View Full Version : school book clubs
laxiceman
12-19-2005, 09:59 PM
Alright, so the other day my whole english class was called down to the library during school. The librarian proceeded to tell us that the school was starting an online book club for students, teachers, and parents. She was so excited that it was funny ( you know, one of those old humorless people who have ideas that only they think are great,(and no one else cares about)) By the way, all the books they want you to read for this thing are really bad. Anyway, do any of your schools do things like this where like no one is actually going to sign up because it is so pointless?
moondog
12-19-2005, 10:20 PM
The school I work at has a "Harry Potter" club. I can hardly keep a straight face when they announce meetings over the intercom.
But hey, if kids are reading, I am happy. Usually, kids go RIGHT to their ipods or cell phones during in-class activities, unless I warn them about detentions.
I really hope I'm wrong, but it seems like reading, writing fundamentals, and grammar are going down the drain with the technological explosions of the last few years. I really hope I'm wrong, though...
zachm90
12-20-2005, 02:45 PM
I had to do a book club in 8th grade. My psycho english teacher made all of her classes do it. Book clubs suck.
ghs/wylax
12-20-2005, 03:55 PM
i dont mind reading,but the books assigned by schools you have to like analyze and to top it off they're bad books.
laxiceman
12-20-2005, 04:06 PM
i dont mind reading,but the books assigned by schools you have to like analyze and to top it off they're bad books.
I agree completely. I kind of enjoy reading, but I hate the books that the school makes you read and do tons of worksheets on. Like, my school just recently made me read To kill A Mockingbird and I had to do a worksheet for each chapter. It sucked, especially since I'm in an advanced English class.
i dont mind reading,but the books assigned by schools you have to like analyze and to top it off they're bad books.
Wait till you get to higher level classes. So far Ive read Farewell to Arms, Candide, and Huck Finn. All three (candide and farewell especiall) are filled to the brim with sex, violence, alcohol, gore, racism, and profanity. Its great.
moondog
12-20-2005, 09:24 PM
Zak--those are three great books. To Kill a Mockingbird is also a great book. Those are 4 of the better books you'll read in High School. I am a HUGE Hemingway fan, and FTA is one of his best. It angers me that so many schools teach Old Man and the Sea, just because he won a Pulitzer and a Nobel for it. Those were basically (postwar) lifetime achievement awards for Hemingway, since he should have won them much earlier, for Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, In Our Time, etc...
But To Kill a Mockingbird is an insightful look at why racism and ignorance persist, and why people do stupid things in numbers. And Atticus Finch is an amazing antihero. Just my opinion, though--I suppose it's not for everybody.
PompLax14
12-20-2005, 09:31 PM
I love teh r3@ding. It made me sooper smart. See? For serious though. Reading for pleasure is pleasurable. This is why I'm smarter than your average bear.
I didnt like TKAM, I couldnt connect with it. Twain does such a better job with race. He puts it right out there. Then again, I thought Holden Cauffield was soft, so I guess it depends. Im really liking some stuff in school right now, I mean Barbra Tuchman (WWI) reads like a Tom Clancy novel, Huck Finn is like an episode of Chappelles Show, my mom probably wouldnt let me watch Candide if it was on TV, Farewell made me want appreciate good wine, and I get to say the N-word every fifth period.
If you guys hate books, you should start reading better ones. Im not talking about Harry Potter either, theres actually good books that mean something to the world too.
moondog
12-20-2005, 09:36 PM
Reading gives me the chance to be a heretic and question EVERYTHING. Being a heretic is fun. It's also an amazing escape.
I was trapped in LaGuardia during the 2003 summer blackout. Shoulder to shouolder in the terminal for 6 hours...I just closed my eyes, and went to a happy place. My mind would not have had the "discipline" or ability to do that if I was not extremely well-read.
Reading gives me the chance to be a heretic and question EVERYTHING. Being a heretic is fun. It's also an amazing escape.
I was trapped in LaGuardia during the 2003 summer blackout. Shoulder to shouolder in the terminal for 6 hours...I just closed my eyes, and went to a happy place. My mind would not have had the "discipline" or ability to do that if I was not extremely well-read.
Im sure as a teacher you can see where im coming from with this, the problem is that we are motivated to read anymore. We get too much of it in the higher level classes, and when something actually interests us, we dont have time to read it. Ive got a long list of books I want to read, and even the ones that relate to what Im studying I dont have time for. I would love to sit down and read the books my teachers have recommended, but I just dont have the time to commit. And why has it taken 11 years for us to finally get something good?
laxiceman
12-20-2005, 09:59 PM
[/QUOTE]But To Kill a Mockingbird is an insightful look at why racism and ignorance persist, and why people do stupid things in numbers. And Atticus Finch is an amazing antihero. Just my opinion, though--I suppose it's not for everybody.[/QUOTE]
I wasn't saying that I dislike To kill A Mockingbird, I actually quite enjoyed it. However, the amount of worksheets we did was huge. I'm smart so I can deal with it, but the problem is that it takes so much time that I just don't have.
moondog
12-20-2005, 10:18 PM
Zak^^
Yeah...Some (English) teachers think their class is the most important thing you'll EVER do in your life, and they can assign SO much reading, it can burn people out. I had a nervous breakdown my junoir year. I was a three-sport athlete, and I'd practice to exhaustion every weekday. Then, I'd have to come home and do thermodynamics for physics, 45 pages of Don Quixote, Anti-derivatives for calculus, etc...I'm not whining, or anything, but I lost my head. Hey, at least I was prepared for college...
It's no fun when teachers think THEIR class is the most important, and then you multiply that by five classes, five days a week...Agreed.
Try 7 IB classes, lax, school play, and a club I run. Trust me, I can sympathize. Its a shame that the kids who really do care about reading, are the only ones kept from doing it.
Frndlefire
12-20-2005, 10:32 PM
Those were basically (postwar) lifetime achievement awards for Hemingway, since he should have won them much earlier, for Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, In Our Time, etc...
The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite books of all time. My favorite Hemingway (for his books at least). I read it in Jamaica when I was 15... just awesome