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Unclescam777
[url=http://www.hitemup.com/newsarticles/post/TupacincludedinWorcesterP.html]Here's a link[/url]
Tupac added to school's summer reading list
June 26, 2004 at 10:51PM View BBCode
Tupac Shakur's book of poetry "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" was recently added to the Worcester(Massachusetts) public school's summer reading list.[url=http://www.hitemup.com/newsarticles/post/TupacincludedinWorcesterP.html]Here's a link[/url]
Cubsfan13
June 26, 2004 at 11:09PM View BBCode
Yea I read that before. A whole bunch of people are probably going to get on the school's ass, but its pretty cool to finally see a school with enough balls to give reading material that wasn't the same as everybody else. I wish they had "made" me read that at my school.
Unclescam777
June 26, 2004 at 11:32PM View BBCode
It may not be Shakespeare but at least they are bringing in a book that kids can relate to(somewhat) and show interest in. There's always the possibility that some students will enjoy his poetry and move on to more recognized poetry. Baby steps. You can't just throw someone like Poe or Dickenson at them and expect the students to like/understand poetry. You need to start with something simple and interesting, then work your way up. They did the right thing as long as you look at it in the proper perspective
happy
June 27, 2004 at 02:57AM View BBCode
im fine with a teacher assigning Tupac's books or whatever, although i would be pissed off if it became required reading by law or whatever, not a possibility for a teacher (i.e. the school board or whatever said that all 10th grade students had to read black boy, the second most worthless book ive ever read right behind bury my heart and wounded knee, and right ahead of the education of richard rodriguez.)
Unclescam777
June 27, 2004 at 03:08AM View BBCode
To Kill a Mockingbird mades me cringe whenever I see it. I despise that book.
happy
June 27, 2004 at 03:33AM View formatted
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ha, a required reading my teacher forgot to give me. read bury my heart at wounded knee if you want to hear the same story 100 times with different names. it is about the indians. it was interesting the first 2 or 3 times i heard the story (indians have land, white man wants land, white man kicks indians ass because indians are pussy tree huggers, indians live on crappy land for rest of history), but it got boring. Red Cloud and Sitting Bull are by far the most kick ass indians (Red Cloud WAY over sitting bull) because their story was different than the rest of the white people, so i could read it without going to sleep.
skierdude44
June 27, 2004 at 03:31PM View BBCode
I had to read To Kill A Mockingbird this year too. It was pretty boring. I have four books to read this summer, all of them will probably put me to sleep but almost any reading puts me to sleep so I guess thats not saying much.
Unclescam777
June 27, 2004 at 03:33PM View BBCode
You should read Brave New World, it's an incredible book and on many school's reading lists
skierdude44
June 27, 2004 at 03:33PM View BBCode
And the one bad thing (for the teachers) about assigning "The Rose that Grew From Concrete" is that the kids could probably just go pick up a copy of the cd by the same title which has the poems read by various actors, poets, and other celebrities. I guess the cd doesnt have all the poems on it though but I dont know.
happy
Catcher in the Rye kicks ass.
Moby Dick sucks. it isnt as bad as everyone says as long as you have a very good english teacher to tell you all the hidden meanings to the story. our teacher was amazing. the book is still stupid because it was just Herman Melville showing off the whole book. He tried to write in ever different Genre. that is why some chapters are written like a play, and there is even a chapter written like an encyclopedia. That book is like basketball street moves to english scholors. it looks cool but serves no purpose. the difference is that us useless minions dont even see the move, so we only noticed the lack of purpose in the book.
June 27, 2004 at 03:40PM View BBCode
Brave New World = 1984 again. I liked it, but thought it was A lot like 1984, and was made like 2 years after 1984.Catcher in the Rye kicks ass.
Moby Dick sucks. it isnt as bad as everyone says as long as you have a very good english teacher to tell you all the hidden meanings to the story. our teacher was amazing. the book is still stupid because it was just Herman Melville showing off the whole book. He tried to write in ever different Genre. that is why some chapters are written like a play, and there is even a chapter written like an encyclopedia. That book is like basketball street moves to english scholors. it looks cool but serves no purpose. the difference is that us useless minions dont even see the move, so we only noticed the lack of purpose in the book.
Unclescam777
The short version of Moby Dick is alright, the long version(nearly 1000 pages) is just too drawn out
June 27, 2004 at 03:55PM View BBCode
dude, Brave New World was written in the 60's and 1984 was written in the 40's. They have rereleased both books multiple times so you probably just saw newer versions of it.The short version of Moby Dick is alright, the long version(nearly 1000 pages) is just too drawn out
Unclescam777
June 27, 2004 at 03:58PM View BBCode
oh and there are differences between Brave New World and 1984. 1984 has normal lives, just the government controls what you say and always watches you. In Brave New World humans are farmed rather than born naturally and the government has complete control over every aspect of their life. They are also always on Soma in Brave New World to prevent the people from thinking.
farfetched
Take for instance ice cream. Think about your favorite flavor... You eat that flavor all the time and constantly remind yourself about how great that flavor is for you. What happens when you are offered, according to Monty Python, something completely different?
You're closed-minded, reluctant to take the first step, and painted stubborn due to the fact that you lack the discipline and/or willingness to expand your tastes, interests, etc.
If you're allowing yourself to be exposed to pop culture in the schools (despite whether or not the material in question was released before he became famous) what's next?
You could probably say this opinion comes from my 'bias' against rap, but if they put Kurt Cobain's journals on the summer reading list, I'd be bitching just as loudly. Bottom line: when you're allowed to advance through school by reading something you're already familiar with and find interest in, you're never going to grow as a person.
June 28, 2004 at 11:10PM View BBCode
This is exactly why I'm all for the schools assigning books which the average person tends to be bored by or despise with reckless contempt. The object isn't to bore the student to death but to open that certain student's mind to a literary phenomenon with which that student is unfamiliar.Take for instance ice cream. Think about your favorite flavor... You eat that flavor all the time and constantly remind yourself about how great that flavor is for you. What happens when you are offered, according to Monty Python, something completely different?
You're closed-minded, reluctant to take the first step, and painted stubborn due to the fact that you lack the discipline and/or willingness to expand your tastes, interests, etc.
If you're allowing yourself to be exposed to pop culture in the schools (despite whether or not the material in question was released before he became famous) what's next?
You could probably say this opinion comes from my 'bias' against rap, but if they put Kurt Cobain's journals on the summer reading list, I'd be bitching just as loudly. Bottom line: when you're allowed to advance through school by reading something you're already familiar with and find interest in, you're never going to grow as a person.
skierdude44
My point is if you cant understand something and/or really just dont care about it then you are more likely to blow it off and/or not pay attention to details and miss some of the story. Now if you actually give a damn about what you are reading then maybe you will realize that reading isnt so bad and read other things. I think that the idea behind it is to first develop a passion for reading by assigning something that the students will read and building off that. Tupac's poetry probably doesnt contain alot of diverse literary elements and is basically just his creativity and thoughts but it does have some literary merit and the students will read it because its by Tupac. Maybe Im blinded a bit because Im pretty open minded (picky about most things but ill atleast give something new a try) but I think that by first introducing something that they students can relate to and then developing a passion for reading off that will work and that is what they are attempting to do with Tupac's poetry. Hell, I wish I had to read Tupac's book over the books i gotta read this summer because the books I have will most likely put me to sleep.
June 28, 2004 at 11:43PM View BBCode
I havent read Tupac's poetry but I have heard some of the songs from that book (they were not performed by him) and they were nothing like his rap. I believe that alot of what is in that book is poems and songs that he wrote in his journal as a teenager before he became interested in rap. From what I have heard it is regular poetry, the only difference is that it was written by someone who eventually became a legendary rapper. Ofcourse there are some parts where he draws comparisions to his life and what it was like in the ghetto which goes along with his music but most of it is ordinary poetry that you could find from the average poet. The difference here I think is that to get kids to read you must first get them to like reading. The majority of teenagers dont like reading at all, but if you can identify who the writer is and identify with the writer then you may enjoy the book and then go on and read more and begin to enjoy reading. In some inner city areas the vast majority of teens dont read, but if you introduce something that they can identify with (like Tupac's poetry) they may actually read it and maybe develop an interest in reading, or atleast a tolerance for it. Many teens in the inner city can identify with Tupac, especially with some of the poems in that book because he was around the same age as the students when he wrote them, and they can definitely identify with the name Tupac and may actually read it then instead of just ignore it or skim through it.My point is if you cant understand something and/or really just dont care about it then you are more likely to blow it off and/or not pay attention to details and miss some of the story. Now if you actually give a damn about what you are reading then maybe you will realize that reading isnt so bad and read other things. I think that the idea behind it is to first develop a passion for reading by assigning something that the students will read and building off that. Tupac's poetry probably doesnt contain alot of diverse literary elements and is basically just his creativity and thoughts but it does have some literary merit and the students will read it because its by Tupac. Maybe Im blinded a bit because Im pretty open minded (picky about most things but ill atleast give something new a try) but I think that by first introducing something that they students can relate to and then developing a passion for reading off that will work and that is what they are attempting to do with Tupac's poetry. Hell, I wish I had to read Tupac's book over the books i gotta read this summer because the books I have will most likely put me to sleep.
farfetched
Nobody said anything about liking it. Hell, I don't like reading. I despise it with every neuron functioning in my brain (bones in your body can't trigger you to hate things. I read that somewhere)...
But through my schooling I have realized the necessity of being literate and the discipline required to read something that may not necessarily interest you for the sole purpose of increasing that discipline which you can't gain by reading something you're accustomed to. People hate school because it challenges them to think 'outside the box', and when you raise kids up with something they already know, what else will they be willing to learn once they get to be your or my age?
I'm dreading the last few required literature classes I'll probably have to take for my degree despite entering into the Computer Science and Statistics program, but I'm anxious to see what we'll have to read, even if I don't know what it is, because I'm up for a good challenge, and I know it most likely (seeing as I'm finally getting into a university and all) will be something I've never read before, despite whether or not I've heard it or heard of it.
June 29, 2004 at 12:28AM View BBCode
The majority of teenagers dont like reading at all.Nobody said anything about liking it. Hell, I don't like reading. I despise it with every neuron functioning in my brain (bones in your body can't trigger you to hate things. I read that somewhere)...
But through my schooling I have realized the necessity of being literate and the discipline required to read something that may not necessarily interest you for the sole purpose of increasing that discipline which you can't gain by reading something you're accustomed to. People hate school because it challenges them to think 'outside the box', and when you raise kids up with something they already know, what else will they be willing to learn once they get to be your or my age?
I'm dreading the last few required literature classes I'll probably have to take for my degree despite entering into the Computer Science and Statistics program, but I'm anxious to see what we'll have to read, even if I don't know what it is, because I'm up for a good challenge, and I know it most likely (seeing as I'm finally getting into a university and all) will be something I've never read before, despite whether or not I've heard it or heard of it.
viketon
I think tortilla flat by John Steinbeck is a great high school read
By the way anyone here read any Harry Turtledove books I rather liked Guns of the South
viketon b-ducks
June 29, 2004 at 04:29AM View BBCode
just weighing in on thisI think tortilla flat by John Steinbeck is a great high school read
By the way anyone here read any Harry Turtledove books I rather liked Guns of the South
viketon b-ducks
Duff77
Anyway, I think I was lucky not to read The Grapes of Wrath until college. It was on the high school reading list but somehow it missed me. I loved The Grapes of Wrath. I ate Brave New World alive and only just read 1984... 1984 isn't a particuarly exciting or well crafted book, as far as books go, but the message is compelling... Assuming you're old enough to handle it (which most high schoolers aren't, in my opinion--I wouldn't have been).
Personally, I think Galapagos ought to be on the list. It's thought provoking while remaining a very easy read--one of things I like about Vonnegut. But like anything else, the books you enjoy are a matter of preference, and when you hand out the same book to a class of 30 kids, at least 10 of them are going to hate it no matter what it is. That's just the way things are.
June 29, 2004 at 04:40AM View BBCode
Some of these books they make you read are just too damn complicated for high schoolers. You need some life experience before you understand this stuff. I read both To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye in high school and was unimpressed by both...I've re-read both within the last couple years and enjoyed them much more...especially Mockingbird (Catcher is still kind of annoying). I really don't think Catcher is that good a book as far as a book goes... I get the feeling someone 50 years ago thought teenagers could relate to this and somehow it just stayed on the reading list. I wonder if the same thing won't happen to Tupac. Sixty years from now kids will be cringing when they hand out "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" the same way they do now when they get The Great Gatsby (absolutely the most boring book I ever managed to read all of).Anyway, I think I was lucky not to read The Grapes of Wrath until college. It was on the high school reading list but somehow it missed me. I loved The Grapes of Wrath. I ate Brave New World alive and only just read 1984... 1984 isn't a particuarly exciting or well crafted book, as far as books go, but the message is compelling... Assuming you're old enough to handle it (which most high schoolers aren't, in my opinion--I wouldn't have been).
Personally, I think Galapagos ought to be on the list. It's thought provoking while remaining a very easy read--one of things I like about Vonnegut. But like anything else, the books you enjoy are a matter of preference, and when you hand out the same book to a class of 30 kids, at least 10 of them are going to hate it no matter what it is. That's just the way things are.
andrew
The most enjoyable book I have ever read was Catch-22. It was so well writen I just wanted it to keep going. Then I started to read Closing Time (the sequal to Catch-22) and when I got 3/4ths of the way through it, school got busy so I stopped, and I can't see myself starting again. I have to get to some of Heller's other stuff, my brother said he enjoyed Something Happened...
June 29, 2004 at 07:05AM View BBCode
Hmm, The Great Gatsby was one of the few books I enjoyed in High School. I just read Catcher in the Rye recently and I enjoyed it. I really did.The most enjoyable book I have ever read was Catch-22. It was so well writen I just wanted it to keep going. Then I started to read Closing Time (the sequal to Catch-22) and when I got 3/4ths of the way through it, school got busy so I stopped, and I can't see myself starting again. I have to get to some of Heller's other stuff, my brother said he enjoyed Something Happened...
Duff77
June 29, 2004 at 07:29AM View BBCode
Gatsby probably deserves another read. NEVER trust your impressions of a book in high school...at least if you don't like it. My problem with Gatsby is I just didn't identify with any of the characters in the book. I didn't feel compelled to care about their problems.
nextyearcubs
I liked Mockingbrid when I read it in HS, and might pick it back up again. I liked 1984 also, it was compelling to read, but I wasn't crazy about the ending too much. Well, in some ways it is fitting, I suppose, but it didn't leave me with much. Its a book that a lot of people talk about, but I'm not sure they've actually read, or remember, but it makes you think.
Catcher was OK... Its somewhat unrealistic, though, he's a high schooler and goes into bars and all. I don't know, its basically a whiny kid who bitches himself crazy. Get a grip. I can relate to some of the opinions the kid expresses, but I guess he was never able to find peace with that.
A better book was Catcher in the Way by Bob Uecker... I'm kidding, but I do have that one right here on my shelf!!!
June 29, 2004 at 07:57AM View BBCode
Duff, you gotta read Gatsby again. It somehow got by me in HS, but I picked it up last year and loved it. The first five chapters or so were somewhat difficult to follow, but I stuck with it and loved it. Its a great read, well written and once you let it in, hard to put down.I liked Mockingbrid when I read it in HS, and might pick it back up again. I liked 1984 also, it was compelling to read, but I wasn't crazy about the ending too much. Well, in some ways it is fitting, I suppose, but it didn't leave me with much. Its a book that a lot of people talk about, but I'm not sure they've actually read, or remember, but it makes you think.
Catcher was OK... Its somewhat unrealistic, though, he's a high schooler and goes into bars and all. I don't know, its basically a whiny kid who bitches himself crazy. Get a grip. I can relate to some of the opinions the kid expresses, but I guess he was never able to find peace with that.
A better book was Catcher in the Way by Bob Uecker... I'm kidding, but I do have that one right here on my shelf!!!
Unclescam777
As for 1984, I didn't like it as much as Brave New World. BNW is a much better written book, and the general idea is more thought out. Still 1984 had an interesting plot, but the writing style left something to be desired.
Of Mice and Men is another easy yet good read.
June 29, 2004 at 12:43PM View BBCode
Anybody read Fahrenheit 451? Everybody in my class groaned when we had to read it but it was a very good(and easy to read) book. A world where books were illegal made for some interesting reading.As for 1984, I didn't like it as much as Brave New World. BNW is a much better written book, and the general idea is more thought out. Still 1984 had an interesting plot, but the writing style left something to be desired.
Of Mice and Men is another easy yet good read.
sycophantman
What they need to do is try and get some interesting non-fiction into the reading lists. Fiction is great and all for creativity, but NF gets short-changed...
June 29, 2004 at 12:49PM View BBCode
I remember hating (no, loathing) the Red Badge of Courage when I was forced to read it, and in the spirit of fairness, read it again as an adult, still hated it...What they need to do is try and get some interesting non-fiction into the reading lists. Fiction is great and all for creativity, but NF gets short-changed...
skierdude44
June 29, 2004 at 02:15PM View BBCode
I never read Fahrenheit 451, but I know alot of people who read it in eight grade and HATED it. Alot of them said that it made no sense, but I guess you also have to consider that alot of these people hate reading in general and never do it unless they are forced to.Pages: 1 2