My background is in philosophy and history (more of the same eventually, but
never piled higher and deeper). I didn’t start teaching until almost my 50th
year.
English is my second language (I was six when my parents dragged me across the
ocean and deposited me in Chicago) and I had difficulty reading in 1st grade.
My mother, who had trained as a teacher in Germany, undertook to teach me
phonics and I became a voracious reader. Interestingly, my four brothers and
sisters had no such trouble and so they did not get the individual phonics
treatment. For years after, I was the only one in the family who read anything
not assigned in school....almost all the charm, all the insight, all the
adventure was in that outside-of-school realm. If there was nothing else, I
read cereal boxes (a habit which served me well when I came to Canada and tried
to learn French).
John thinks we overestimate the influence of the books we happen to
read....somewhere here lies my point: I was questioning whether, in fact, we
merely ‘happen’ to read them. I’m thinking not of the books our parents choose
and read to us, but of the books we seek out ourselves in our early and mid
teens. How do we and they find each other?
David, when you’re done with the theses (or you break free for a walk around
the yard), query the chickens....they may have thoughts on this.
Ursula,
Far from any virus at the moment,
But with an extra can of tuna or two just in case.
On Mar 9, 2020, at 2:02 PM, david ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mar 9, 2020, at 10:34 AM, Ursula Stange <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Safe travels, John (on your way to Oz)....
On Mar 9, 2020, at 12:40 AM, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Coming late to the party, grabbing a few minutes from preparations for a
flight from Japan to Australia tonight.
[snip]
The daughter wound up a US Naval Academy graduate married to a very large
and masculine Marine Corps jet fighter jock. I have long felt that people
with literary tastes overestimate the influence of the books they happen to
read.
John
Good one, Ursula.
Overestimate and underestimate imply a norm. My experience of college
students suggests that reading as a pastime is waning. Perhaps it will wax
again, but at present they seem little influenced by books.
My first degree was in Literature; my second was in History. One reason for
the switch is that I felt less passion than others about, say, “The Divine
Comedy.” First World War poets engaged me, but the war itself seemed more
interesting as a puzzle.
I have long since brought the two subjects into a balance that works for me.
David Ritchie,
off to read two hundred pages of theses in
Portland, Oregon
