Anonymous
12/17/2025 19:22
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:She was probably hoping for some "new" suggestions.
I had a list of books to check out for my elementary age kids and NONE of them were at the public library. The children's librarian said, and I am not making this up, "We try to stick to 21st-century books here."
That's just horribly sad. I'm assuming it's because classics - even children's classics - contain racist and misogynist language and the library doesn't want to fight people who don't understand that they still need to be read, because:
A. Apart from that, they usually have much richer vocabulary and more grammatical and sentence structure complexity, which is great for brain development.
B. They teach about bygone eras. History is always good to learn about, because that context helps to understand the modern world.
C. Passages and comments that are inappropriate must not be avoided, but explained by librarians and parents, in order for children not to grow up in vacuums that will then make them easy prey for our current crop of misogynists and xenophobes.
Why would you jump to that huge assumption?
Anonymous
12/17/2025 19:09
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:She was probably hoping for some "new" suggestions.
I had a list of books to check out for my elementary age kids and NONE of them were at the public library. The children's librarian said, and I am not making this up, "We try to stick to 21st-century books here."
Public librarian here. If that’s how she said it, I can see how it would come off as snarky. But we are 25 years into the 21st century, and you’d be shocked at how quickly all but the most popular children’s books go out of print. Most things can’t be replaced when they wear out.
And even for things in good condition, public libraries need to clear things out to make space for new things. If it’s not being checked out, we don’t keep it.
I applaud any teacher who tries to keep reading lists up to date. It’s shocking how often kids come in with a list provided by their teacher and the newest book is from the teacher’s first year teaching. The older the book, the less likely we’ll have a copy - for the reasons already mentioned.
New poster. Don’t you see what you are saying here?! Classics are being replaced. It’s almost like a conspiracy?! Teachers don’t assign tried and true books (if they even heard of them), kids don’t check them out, they are not renewed, and then we end up with some modern stuff which may or may not be good.
+1
I understand limited shelf space and not keeping things that aren't circulating, but libraries should maintain literature published before the year 2000.
This is hyperbolic. There's also massive variations in what constitutes classics.
The Great Gatsby, for instance, was actually a failure in Fitzgerald's lifetime and only became a classic because it was included in book boxes sent to servicemembers during WWII.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 19:04
Subject: Re:AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:She probably was an education major NOT an English major.
Not if she's certified to teach in a public HS. That's not how education certification works in this country,
Actually, it is. I'm a certified math teacher but I wasn't a math major. Some states require you to major in the subject you teach (Maryland), but many do not (virginia), and once you have a license in one state it's relatively easy to transfer to another. I could transfer my license to Maryland with reciprocity and not have a math degree.
Commenting here as well. I’m certified to teach high school math even though I don’t have a math degree. My undergrad is in science (not physics) and I have a masters in curriculum (elementary). I just had to pass a math exam. My math skills are quite good but no math classes higher than calculus II.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 15:02
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Not everyone has read everything OP.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 15:01
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:She was probably hoping for some "new" suggestions.
I had a list of books to check out for my elementary age kids and NONE of them were at the public library. The children's librarian said, and I am not making this up, "We try to stick to 21st-century books here."
Public librarian here. If that’s how she said it, I can see how it would come off as snarky. But we are 25 years into the 21st century, and you’d be shocked at how quickly all but the most popular children’s books go out of print. Most things can’t be replaced when they wear out.
And even for things in good condition, public libraries need to clear things out to make space for new things. If it’s not being checked out, we don’t keep it.
I applaud any teacher who tries to keep reading lists up to date. It’s shocking how often kids come in with a list provided by their teacher and the newest book is from the teacher’s first year teaching. The older the book, the less likely we’ll have a copy - for the reasons already mentioned.
New poster. Don’t you see what you are saying here?! Classics are being replaced. It’s almost like a conspiracy?! Teachers don’t assign tried and true books (if they even heard of them), kids don’t check them out, they are not renewed, and then we end up with some modern stuff which may or may not be good.
+1
I understand limited shelf space and not keeping things that aren't circulating, but libraries should maintain literature published before the year 2000.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 14:58
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wow thought Orwell’s Animal Farm eas read by everyone, specially a teacher.
No, why would you think that?
Perhaps, the PP thinks that because they are narrow minded. There is no single book that "everyone" reads.
More like hipster condescending. There are a few books that almost every American old enough to be a parent read. Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gatsby.
Nope, narrow-minded is accurate. Most of us who get to adulthood realize that our experiences aren't universal.
Except, those three books were indeed virtually universal. That's just the reality of how things were and trying to gaslight people into believing otherwise is very ironic considering that we're talking about Orwell.
Multiple people have told you that they didn't read those books in AP English or in college so no, they aren't virtually universal. Even 20 years ago when I was in high school we were reading different things in AP lit.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 14:56
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wow thought Orwell’s Animal Farm eas read by everyone, specially a teacher.
No, why would you think that?
Perhaps, the PP thinks that because they are narrow minded. There is no single book that "everyone" reads.
More like hipster condescending. There are a few books that almost every American old enough to be a parent read. Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gatsby.
Nope, narrow-minded is accurate. Most of us who get to adulthood realize that our experiences aren't universal.
Except, those three books were indeed virtually universal. That's just the reality of how things were and trying to gaslight people into believing otherwise is very ironic considering that we're talking about Orwell.
Opinions about literature are never universal...as you may have learned if you studied AP English.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 14:20
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wow thought Orwell’s Animal Farm eas read by everyone, specially a teacher.
No, why would you think that?
Perhaps, the PP thinks that because they are narrow minded. There is no single book that "everyone" reads.
More like hipster condescending. There are a few books that almost every American old enough to be a parent read. Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gatsby.
This will be changing. There’s this whole shaming of “old white men” going on and tried and true books are being replaced by new ones some of which are good enough but many aren’t. It takes some years to truly test out the books.
I worked at an indie bookstore in 2008 and there was a sign"OWM free zone". I had to ask to find out that meant old white men.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 14:05
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wow thought Orwell’s Animal Farm eas read by everyone, specially a teacher.
No, why would you think that?
Perhaps, the PP thinks that because they are narrow minded. There is no single book that "everyone" reads.
More like hipster condescending. There are a few books that almost every American old enough to be a parent read. Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gatsby.
Nope, narrow-minded is accurate. Most of us who get to adulthood realize that our experiences aren't universal.
Except, those three books were indeed virtually universal. That's just the reality of how things were and trying to gaslight people into believing otherwise is very ironic considering that we're talking about Orwell.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 04:07
Subject: Re:AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:I worry about what's happening to education in this country as older teachers retire. I worked in elementary schools, and many of the teachers can't even spell. I won't even get into the grammar mistakes.... It's embarrassing.
I was a new teacher 30 years ago and this was true of many of my elementary school teachers her colleagues even then. And today the emphasis on spelling and grammar is even less than it was then. Instead the focus is almost entirely on social-emotional development and leaning into feelings and validating lived experience much more so than 2+2=4 or foundational reading, grammar, and writing skills.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 03:17
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
In AP Language I also remember we read a lot of essays. "Shooting an Elephant" and "In Praise of the Humble Comma" are the ones I remember the most. We also read memoirs like "The Things They Carried". There was a heavy emphasis in exploring genre and different types of writing in that class.
At least how my school approached it, it was less about literature than exploring writing and analysis generally. AP Lit had more emphasis on plays and novels.
At least how my school approached it, it was less about literature than exploring writing and analysis generally. AP Lit had more emphasis on plays and novels.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 01:21
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wow thought Orwell’s Animal Farm eas read by everyone, specially a teacher.
No, why would you think that?
Perhaps, the PP thinks that because they are narrow minded. There is no single book that "everyone" reads.
More like hipster condescending. There are a few books that almost every American old enough to be a parent read. Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gatsby.
This will be changing. There’s this whole shaming of “old white men” going on and tried and true books are being replaced by new ones some of which are good enough but many aren’t. It takes some years to truly test out the books.
Anonymous
12/17/2025 00:25
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:She was probably hoping for some "new" suggestions.
I had a list of books to check out for my elementary age kids and NONE of them were at the public library. The children's librarian said, and I am not making this up, "We try to stick to 21st-century books here."
Public librarian here. If that’s how she said it, I can see how it would come off as snarky. But we are 25 years into the 21st century, and you’d be shocked at how quickly all but the most popular children’s books go out of print. Most things can’t be replaced when they wear out.
And even for things in good condition, public libraries need to clear things out to make space for new things. If it’s not being checked out, we don’t keep it.
I applaud any teacher who tries to keep reading lists up to date. It’s shocking how often kids come in with a list provided by their teacher and the newest book is from the teacher’s first year teaching. The older the book, the less likely we’ll have a copy - for the reasons already mentioned.
New poster. Don’t you see what you are saying here?! Classics are being replaced. It’s almost like a conspiracy?! Teachers don’t assign tried and true books (if they even heard of them), kids don’t check them out, they are not renewed, and then we end up with some modern stuff which may or may not be good.
Anonymous
12/16/2025 23:59
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
The literary merit of 1984 is NOT as important as it’s political importance.
When my son was in 10th grade his English class read 1984 while in World History they studied Russian Revolution /Communism /Cold War.
For a novel, the characters are not particularly interesting or likeable and the plot is clunky. There are also long rambling political passages.
So it works week being paired with history but on its own theye are better choices.
When my son was in 10th grade his English class read 1984 while in World History they studied Russian Revolution /Communism /Cold War.
For a novel, the characters are not particularly interesting or likeable and the plot is clunky. There are also long rambling political passages.
So it works week being paired with history but on its own theye are better choices.
Anonymous
12/16/2025 23:09
Subject: AP English teacher never read Orwell?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wow thought Orwell’s Animal Farm eas read by everyone, specially a teacher.
No, why would you think that?
Perhaps, the PP thinks that because they are narrow minded. There is no single book that "everyone" reads.
More like hipster condescending. There are a few books that almost every American old enough to be a parent read. Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gatsby.
Nope, narrow-minded is accurate. Most of us who get to adulthood realize that our experiences aren't universal.