Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can have your child read Shakespeare on their own. Or they can take a college course. Next.

I assume this person is just trolling.

No. I think she really is that stupid.

Also, how can a kid ever appreciate the genuis that is, "10 Things I hate about you" if they've never read Shakespeare? Best teen movie ever, with "Drop Dead Gorgeous" as a close second.

Anonymous wrote:You can have your child read Shakespeare on their own. Or they can take a college course. Next.

I assume this person is just trolling.

Anonymous wrote:You can have your child read Shakespeare on their own. Or they can take a college course. Next.

Why sent them to school at all then? What should they spend their time reading in school?

Also, one of the charms of Shakespeare is that many of his works are highly accessible to high, middle and even elementary school students. I actually can't imagine reading shakepeare in college, unless it was a history of lit class or something.

Romeo and Juliet are about young teenagers.
A midsummer's night dream has the worder of fantasy

The language is very easy for kids because its a play. Kids can take turns reading lines outloud and bringing them to life.

There are so so many reasons why Shakespeare is valuable.

You can have your child read Shakespeare on their own. Or they can take a college course. Next.

Anonymous wrote:Oh puh-lease, my kid hasn't been in K-12 for awhile but she got a boatload of Shakespeare at DCPS. I'm not worried about Shakespeare's future in our educational system.

Yes it’s pretty obvious that your kid hasn’t been in DCPS for awhile. Next?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree. There is a reason why Shakespeare is the most famous playwright of all time. Ditching him because he's a white guy is not right. Columbus helped take the land of the native Americans and got undue credit for discovering America. That is completely unrelated to Shakespeare. But in fact scarily they are related in the minds of whoever ditched Shakespeare because he was white. At some point this needs to be about education.

Oh god. How about thinking WHY students need to learn Shakespeare, how does it help them grow?
And it’s not because he’s white, don’t worry everyday is still white history month here in the US.

Cautionary tales about indulging in hatred and suspicion in a battle for primacy seem pretty current to me.

Studying Shakespeare Brings School 40% Jump in Test Scores

America’s student scores in reading, math, and science are nothing to write home about. At best, 21 percent of 4th-graders are proficient in math. At worst, only 21 percent of 12th-graders are proficient in science. Not a pretty picture.

But a recent experiment at a British secondary school may offer a way for American schools to boost those poor scores. The secret weapon? Teach Shakespeare.

According to the UK Guardian, several years ago King Ethelbert’s school was a low-performing institution. Only 14 percent of its students were able to attain proficiency in tests similar to the graduation exams which U.S. students take. Many of the students were also from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Despite the potential for limited understanding, the school launched into a program of teaching and performing Shakespeare and the effects were quite remarkable: “The school has seen an improvement across all subjects, not only English, since starting the project. During a recent Shakespeare-themed week, maths lessons covered iambic pentameter while science lessons involved detailed investigations of deaths in the plays.

History teacher Jordan Underwood says students have arrived at his lessons keen to study the history of the plays they have performed.

The most concrete evidence of the program’s success? Proficiency on the school’s exit exams has risen from 14 percent to 55 percent.

The benefits of Shakespeare are not limited to this one school, however. A decade ago, researchers at the University of Liverpool found that reading Shakespeare’s unique language patterns led to heightened brain activity.

Furthermore, introduction to Shakespeare at a young age has been found to improve writing skills and influence children toward more high-quality literature.

Anonymous wrote:Oh puh-lease, my kid hasn't been in K-12 for awhile but she got a boatload of Shakespeare at DCPS. I'm not worried about Shakespeare's future in our educational system.

This is about DCPS now, not years ago.

My kids read Shakespeare in 5th grade at Eaton because of a fantastic teacher who had a special interest in and great knowledge of Shakespeare.
They memorized and performed "The Tempest" on the Shakespeare Theater stage because of a partnership with the Shakespeare theatre that the teacher discovered and maintained.
Of course this was back in the days when teachers had a little autonomy in the curriculum.
I think the "central office" millenials have a death grip on curriculum now. So that means teachers cannot be creative and teach with this kind of passion.
Those were great days.

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree. There is a reason why Shakespeare is the most famous playwright of all time. Ditching him because he's a white guy is not right. Columbus helped take the land of the native Americans and got undue credit for discovering America. That is completely unrelated to Shakespeare. But in fact scarily they are related in the minds of whoever ditched Shakespeare because he was white. At some point this needs to be about education.

If people want to eliminate him for this reason, they clearly aren't familiar with his work. My students are always shocked and pleased to see the issue of racism presented in Othello, disheartening though it is to know that over hundreds of years, things never changed. I think it is important for students to see this important anti-racism theme explored in such a relatable way, even if the author is a dead white guy.

I have heard so many colleagues bemoaning to students the fact that "white people had no concept of racism" in history. They are, to a one, entirely unfamiliar with Shakespeare's Othello.

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree. There is a reason why Shakespeare is the most famous playwright of all time. Ditching him because he's a white guy is not right. Columbus helped take the land of the native Americans and got undue credit for discovering America. That is completely unrelated to Shakespeare. But in fact scarily they are related in the minds of whoever ditched Shakespeare because he was white. At some point this needs to be about education.

Oh god. How about thinking WHY students need to learn Shakespeare, how does it help them grow?
And it’s not because he’s white, don’t worry everyday is still white history month here in the US.

Oh puh-lease, my kid hasn't been in K-12 for awhile but she got a boatload of Shakespeare at DCPS. I'm not worried about Shakespeare's future in our educational system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the value of Shakespeare in the curriculum? Is it for your nostalgic reasons? Just because it’s always been done, does that mean it’s always been right? Do you want to still teach Columbus as a savior and hero?

Wow, what an incredibly ignorant comment.

Still haven’t heard a valid reason. Just because he because he “started” the English language does that mean that we don’t acknowledge one can learn the language and have proper command of the language without it? Seriously what’s a valid reason it’s required in your eyes?

You have received plenty of reasons; it is only your immaturity and stupidity that calls them not valid.

To be properly educated in any language (which, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you are not), one must study its roots, its grammar, its evolution and how the great masters of that language used it throughout the centuries. This is not about having proper "command" of the language. It is about understanding communication, human analysis, history and so many other disciplines that Shakespeare mastered. It is a serious loss to persons such as yourself who are deprived of that. As you bear witness here.

+1

While we smile and shake our heads, it is all Greek to her.

(see what I did there?)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the value of Shakespeare in the curriculum? Is it for your nostalgic reasons? Just because it’s always been done, does that mean it’s always been right? Do you want to still teach Columbus as a savior and hero?

Wow, what an incredibly ignorant comment.

Still haven’t heard a valid reason. Just because he because he “started” the English language does that mean that we don’t acknowledge one can learn the language and have proper command of the language without it? Seriously what’s a valid reason it’s required in your eyes?

No, stupid, he didn't "start" the English language. Shakespeare is, however, a revolutionary in early modern English.

But that isn't why we teach him. We teach him because his plays present the psychology and dynamics of our human experiences like no other. The fact that this work was produced hundreds of years ago underscores the unifying elements of what it is to be human.

I can't explain it in a clearer way if you haven't read or (most likely) didn't understand the Shakespeare to which you were exposed.