'Some books are written to be swallowed like an oyster, barely chewed.' - French critic Roland Barthes.
I wish I'd said that. Well, by quoting Mr. Barthes I am showing my solidarity to his words.
NPR recently spoke about some schools paying students $2 for each book they read. Scandalous! And some students are opting for the thinnest books they can lay hands on in order to go through more of them and get their $2 bribery...er...reward that much quicker. How heinous.
Recently on that wonderful site for writers - QueryTracker.net - a thread appeared with someone asking if those members who were students or were teachers knew if the skill of memorization was still employed in high school or college - of the Preamble to the US Constitution, or the Amendments to same, or Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, passages from Shakespeare or poems was still being 'taught'. The answer was a resounding NO. [They would, however, know of Lincoln because of his vampire slaying.]
A QT member posted that her daughter was not required to memorize any bits of The Canterbury Tales but was assigned to create a Facebook page based on one of the characters in said book.
We are veering into Paddy Chayefsy's Network territory here. To quote Peter Finch's Howard Beale character, 'And woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!'
What's going to happen to future generations who have gone from sounding like air-headed Valley Girls to the now humanoid entities whose batteries are running low - that nasal Kardashian whine with a slight rise at the end that hints at a question where none exists. It makes the Valley Girls seem frenetic and semi-intelligent.
Some schools are doing away with teaching cursive writing since the students do most of their work on laptops or tablets of one brand or another. Gone to history will be the handwritten Thank You note, or the handwritten Condolence letter. These future adults will be unable to spell since their vocabulary's are shrinking into acronyms and abbreviations in their texting - we're all familiar with LOL and BRB and it's understandable to incorporate brevity in emails and texting. However, that need for micro-condensing has crept into their speech. And in that winding down humanoid voice they now employ cannot muster up the strength to compete words: Details is now simply deets. Totally has become totes. Amazing has morphed into amaze. And Vomiting is now vom. That second syllable just too exhausting to spit out.
Three cheers for cerebration. Feed your reader's head. This dumbing-down nonsense is hurting everyone and creating a generation of imbeciles who couldn't diagram a sentence with a slide-rule and a crutch. Cry for those without shoes but weep for those who do not yearn to read and learn.
I wish I'd said that. Well, by quoting Mr. Barthes I am showing my solidarity to his words.
NPR recently spoke about some schools paying students $2 for each book they read. Scandalous! And some students are opting for the thinnest books they can lay hands on in order to go through more of them and get their $2 bribery...er...reward that much quicker. How heinous.
Recently on that wonderful site for writers - QueryTracker.net - a thread appeared with someone asking if those members who were students or were teachers knew if the skill of memorization was still employed in high school or college - of the Preamble to the US Constitution, or the Amendments to same, or Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, passages from Shakespeare or poems was still being 'taught'. The answer was a resounding NO. [They would, however, know of Lincoln because of his vampire slaying.]
A QT member posted that her daughter was not required to memorize any bits of The Canterbury Tales but was assigned to create a Facebook page based on one of the characters in said book.
We are veering into Paddy Chayefsy's Network territory here. To quote Peter Finch's Howard Beale character, 'And woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!'
What's going to happen to future generations who have gone from sounding like air-headed Valley Girls to the now humanoid entities whose batteries are running low - that nasal Kardashian whine with a slight rise at the end that hints at a question where none exists. It makes the Valley Girls seem frenetic and semi-intelligent.
Some schools are doing away with teaching cursive writing since the students do most of their work on laptops or tablets of one brand or another. Gone to history will be the handwritten Thank You note, or the handwritten Condolence letter. These future adults will be unable to spell since their vocabulary's are shrinking into acronyms and abbreviations in their texting - we're all familiar with LOL and BRB and it's understandable to incorporate brevity in emails and texting. However, that need for micro-condensing has crept into their speech. And in that winding down humanoid voice they now employ cannot muster up the strength to compete words: Details is now simply deets. Totally has become totes. Amazing has morphed into amaze. And Vomiting is now vom. That second syllable just too exhausting to spit out.
Three cheers for cerebration. Feed your reader's head. This dumbing-down nonsense is hurting everyone and creating a generation of imbeciles who couldn't diagram a sentence with a slide-rule and a crutch. Cry for those without shoes but weep for those who do not yearn to read and learn.
RSS Feed
