You know Nights an English teacher?
I wonder what it's like to be in his class.
I didn't realize that! High-five, Night!
Eileen's one, too. And she's lovely
Thanks!
Because they put too much imprtance on spelling and grammar.
I don't in daily life, usually, but I can't help that I do NOTICE every spelling and grammar error there is. However, English class is hardly all about grammar and spelling; in fact, I haven't taught enough of it this semester.
People gravitate toward English rather that philosophy because they dont put much stock in individual interpretation but believe in the underlyning message that they believe is deffinatly written. Therfore they may see their ideas and opinions as fact more often than not and look down on others who question or dissagree.
I dont really know.
I'm sure there are English teachers like this, and I have taught with some of them, but the majority of the teachers I know (and, uh, the ones I like) are all about "You can say what you want, but you have to be able to explain why. There must be a preponderance of evidence to substantiate your claim." There are established movements in literature to contend with, and sometimes for the sake of teaching Romanticism etc, you have to say something like "One of the themes of this piece of literature could be X. Now what details help to create this particular theme?"
In answer to the OP, we don't. In fact, we are hot.
When I do suck vigorously, I promise that it is never, ever a student. I prefer math teachers.
TaDa! You rang, Risen? :hi:
I'll own (semi) liberal, weird, old and woman. But if you put me in a lineup, you'd pick me out as the sixties chick stuck on hippy setting. Or, depending on the day, biker babe.
I can hold a whole class of prejudiced, stereotyping dudes like you for forty-five minutes and make you LIKE it! No kidding.
So get a perspective, Guy.
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I'd argue that at the college level they have simply run out of material to teach, because by God, most respectable half intelligent Americans KNOW ENGLISH AT THAT POINT. I mean hell, seriously, is there really any point to having the damn class after high school? I know how to write, I know how to speak the language, I know how to form a sentence, structure an essay, blah blah blah. This was all covered in HIGH SCRUEL (school + cruel). What is the point?! Put in some more subjects that are actually worth something. A class about how to shave my armpits would have more meaning than college level English.
Dude, it is so not about learning English when you get to college, but having worked in a university writing center in which I worked with undergraduates and graduates on a range of essay assignments, I can assure you that not everybody has the grasp of written language that they should at the college level.
My English classes in college were not especially challenging for me - I complained about that in my exit interview. However, I DID have a few critical theory classes that stretched my brain and helped me see how many different ways there are to approach a text. It may be that you simply don't think that being able to read in a variety of ways is important... or that you just don't get it. Whatever.
There are good and bad teachers everywhere, in every subject. There are also great students (who are both academically and personally excellent) and not so great students (who may have a range of academic or personal quality levels).
For my part, kids who behave and let me do my job tend to like me and enjoy my classes. I understand that my job is not to teach kids what literature says but how to read it closely. I happen to be in a department of teachers who share that same pedagogical belief.
Your post would make sense to my case, Anja, if the course in question wasn't a required Liberal Arts course to graduate.... I don't go to USF for the shitty English Comp courses taught by inept English degree holding professors, I go for Psych and Physics. But I'm sure you knew that and know my "educational responsibilities" better than I know my own
Comp is almost never taught by actual professors, and comp classes do tend to suck because the TAs are frequently not given many guidelines for them. Nonetheless, it is important that ANY professional is adept at written expression.