Author
|
Topic: Canadian literature in schools
|
|
|
|
|
'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
|
posted 17 April 2002 01:44 PM
quote: Sorry all. My main problemo with Canadian literature is that so much of it is navel-gazingly boring!
Oh, one could say much the same of the "classics" of the "national" literature of any country. I pity the American children who have Silas Marner or To Kill A Mockingbird inflicted on them. Almost by definintion, a book can't really be sanctified a classic by right-thinking educators and politicians unless it is navel-gazingly or mind-meltingly boring. And the source of the quotation you used proved just what striking exceptions there are among Canadian writers. Now, I agree with you, in a sense. I'd rather the schools didn't impose a "crippled" -- or any -- nationalism on children. I don't want schools teaching books for no other reason that that the books are Canadian. Still, I wonder in what scheme of things it was decreed that teaching literature that happens to be Canadian amounted to nationalism, while teaching books originating in other countries had something, necessarily, to do with universalism.
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
|
posted 18 April 2002 10:07 AM
Odd. Everyone's talking about how horrible TKaMB was, and I loved it.I also love Pride and Prejudice, but I never had to read it for school. How is it that you didn't like it, Rasmus? I found Margaret Laurence's books to be rather dreary, but even so they were somewhat enjoyable. And when I read "A Mixture of Frailties" by Robertson Davies in grade 13, he became one of my favorite authors, to the point where I've now bought and read almost all of his novels. Duddy Kravitz was not a sympathetic character to me - I thought he was so sleazy - but there were parts of that book that had me laughing out loud - like the bar mitzvah film showing...damn that was funny. Oh, and Virgil's newsletter for the "health handicapped" - oh man, I nearly peed myself over that one. I'm kind of glad we get CanLit in high school. I was just chatting with DrC and meades the other day. We're all different ages, but we've all had at least one or two books in common from English class, and I think that's kind of neat. Doc and I have had many more. And I think we discovered that most of the books we've read, we've enjoyed (even though I didn't actually read quite a few of them until I left high school - tee hee). I think we probably would not be exposed to the CanLit as much if we didn't read it in high school, because I don't think they get the same kind of slick marketing that other more commercial novels get. I don't know. I don't like to say, let's read this just because it's Canadian. But most of the Canadian Literature I was forced to read in high school WAS pretty good. As good as it can be, I guess, after you've torn it apart page by page looking for Christ-like-figures and foreshadowing and instances of the main character moving from-innocence-to-experience.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
|
posted 18 April 2002 02:57 PM
Well, the first time I was exposed to P&P was in Grade 12 - a fellow I knew at another high school who was in Grade 13 had to read it, so he would have been 17 or 18 at the time. I can see where that would be a boring book for a younger teenager. But I found it pretty funny - the dry wit was just wonderful, I thought. 15 year old boys? Well, yeah, I guess I can see your point.I thought it was a really funny book. I reread it once every year or two. Skdadl, yes, there were times when I thought our English teacher read significance into certain books. Now I see that I was probably wrong. But we had this one English teacher (remember? the one I'm sending a photocopy of my degree when I get it with "read it and weep, bitch" scrawled across it?) who just COULD not let you enjoy any part of any book. Man, every other word was a foreshadowing of something or other. She was probably right, but GEEZ. That woman taught us Lord of the Flies. I was getting pretty tired of Christ-like figures and innocence to experience after that book, let me tell you.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
|
posted 18 April 2002 03:31 PM
quote: Anyway, sounds like teachers and/or principals and/or school boards are just too damn timid, and likely also making such decisions based on fifth-hand accounts of stuff that happened several school districts away.
It actually comes down to the bureaucrats who make decisions on curricula... My hubby's been in the educational multimedia field for several years now, and although their products get great reviews from teachers and focus test well with the kids, the bureaucrats get really nervous about anything that is not extremely sanitized. One example: A story-telling CD-rom based on traditional First Nations story-telling, they rejected it not because of the content, not because of the technique, but because the First Nations storyteller (the genuine article, btw) was wearing sneakers with his headdress, and that just wasn't right, they found it offensive. I kid you not. (Hell, the man dressed himself -- we didn't tell him to wear sneakers. Apparently he prefers them!) Or the media literacy CD, made in cooperation with one of the foremost media literacy experts in the world because a Calvin Klein-type ad was used, and it was suggestive. How do they learn about suggestive if they never see it?! I realize this is off topic, so I'm going to try to tie it in.... Some Canadian literature may not be sanitized or have "moral fibre" (whatever that is), but it's something our kids should be exposed to -- especially if it's good writing. Timid doesn't half cover it.
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
oldgoat
Moderator
Babbler # 1130
|
posted 18 April 2002 05:16 PM
My kid's in grade 9. He did a huge novel study on Kits Law last fall. (authors name escapes me for the moment) A fine Canadian novel, and pretty far from sanitized I would say.His English teacher once said to the class: "I don't believe in institutionalising people for what they write, but please be aware that I don't care for really dark poetry. So if any of you are genuinly suicidal, please come and see me before hand, and I won't mark you down for it" She's great! I should also point out for those who may not be aware that my son goes to the same high school which graduated our own Audra. [ April 18, 2002: Message edited by: oldgoat ]
From: The 10th circle | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
|
posted 19 April 2002 04:28 PM
Well, I have a bit of a bias -- it's based in Saskatchewan history, which I have a serious bug about. So I loved that it dug up that old can of worms most people have forgotten about.But Vanderhaege has a wonderful facility with language, so I also like his style. I quite enjoyed it. Did you know that the film rights have been optioned by a Saskatchewan production company? I hope they get their butts in gear and actually make it. [ April 19, 2002: Message edited by: Zoot Capri ]
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
|
posted 23 April 2002 04:47 AM
According to this site, Frank L. Baum got his feel for the prairie in South Dakota: quote: Born near Syracuse in 1856, Baum was brought up in a wealthy home and early became interested in the theater. He wrote some plays which enjoyed brief success and then, with his wife and two sons, journeyed to Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1887. Aberdeen was a little prairie town and there Baum edited the local weekly until it failed in 1891[5]...As we shall see, Baum's prairie experience was no less deeply etched, although he did not employ naturalism to express it.
The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|