Originally Posted by
VHOED191006
It's no longer English. It's more focused on learning about human experiences, or figuring out what authors meant when they wrote a sentence in a particular page, or analysing a bunch of Shakespeare plays, or writing an essay about some random movie. The 'English' in English classes is virtually non-existent. They don't teach how to have correct grammar, punctuation, or how to sound more advanced when you are writing or speaking, all in an effort to avoid offending someone. It's one of the many things that make the education system a disgrace.
I agree with you.
My daughter was doing a Year 10 assignment related to a book she had to read. She found the questions confusing and working out what the task was - her mother and I (although separated for 11 years) always placed a priority with the kids on reading and comprehension and spent time telling them about words and their meaning, both of the kids in tests when they were in primary school came back with reading ages 4-6 years beyond their age. At 14 my eldest was reading the Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant and had also read Colin McLaren's excellent book about the JFK Assassination 'the fatal shot' I think it is called.
Anyway, I read the bloody instructions 4 times and couldn't make any sense out of what they were asking, sounded like a lot of weasel words strung together with bad grammar and spelling to me - I consider myself reasonably well read and it helps I have a pretty good memory for things I'm interested in, such as reciting speeches made by famous people from beginning to end and this was just not logical. I'd almost go as far as saying the report questions were written by a moron who shouldn't be teaching anything. Earlier in High School when I'd help the kids with their homework, I'd sometimes, just for sh-ts and giggles, send the homework assignment instructions back with all the teacher's spelling errors corrected and grammar as well.
People will say "Oh, what does it matter if you know what they meant". Well, it DOES matter because in many industries and dare I say it in critical places like a war zone and even diplomacy, understanding and precision MATTERS. Anyone remember "Four Greens" being misheard as "All Greens"?? Minor example but I often think of that example "Last night I had my parents for dinner" to illustrate why grammar matters.