Free Thinkers

While watching Dead Poets Society in class today, I had the sudden realization: few students today are free thinkers. Yeah, this movie is not completely realistic, but few movies are. The teacher's encouragement though, to open their minds, is one I think students do not receive in today's schools. Although things may be different than the 1950s, students should still learn to have an open mind. Students just aren't taught that today. Math, English, science, and even humanities' classes, we're simply learning how to pass tests and whatnot. Even though we do think in English, it's more about how to pass the AP test and not really about appreciating literature. We try, but there's really not enough time to do both. And since appreciation can't exactly be measured, it's an impractical thing to teach.

Favorite Poets?

Many people have a favorite author, or artist, or musician. When it comes to poetry, I have something similar to that. Most of the time, as I explained in an earlier blog post(I think), I don't particularly enjoy reading poetry. It's a very mood-dependent type of activity. However, if forced, I'd go for Shel Silverstein's poems every time, simply because they're awesome. Here's an example:

"Hammock"
Grandma sent the hammock,
The good Lord sent the breeze.
I'm here to do the swingin --
Now, who's gonna move the trees?

Next to the poem, there's a drawing of a child holding one end of a hammock with the other end wrapped around a tree. Unfortunately, there aren't any other trees around for him to hang the end up on. I enjoy his poems since they're so simple to understand. Yeah it's because they were meant for kids, but who cares? No difficult meanings to divine, no obscure vocabulary hooray! And not only are all of his poems childishly amusing, but he looks like a boss. Look at him.

Poetry

I remember the days when all poetry meant was create a limerick or acrostic. How I miss 2nd grade. Today though, we have the fun experience of learning about extremely confusing, yet lyrical verses. There are so many different ways to classify poems: sonnet, English sonnet, Italian sonnet, and so on. So many literary terms that spawned from it as well. There's verse, iambic pentameter, and rhyme. I'd like to take moment to brag. I know what a couplet is. Moving on, reading poetry has become increasingly complex. Gone are the day when all one had to do was listen to the rhythm. Instead, we get to find the author's real meaning and find a theme for their writing.

Despite my negative ramblings about why reading poetry has become exponentially more difficult; the truth is I kind of enjoy reading and thinking about it. It's certainly a provoking experience, and it's exercise for my brain. To demonstrate my abilities at poetry, here's a limerick.

I am a young child
Who wants to grow up in the wild
I will swing from trees
And never drink any English tea
Tarzan's my name, write that down in my file

Multiple Choice: Questions from the devil

I look at the multiple choice questions I have today and weep on the inside. Why must choosing a, b, c, or d be so difficult? I remember three years ago, multiple choice was cake. I could probably been half-asleep and gotten 100% on an entire test. Flash forward, I'm wide awake and scoring about an 80%. Embarrassing.
Although in my defense, multiple choice has become extremely complicated since I've been in AP  Junior/Senior English. These days, all those little buggers look like they have the same answer (Why does this word have a "w" in it?). Take one of those Beloved questions. A) sarcastic. C) irony.
According to dictionary.com, Sarcasm: harsh or bitter derision; irony
What's the right answer to that? C. While this is just one question, that doesn't mean the other questions aren't something similar to this. I just think this means multiple choice questions are becoming more subjective than they were in the past. At this point, I'd almost prefer to write an essay than complete 100 multiple choice questions. At least then I can explain my own answers, even if they don't make sense.

And if anyone actually read this, has anyone else seen Becca's blog? I'd bet money that she basically face-rolled across the keyboard to get that title. :)