Elementary teacher doesn't know Dickens rote Great Expectations

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't concern me at all. She's an elementary school teacher. She's on the spot. It would be maybe a little concerning for a high school English teacher, but again, on the spot. Would not spend a second worrying over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have three Master's Degrees and I am a 15+ year teacher who has taught elementary. I would have had no clue who wrote Great Expectations. I am not worried at all that I don't know this.

Well, have you ever read the book then? If not, that is a bit concerning.

I doubt it. Here is a little something else to chew on: my Undergraduate and Master's are from top 10 - 25 schools; my SAT scores were in the 97% and 98% (Reading & Math, respectively); my AP English score was a 5; and, my GRE scores were within 10 points of my SAT scores. I just haven't read that particular book and it doesn't bother me one bit.

And there you have it, ladies and gents: a poster who references her AP English score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have three Master's Degrees and I am a 15+ year teacher who has taught elementary. I would have had no clue who wrote Great Expectations. I am not worried at all that I don't know this.

Well, have you ever read the book then? If not, that is a bit concerning.

I doubt it. Here is a little something else to chew on: my Undergraduate and Master's are from top 10 - 25 schools; my SAT scores were in the 97% and 98% (Reading & Math, respectively); my AP English score was a 5; and, my GRE scores were within 10 points of my SAT scores. I just haven't read that particular book and it doesn't bother me one bit.

And there you have it, ladies and gents: a poster who references her AP English score.

Yeah seriously. So you can take a test. Big whoop

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is also an elementary school teacher from the Midwest. She knows so little about things that I always assumed most people know about. We were childhood friends ok the east coast and her family moved to the Midwest at a young age. Call me a snob but I think we have lived very different lives in terms of what we've been exposed to. She too has a masters degree.
Examples from recent conversations: no idea who william Faulkner or William Styron were. Asked if West Point was a " good school " because she never heard of it when I told her my son was applying. Did not realize that the euro was currency in Europe (thought French still used francs etc), had never heard of buffo mozzarella. Asked me if I had ever heard of "the seven sisters colleges",
I know I sound petty but I was shocked she wasn't aware of some of these facts I assume are just basic information you are aware of in this day and age.

Flyover fail. She could probably tell you about chain restaurants and scented candles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have three Master's Degrees and I am a 15+ year teacher who has taught elementary. I would have had no clue who wrote Great Expectations. I am not worried at all that I don't know this.

Well, have you ever read the book then? If not, that is a bit concerning.

I doubt it. Here is a little something else to chew on: my Undergraduate and Master's are from top 10 - 25 schools; my SAT scores were in the 97% and 98% (Reading & Math, respectively); my AP English score was a 5; and, my GRE scores were within 10 points of my SAT scores. I just haven't read that particular book and it doesn't bother me one bit.

And there you have it, ladies and gents: a poster who references her AP English score.

Yeah seriously. So you can take a test. Big whoop

Pretty pathetic to be referencing a high school test this far down the road, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have three Master's Degrees and I am a 15+ year teacher who has taught elementary. I would have had no clue who wrote Great Expectations. I am not worried at all that I don't know this.

I'm not worried either as long as you don't teach my kids.
I'm worried that you seem to be ok not knowing common knowledge for an educated person. He has so many famous books and he writes in English. Foreigners have harder time knowing his books because not all have been translated. This can't be the only common knowledge you don't know.

[Anonymous]

THis thread brought back a memory for me of traveling right after college. In the 1990s I had a fantastic discussion with a monk in Thailand about Great Expectations! He just came up to me and asked if I had read it. I think he was studying it as part of an English language curriculum. I was so glad that I had read it several times and could discuss it intelligently with him.

[Anonymous]

You sound like a real joy OP. Maybe in 2017 you can try and not be so judgmental.

[Anonymous]

Maybe the teacher has seen the movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She was on the spot.

You misspelled wrote. What's your excuse? How's that feel?

Clearly OP's was a typo. She got it correctly in the body. The teacher doesn't know this fact and it is concerning but not surprising.

Excuses, excuses ... OP is making judgements about one moment with one person so the rest of us cannot also make judgements about OP? Sigh.

OP here. I try to eliminate typos as much as possible and if I make one, I own it. If you don't want to address the substance of my post, fine. Move on.

Np here. That is addressing the substance of your post. We know nothing about you but this post. You made an error and we're judging you for it. You don't know much about this teacher, but you're judging her for not knowing the author of one book. You know that you are better than that typo, we're saying that elementary school teacher shouldn't be judged as deficient because she didn't know Dickins in a trivia game. Don't want to be judged? Don't be so judgemental yourself.

Well said

+2. OP stepped into her own poo.

[Anonymous]

I'm a legal secretary who can't write in shorthand. But you know what? It's not a job requirement.

[Anonymous]

I don't think a thorough knowledge of Victorian literature is a requirement for teaching anything but Victorian literature.

[Anonymous]

Is Great Expectations on the fourth grade reading list?

[Anonymous]

Agree this is a problem if you teach high school literature. But is this something she needs to know to teach 4th graders? Hard to see why.

The State of Virginia also says that a high school grad needs to understand Algebra II/Trig. I have a graduate degree unrelated to math, and can't help DS with his math homework. Ditto his biology homework. Oh well. Not related to my job or degree. and I took it 25 years ago.

You are really judgmental of someone blanking on a piece of trivia, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many people reading this thread have read Great Expectations? I'm in my 40s and have a Ph.D. in a humanities field and I read it for the first time a couple years ago. It's not one of the more commonly assigned books by Dickens, and I don't know many people who read Dickens for fun. If OP could give more examples of this woman's cluelessness, I might be with her, but I don't think lack of knowledge of Charles Dickens makes someone a dumbass.

I agree. We could come up with a long list of "classics" and find a book in that list that any one person hasn't read.

During a trivia game knowing who wrote Great Expectations will get you just as far as knowing who won the 2012 World Series.