English - The most bs subject taught?

my enjoyment of english literature (we also had to do english language) was based largely on the teacher i had - she made me really enjoy it and brought everything to life. however, i could never understand how i could be "wrong", as above, interpretation is a subjective thing and providing i made a relevant point with supporting quotations and arguments why was it wrong? is it not just another opinion?

that said, i did it at a level and it was my worst result :D
 
nin9abadga said:
however, i could never understand how i could be "wrong", as above, interpretation is a subjective thing and providing i made a relevant point with supporting quotations and arguments why was it wrong? is it not just another opinion?
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Apparently we were just less technical about it.
 
Nitefly said:
I understand why people like English as it lets people be original, but its such a masterbational subject, second possibly only to philosophy. I remember joining in with a discussion about symbolism a few English undergraduates were having. Just the things they were talking about, and taking them seriously, oh my!
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yea i like it but some people read far to much into things
 
Just write the biggest piece of crap and you get marks. Poem comparison for example, if there are lots of s sounds, say it slows the pace down and makes the poem more relaxing - Its easy but a total load of crap.
 
Pre GCSEs I loved English but the year I started GCSEs I despised it. It became less and less about being creative and writing well (which I felt was what English was all about - expanding your vocabulary and learning to write engagingly) and more about how much crap you could spew from your rear end onto the paper in front of you...

I just gave up on it towards the end, walked into the exam and evacuated my bowels and managed an A in both Lit and Lang. In Lit I hadn't even read the book (Catcher in the Rye, utterly bored me to tears, I tried to read it but just gave up) and just bull******* my way through it, making it up as I went along. This is proof if any that analysis ends up being utter BS, so long as it's written well and you shove in as many references to literary techniques it doesn't matter what you write, you'll get a good grade.

I've never understood why the classic were so highly rated either, things like Great Expectations and Catcher in the Rye may have been well written but when you get down to it nothing exciting ever happens - I may have a short attention span and it may be because I'm used to exciting and light hearted fantasy books (a la Terry Pratchett) but these books were just ridiculous to me and I couldn't get my head around why such boring books were so highly regarded.
 
n1kunj said:
I just gave up on it towards the end, walked into the exam and evacuated my bowels and managed an A in both Lit and Lang. In Lit I hadn't even read the book (Catcher in the Rye, utterly bored me to tears, I tried to read it but just gave up) and just bull******* my way through it, making it up as I went along. This is proof if any that analysis ends up being utter BS, so long as it's written well and you shove in as many references to literary techniques it doesn't matter what you write, you'll get a good grade.
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Snap.

I did exactly that.
 
I managed to get F's and D's in my coursework but managed a B in my Lit/Lang exams, the culprit was my English teacher being a Drama teacher hence we had to do play's and it was really quite frustrating doing speeches, plays etc.

I really wish i wasn't in Class A and had been in Class B where i could have achieved better coursework results. Im retaking my coursework at college anyway as apparently i can do that.
 
I got an A for my English Language and Literature A level - I had to analyze Dylan Thomas and sprout absolute bile and nonsense from my butt. I didn't even know what I was talking about.

English is BS because it's subjective. If you ramble on long enough, it's like giving the examiners blowjobs. I am incredibly cynical of the subject after passing it so easily without even having a clue what the hell was going on.
 
Pride and Prejudice was one of my GCSE texts...dear god that was an awful book

After our year did it was removed from the curriculum options
 
OP,

Why do you have a problem with learning to use your own language accurately and correctly?

Colleagues of mine in Holland can use not only their own language, but usually two or three others like English,French German and even Spanish.

We in the UK are linguistically lazy, and to moan publically that you do not even want formally to learn your own tongue beggars belief.

You also seem to be making the mistake of thinking that education should be vocational. It will be a sorry day when our education system only teaches subject matter which is directly relevent to some kind of job.

I DO agree that the way English is taught could be improved. We do need to go back to teaching formal grammar. We need to stress spelling and punctuation. I think we need to de-emphasize literature and poetry till kids are older. One needs a certain intellectual and emotional maturity to get the most out of such subjects. I didn't have that maturity when I was 14 and studying such stuff. (FRENCH Literature was a bit of a mystery to me too. Didn't quite understand what Moliere and Balzac were going on about even when I got past the language difference). The OP clearly does not have the maturity I am going on about, and I suggest very few (male?) teenagers would.

When life has hurt you a bit, then poetry and English Literature make much more sense and touch your soul.

Oddly enough I am actively searching around just now for a decent book to refresh myself on the basics of English grammar, the details of punctuation and relearn those difficult to spell words like "committment", "Intelligence" and "Relevant" (Did I get those right :) ).
 
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KNiVES said:
English is BS because it's subjective.
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That's the biggest load of rubbish I've heard all week. Do you also hate every other arts subject - history, languages, etc. - because they lean towards subjectivity? Do you not welcome the opportunity to express your own opinions once in a while, rather than reiterating what has been proven to be correct?

There's a hell of a lot more to life than the black-and white. Science makes life better. The arts make life worth living.
 
Werewolf said:
Ken, it's a very handy ability to have, especially when you're reading the newspaper, or watching Faux "News", knowing who the audience is they are playing to, and being able to understand/read between the lines in regards to the wording can be extremely useful in enabling you to get to the facts rather than the hyperbole.
It's especially useful if you're reading something that might be a bit older than your current generation.
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Bingo. If you don't learn how language is used, how specific words and/or syntantical or grammatical formulations are employed to manipulate the reader of a newspaper or the viewer of a tv show, how they use your cultural context to make you think that they're "speaking" specifically to you, then you won't be able to understand when a political ad, news programme, or commercial is trying to take you for a ride. Learning how to take apart a piece of writing makes you less impressionable and able to tell when someone or something is trying to manipulate you. Plus you learn how to do it yourself to others! ;) :p
Sure, you don't have to learn this stuff by analyzing poems by Coleridge or novels by Joyce, but it's more fun that way, and it teaches you to appreciate literature as an added bonus.
 
This is like saying why is algebra in maths pointless at GCSE level.

It's all to get you to think and use your brain ( Although analysis of poetry is a class of bs'ing of its' own ).

But then i also agree that a lot of English is rubbish and could be skipped completely. How do you decide what children need to be taught though, as English is a very broad subject, and comes into play every day of your life.
 
I think we should get PC building classes instead. English is so awful and it's not fair how people like me and the OP suck at it... :rolleyes:
 
.:MBK:. said:
Pride and Prejudice was one of my GCSE texts...dear god that was an awful book

After our year did it was removed from the curriculum options
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WTF? That's an awesome book!

It's a pity that people are forced to read books - it detracts from your enjoyment of them.

Have you tried reading it again lately?
 
snowdog said:
On the Internet there's no need at all for good language, as long as people understand each other there's just no need to try to use good language. I feel no need to write in an exceptional way on an Internet forum, like I'd need when I'd apply for a job, or when I need to talk with customers some day or anything like that...
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Really? You think? You wrote calmly and reasonably and got a bunch of polite and encouraging replies. The OP wrote an asterisk-filled, semi-coherent rant and got back a bunch of flames! :D

snowdog said:
Do I?
I love films, games, series, motorized transport and music. Isn't that creativity ?
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And how do you think the people who work on the plots of films or games or who write song lyrics learned to write if not by reading literature and learning how to take it apart?

See old games for example, they are just far more addictive than more advanced games these days, sometimes simple things are just much more enjoyable...
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That's probably because they had simpler and more enjoyable gameplay mechanics though, not because they had crappy (or in some cases non-existent) plots. It's not as if a fun old '80s arcade game would stop being fun if you replaced the badly-translated Japanese dialogue with something better written. Though it might detract from some of the humour value.:D I'd say some games have good plots, others have good gameplay, and a few gems have both.
 
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