Re: Best last lines

In article
<7c94e953-21c8-4f38-b515-bfaae1a545a0@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
"DocJam00@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <DocJam00@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> said:

> I think that forcing students in middle school or high school to
> read "Literature" is often a huge mistake, and can lead to an
> awful lot of people hating to read what is called Literature
> (clearly, this occurred to some of the people on this list).  I
> think that there is a certain skill level that is needed before
> one can really appreciate certain books (a poor vocabulary, for
> example, can doom anyone from reading most books).  I think there
> is a certain maturity level that must be reached before certain
> topics become interesting (not many high school students, for
> example, are really all that interested in the problems of say,
> parents...).

I'd say that the freedom to utter the Eight Deadly Words without
being put down and/or getting a piece of paper with an 'F' on it is
also necessary -- and, of course, almost entirely lacking in middle
and high school courses.  (And that freedom includes freedom from
having to write essays titled "Why I Don't Care What Happens to
These People in [name of literary classic].")

[ ... ]

> I think we come to each book we read with a whole lifetime of
> experiences, and expectations, and skill levels, and purposes in
> reading.  There are times I don't want to have to think about what
> I'm reading, when I just want to be entertained.  This is why we
> have skiffy.  But I have to tell you, I see reading as healthy
> mental exercise, as a way of stretching my head around new ideas,
> new ways of viewing the world, new perspectives on who and what we
> are, and why we act the way we do, and how we can change, and so
> forth, and so on.

Oh.  I don't, very much, at least not with regard to this dull,
crabbed world that we're stuck in, where we're all doomed to stop
running after a ridiculously short time for just about the stupidest
reason imaginable: *because our meat wore out*.

-- 
William December Starr <wdstarr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>