Rant alert!
.
If you're a teacher, look away now ....

If you're not a teacher, read on. My kids are back at school this week (yee hah) and have new teachers. My little one, still at primary school, thinks hers is fab. She got some nice comments on her "what I did in the holidays" story.

Elder Witchlet is at High School so has a variety of teachers. Her English teacher was asking the class today if anyone had "even picked up a book during the holidays". She responded in the affirmative. He asked what she'd read. She reeled off a couple of "teenage" titles and a couple of my holiday books she'd read. Okay, they were what are dismissed as Chick Lit, but at least she read something!

He proceeded to tell her that she might as well not read at all if she was going to read "that sort of rubbish". He went off on a rant about the sort of crap which gets published (I suspect he may be an unsuccessful author) and generally dismissed her as an air-head.

I have to admit I'm tempted to go steaming in there and give him a piece of my mind. Surely an English teacher should be a little more encouraging of a pupil who *gasp* actually reads for pleasure? Even if her chosen books aren't what he'd read, or choose for his pupils to read?

He appears to be saying that reading is only good if the books are "serious" literature. Otherwise, just don't bother. I disagree. You can learn something, in my ever-so-humble-opinion, from every book ever published. You may only be learning that some really crap writers manage to get into print, but it's still something you've learned!

I'll probably not take it any further (I suspect he's unlikely to take me any more seriously) but I will make a point of encouraging my girls to read whatever they fancy. I'll make sure that they read the set texts for school, but beyond that, it's up to them. This will be my small rebellion against *that* kind of literary snobbishness!


/rant over

Teachers, you can look again, now!
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:28, 20 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

What a git of a teacher.
There's room in everyone's life for a little bit of light reading. My 18 year old sister will only read Harry Potter or chick lit but I'm pretty sure as she gets older her tastes will change and she'll start to look at the more serious books.


He really needs taking down a peg or two.
( girlinthehole, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:34, Reply)

As a teacher
(although I am unemployed) I think you should say something.
I agree with you, anything read for pleasure is better than nothing. Even just to be able to sit still and concentrate for a time is good for you.
Don't go marching in, maybe make a call to the head of department or something.

That said I'm primary and not secondary.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:41, Reply)

Thanks girls
I think I maybe will make a wee call to the Head of Department. This guy's new to the school as well, so it's not looking good for his long-term prospects.

The ultimate irony? My daughter is awarded book tokens by the school library staff regularly - and reads the sort of "fluffy" books he despises - borrowed from none other than the school library!
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:46, Reply)

Or perhaps he needs to be pegged.
Seriously, were I you I would raise some serious hell with that bastard. Does he also claim that the only music worth listening to is classical music composed in the 1800s? Or that the only art worth looking at is Renaissance masters, and all the rest is worthless?

Reading is reading, and is valuable no matter what form of literature one reads. The important thing is to comprehend what you read and be entertained.

Git.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:47, Reply)

I would say something
Some people just don't like reading that much, such as me, so reading anything is good I would say. Who cares if it is a work of literary genius or not.

Then again, if it had been me in the class, I would have said something to the teacher there and then.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:47, Reply)

Loon,
yeah, I'm leaning that way. He's for it, now!

PoD: my wee girl is only brave when she's with her mummy (as in the "bus incident").
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:53, Reply)

Ah yes, the bus incident
I felt proud when I read that. Why proud? No idea, but proud nonetheless.

I'm not brave as such, just a bit stupid and don't like idiots.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 20:56, Reply)

Surely
all literature will expand a young person's vocabulary?

I look back at some of the books I have read over the years and there a shed load of drivel in there.

Tastes do change over the years, and if I hadn't read those books when I did, I wouldn't read the books I read now (time willing these days).

That said, I can remember (just) things that my teachers told me that I took far more seriously than they were intended (with hindsight).
(dchurch bah, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 21:48, Reply)

Chick lit?!
The man is an ignorant arse.

The supreme Chick Lit author?

Jane Austen.

Melodrama and woman wronged?

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Gossip and social satire just like Eastenders?

Dickens.

Bad language and fart jokes?

Shakespeare or Chaucer - take your pick.



If she's reading, she's reading - regardless of her tastes.

I read Danielle Steel and Stephen King constantly during the first couple of years at senior school...and now I have a column in a magazine and teach people to write...Oh, and I've also taught in Primary schools off and on for over a decade (actually nearer to two decades, but let's glide over that).

He doesn't deserve to be in the powerful position of a teacher if that's his attitude.

Speak to his head of department.

And tell your daughter to keep on reading!
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 22:32, Reply)

Hmmm
My dad is a teacher. He has a large stack of comic books and those "turn to paragraph 34" adventure style books for kids that don't like reading "traditional" books. His philosophy has always been that as long as they're reading, and improving their literacy skills - who cares what they're reading? Your kid's teacher sounds like an idiot.
(Fredz A graveyard of hopes, a dump of ambition, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 22:50, Reply)

@TWW
Yup, your children's teacher is a prick.
As much as I'm not a Harry Potter fan, or a fan of chick lit or whatever she like to read; she is reading.
I once got a Shaun Hutson book taken off me at school aged 13 (If you've read him, perhaps understandable).
Let them read what they like; it may be shite but it's a stepping stone as their tastes mature.
( Boss Keloid Got your mother's maiden name tattooed on my arm, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 23:46, Reply)

Stupid bloke
It seems ridiculous that he will criticise people for reading, even if it is 'chick lit'

I remember when I was home schooled (not because we were rich, the exact opposite) by my Dad, he encouraged me to read more advanced books, stuff like Tess Of The D'Urbevilles (sp?) and Great Expectations.

When I was asked years later whoch book challenged me the most to read I said "Either LOTR or Great Expectations", and the teacher was fairly amazed that I'd even bothered to try and read Great Expectations in year 8, as it's a bit of a challenge.

It's also pretty shit.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 8:54, Reply)

Reading teaches people how to form sentences.
I talk to probabaly 100 hundred people per day in my job. People can barely put sentences together. They mumble. They use jargon. They are utterly incapable of forming a correctly structured question or answering a 'yes' or 'no' question. Dont even get me started on intonation or enunciation. It's like trying to get sense out of the tellytubbies.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 8:57, Reply)

On a slightly other note
one school I work at all children had writing journals.

These were used during registration and spare moments.
The children could write anything in them. The teachers would never read them and the child could write about anything.
The idea was to stop writing being a chore and make it a treat.
Doesn't matter that they were writing crap, the fact they were writing is what was important.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Fri 22 Aug 2008, 9:24, Reply)

what a complete cuntrag
some teachers really fucking piss me off

like my old physics teacher who insisted that if I didn't do any work I wouldn't pass

showed that silly bint!
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 10:26, Reply)

Well, if I was you
I would find the biggest trash-lit I could, and go and beat him about the head with it for an hour or so.
(happylittletulip helpless and delicious, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 14:31, Reply)

Completely agree
As long as kids are reading something that's of interest to them that's all that should matter.

It's far to easy for people to forget or dismiss that reading is an acceptable and rewarding pastime.
(Harold's hip man!!, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 15:43, Reply)

*UPDATE*
Encouraged by you fine people, I called the school this afternoon. The kids finish at 12:30 on a Friday so it's a grand chance to get a teacher on the other end of the phone.

I got through to the head of English and, give him his due, he was absolutely appalled! Nay, horrified. He taught my daughter last year, and in between grovelling apologies, stated that she can read whatever she likes as she already reads at an adult level. This is not a child with literacy problems (litter problems, in her room at least, but that's another story for another time) and he agreed that "words need to be had".

The teacher concerned is on probation and hasn't exactly got off to a flying start with a complaint in the first week.

I have been assured that what they call leisure reading is highly encouraged by the school and by the English dept in particular, and that there is no such thing as "the wrong books" in their opinion. The HoD also confirmed he would speak to the class as a whole to ensure they are in no doubt about this.

Cost of a rant on b3ta? Minimal
Cost of a local rate telephone call? 5p?
Satisfaction of knowing the prat's arse is being thoroughly kicked? Priceless!
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Fri 22 Aug 2008, 16:35, Reply)

That's appalling snobbery on his part.
Children who read for pleasure (even if it's chick-lit/point horror/whatever) are more likely to be more adventurous with their reading eventually. Lots of kids don't like reading, and will only ever peruse the pages of "Heat" and the Radio Times.

It's like with classical music: I absolutely HATE "crossover" artists like Katherine Jenkins and Russell Watson: what they're performing is a poor mockery of the original music, they don't have particularly good voices (they need all the amplification they can get, and will never be good enough to sing as proper artists, as their technique is just so poor). However: if a member of the public likes the crossover classical stuff they do, then they might become more encouraged to look further into classical music and opera, and eventually become a fan of true classical music and musicians. Chick-lit is like crossover artists: not to everyone's taste, but a potential stepping-stone on to bigger and better things.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 17:20, Reply)

YAY!
The Wee Witch has put the Whammy on a deserving subject!
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 22 Aug 2008, 19:48, Reply)