[lit-ideas] Re: Sunday waffle...

Sadly, we can no longer take for granted that our students understand 
the many cultural references (most obviously the Bible and Shakespeare) 
that generations of past students were expected to have at their 
fingertips.  I had a student once who wrote, in a final exam, a sentence 
about Noa Zark.  (I shudder to think how this story reflects on my 
teaching, of course.)   Perhaps they learn too much of their language 
through their ears, and too little through their eyes.   More proof: the 
legions who don't differentiate between 'past' and 'passed.'

It's tempting as we get on in years, to imagine some distant 'golden 
age' when students were more prepared (and men were men and women were 
quiet?...).   Perhaps a truer answer lies in who goes to college these 
days.   If public policy encourages everyone to attend (keeps them out 
of the job market and off the streets, after all), perhaps the lowering 
of expectations and standards is inevitable but not really indicative of 
worse teaching or learning. 
Ursula
North Bay

Steven G. Cameron wrote:

>we rely enormously on our cultural myths as instructional underpinnings: 
>Tanach, Edith Hamilton, Robin Hood, etc.
>
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: