English Teachers

[Carrot]

I hate English teachers with a passion. Like seriously, we don't care about every little symbol in a book that even the author didn't realize he was putting in. I actually used to like reading, but now I can't stand it.


Discuss.

[Evelsaint]

Majority of them are very Anal about it, there are a cool few.

Don't let them ruin the subject for you, there is a modern approach to reliviewing the book. Instead of analyzing the book and literary meanings, the reliviewing focuses on examining other literary works such as poems and songs to give meaning and draw comparisons.

A+ in my English class cause of the cool teacher.

Aside from that, yeah most English teachers are ANAL!

[Dan]

To be honest, I disagree with you. I'm sorry but I really like English. I average like a 98 every semester, and to be honest, I enjoy writing essays. English is actually my favorite subject, besides Physical Education.

[Evelsaint]

Well writing essays is different that analyzing a book.

I love writing.

I hate analyzing Shakespeare.

kapish the difference?

[holyzac]

English is fun only if your teacher is :)
So bad luck for those with inexperienced and unmotivated English Teachers.

[Sci_Girl]

English teachers are fine, learning how to structure a proper sentence and such is very good information. That side of English teachers I am totally okay with. However it is the English teachers that push "creative writing" and then turn around and say "you did not write what I said to write" when I have a real problem. High school English is a joke just follow the sparknotes or coles notes of your Shakespeare and you will be fine. University English is stupid. My prof would take off marks if we did not include mentions of the Bible. Well I am an atheist so I cannot include any mention of the Bible because I do not know it. Then we would lose marks if our "creative writing" did not mimic her opinion of the book. I am not sorry for writing my own opinions and supporting them because that is what creative writing means. That is what makes English teachers annoying and too many of them operate in that fashion.

[Evelsaint]

^^^ yes, My teacher had a thing with the bible and religon also.

FML.

It was bad.

[munsterpoo]

It depends, different strokes for different folks, my wife LOVES british lit, I loathe it. Sometimes teachers don't like what they're teaching anymore than the students like learning it, but you gotta do what you gotta do =/

[robots]

this thread is mine omg <3

i really love literature. i write poetry and occasionally prose in my spare time. however, with reading, a lot of teachers over-digest books. they make you go over redundant topics, and it just sucks all the color out of the text.
sometimes, books are just better read when you yourself can read them, without a teacher directing you on what to think, what the author may have said, whatever.
every english teacher i've ever had has started out a speech saying that she wants to be the best english teacher her students ever had, she wants to make reading fun for everyone, make literature unforgettable, etc etc.
i think some people just don't like literature, and making them work into it just really doesn't help.
like, no kid is going to take lit in university if they don't like what they're studying. SO MUCH of high school english coursework is redundant. i'm in eleventh grade and i haven't learned anything new since the eighth grade.

[Harry Potter]

I had a really cool english teacher once. When we would read shakespeare she got really into it and had us act it out in class.

I remember her getting on her desk once and turned the garbage can upside down and starting banging it like drum xD

[Slasher]

My english teacher is nice, but she doesn't realize that our class is not fully bilingual and she makes us doing things we never even know about. My grades went from A to C+ and so is the average :mad:

[bourrache]

This year, my english teacher is decent. She's unintelligent, but she likes me (every other student in my class is about as dumb as a rock), so yeah. Boring. I should have taken AP English this year, like I did the last, but I guess it's too late now. Last year was pretty ridiculous. The students were fine, sure, but the teacher made us analyze every little thing. Every detail of a story is/has to be symbolic. It was annoying as heck, but I guess it was a /bit/ helpful.

[Skins]

for now I'm just a basic English
(some vocabulary, a lot of grammar and some writing)
I would like to study English another place:)

PS: my English teacher say: "shh! Be quiet..." and we never never talk :S
(my English improved, ouh yeah)

[Inq]

This remains to be the case all throughout the schooling system, unfortunately. As an undergraduate English student, I can tell you that it certainly carries on at college level and above.

The way I approach the subject is quite removed from the Freudian "symbol-searching" perspective which has dominated mainstream criticism in the recent past. Why would we keep a Freudian perspective when Freud is ridiculed in his own sphere of study? There is no reason for English students to be forced to use outdated, practically irrelevant borrowings from other subjects, when they could easily be provided with the tools to create a more contemporary view.

When I write an essay, I always try to use philosophy, sociology and psychology which people would not be ashamed to use elsewhere.

[Sci_Girl]

Interesting, what sort of sociology and psychology do you use in an English paper about a difficult to interpret work of Shakespeare? The intent of an English prof in assigning that paper is to have students search for the symbols and meanings within the confusing text.

[Inq]

Interesting, what sort of sociology and psychology do you use in an English paper about a difficult to interpret work of Shakespeare? The intent of an English prof in assigning that paper is to have students search for the symbols and meanings within the confusing text.

My latest Shakespeare essay cited contemporary psychology/psychiatry, using The Tempest to discuss similarities between imagination and schizophrenia. If you'd like to hear more about it, I'd be happy to PM you: I'm thinking about publishing the essay at some point (once I can spend a bit more time working on it), so I can't post it here.

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises."

[Foxer]

I have had some pretty crappy English teachers, but I've had a couple of good ones, too. I do agree, though, that a lot of the symbolism they look for in various forms of media is generally overkill. When I write, I write because it's fun, not because I want to convey some deep and meaningful message that I hint at every second paragraph. xD;

[bamag]

I totally agree about how writing essays about accidental symbols and stuff is stupid. Key to writing essays is being able to bullshit stuff lol.
I also dislike how some teachers prohibit sexual material in essays.
[Only registered and activated users can see links] (might not be appropriate for younger people but its just words)
That essay was a good essay but got a 0% because of its topic.

[Inq]

bamag

That's quite a poor essay, subject aside: the wording seems very confused, which is no wonder considering that the author is probably trying to use technical language for the humorous effect.

There's prohibiting sexual content, and then there's drawing a line at basing the essay around something like that. At high-school level and above, it would be very damaging to prohibit the discussion of sexuality - in fact, it would put a lot of English teachers out of business - but that essay is obviously just a comic non-example.

[Sci_Girl]

My latest Shakespeare essay cited contemporary psychology/psychiatry, using The Tempest to discuss similarities between imagination and schizophrenia. If you'd like to hear more about it, I'd be happy to PM you: I'm thinking about publishing the essay at some point (once I can spend a bit more time working on it), so I can't post it here.

Sure, PM me. I know a fair deal about Schizophrenia, both the symptoms and biological basis so I would be interested.

[Sqwahba]

Just because someone has a passion for something doesn't necessarily mean that they are anal about it. Maybe they are just trying to inspire you the way that they have been inspired?
My dad's actually an English teacher. Though the two of us don't really get along, I can appreciate the fact that he has something that he truly enjoys and wholeheartedly wants to share it with others.
Just because you don't care about the symbolism in something doesn't mean that others feel the same. (:
It's unfortunate that you had to have such a negative experience with them. ):

[kidchaor]

this year i got the best english teacher in the world o_o but all the other years my english teachers were crappy and mean :l

[Khelddar]

With fiction i dont think that you should put to much analysis on it. I think that every person reads a book differently and they should be able to create the world of the book however they want.

[Emiley]

I love English teachers, they are the best teachers lol, except for the type of consequences they give out.

[Carrot]

I used to like reading and such when I was younger, but annoying teachers analyzing everything ruined it for me.

[Shichibukai]

I like sometimes when we read stories it just depends on the teachers, when its poetry its totally lame.
Right nwo my english language teacher is pretty cool but because we dont like literature sadly we cant sit still and the teachers keep getting fired lol.

[zyocuh]

English teachers are just doing their job can't really hate them... Well you can cuase they suck buts a bad reason to hate. Extremely dislike maybe