Why Isn't Milton or Chaucer Taught in Schools Nowadays?
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Anonymous
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It seems as if fewer English teachers are teaching such classical authors as Milton, Chaucer, or Donne.
Why is that? |
Anonymous
| Cause it's boring |
Anonymous
| DD at stone ridge read works of both authors in sophomore year. |
Anonymous
| I think the curriculum has changed in many school districts to allow many more modern selections that are more appealing to kids. I am always thrilled when I see a teacher who teaches the classics and finds a way to do so creatively and engagingly, but it's tough. A friend of mine teaches Shakespeare to low-level tenth graders by using an accompanying text that is a graphic novel-- he teaches both texts side by side, so they learn the Shakespeare but gain a better understanding of what's going on, and stay engaged, by also reading the graphic novel. |
Anonymous
| I can't speak to Milton, Chaucer, or Donne but I know dd had Shakespeare out the wazoo in DCPS. |
Anonymous
I am sorry to say that you, my friend, had the wrong teachers. |
Anonymous
What do you base this statement on? And compared to when? And why Milton, Chaucer, and Donne? |
Anonymous
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The language in Chaucer is difficult for high school students and he can be bawdy.
Milton is awesome, but "reign in hell" aspects of it are not suitable for very Christian parents and the Christianity aspects are not really suitable for Jewish parents. |
Anonymous
This made me laugh (and I have a master's degree in literature). But have you read The Wife of Bath's Tale?! |
Anonymous
And Donne is either bawdy or religious. Not to mention complicated. "Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you as yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend" is not exactly accessible to the typical ninth-grader. However, here is a study guide on it: http://www.shmoop.com/batter-my-heart-holy-sonnet-14/section-1-lines-1-6-summary.html so obviously it is being taught, by somebody, in schools nowadays. |
Anonymous
| Chaucer is covered in high school in PWC. |
Anonymous
| yawn |
Anonymous
| Hmmm, I studied both in FCPS (but this was in the '90s) and in college (I was an English major). . . . |
Anonymous
| In the late 80s/early 90s, I read all of them at my private K-12 school in Alexandria. |
Anonymous
| It was taught at my New England boarding school. |