anyone who doesn't enjoy reading WS doesn't enjoy great literature, so what does it matter if it's Shakespeare or Phillip Roth that's assigned?

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My problem is that WS is way overrepresented. In the high school I went to, I probably only required read a dozen books/plays or so in all of high school. of those dozen about 6 were WS.

that seems absolutely stupid to me. of all the authors in the world, half the time should be dedicated to just one?

on a kind of related note, i am a big believer than whatever is rated number 1 in some category is almost always overrated by the public. WS is a great example imo. he may be the best writer ever in the history of the world, however, the qualitative difference between him and the second or third best writer the world isn't that huge. and as such, he shouldn't monopolize lit classes in high school.

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The point is, being exposed to the sources of human drama is important, and few have ever done it better than WS. You could get a similar education reading Greek tragedies, and I think you should!, but WS really did do it best.

[FortunaMaximus]

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Shakesspeare probably won't help your kid make more money, but that's not the point. Or is it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not every kid, alas.

I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd?
What if my house be troubled with a rat
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;
And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,
Cannot contain their urine: for affection,
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood
Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame
As to offend, himself being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?

[img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

hmk is right, tho. That's babble unless it's performed, in general.

It shouldn't be compulsory. But consider classroom sizes these days. You're required to take physics and chemistry. Even within those classes, only 2 or 3 maybe will endear themselves to the subject. The same holds for literature.

The Bard ain't for everybody. Neither is Avogadro's number.

Hopefully that breaks a lot of legs, Pog. Stratford is a beautiful place in the fall.

[vhawk01]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Shakesspeare probably won't help your kid make more money, but that's not the point. Or is it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not every kid, alas.

I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd?
What if my house be troubled with a rat
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;
And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,
Cannot contain their urine: for affection,
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood
Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame
As to offend, himself being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?

[img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

hmk is right, tho. That's babble unless it's performed, in general.

It shouldn't be compulsory. But consider classroom sizes these days. You're required to take physics and chemistry. Even within those classes, only 2 or 3 maybe will endear themselves to the subject. The same holds for literature.

The Bard ain't for everybody. Neither is Avogadro's number.

Hopefully that breaks a lot of legs, Pog. Stratford is a beautiful place in the fall.

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Yep, yep, I'd like to support this argument (I do in fact support it) but my school is seriously contemplating cutting histology from the first year curriculum and I hated the class with such a fiery passion that I have to avail myself of this argument. Statistics say that only 1 or 2 out of the 200 people in my class will become pathologists, and even then, they will spend 3-5 years learning how to look at slides. The other 198 of us will never look at anything <1mm for our entire careers.

Ugh, I hated that class. THEY ALL LOOK LIKE INTERMEDIATE FILAMENTS!

[MrMon]

Yes, no one should ever study anything but the practical and no one should ever have to study anything outside of their narrow area of specialization. Why should anyone who's not a physicist have to study physics. Gravity? The Laws of Motion? Friction? Who uses that stuff? It's not like you're going to encounter it every day. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[revots33]

I tend to agree with the OP even though I enjoy Shakespeare - too much Shakespeare relative to other great works of literature in high school English Lit classes.

I think students would be better served if teachers gave them an annotated list of great novels/plays/authors and let them choose ones that most interest them. Learning is always more effective when it's self-motivated.

Part of it is laziness on the part of teachers. In my town they give out a summer reading list to the high schoolers every year. It has had the SAME EXACT books on it for 15 years. One of the books is a biography of Howard Cosell. What teenager today wants to read a book about freaking Howard Cosell???

The goal is to give kids exposure to great literature and hopefully turn them into lifelong readers. Forcefeeding Shakespeare down their throats isn't the best way to accomplish this IMO.

[JuntMonkey]

I am 100% with hmkpoker. If a kid would rather play basketball or read Stephen King than read Shakespeare, that's fine with me. If they eventually decide they want to be a writer or English professor or whatever, they'll read Shakespeare.

And yea the same logic applies to history, math, foreign languages, or anything else. Read "Summerhill".