Students Say High Schools Let Them Down - New York Times

Students Say High Schools Let Them Down - New York Times

Hmmmm….not hard enough for them, is it?  Easily resolved then.  I think students know something is wrong, but they are grabbing the wrong end of the stick.  Perhaps that is a bit cryptic, but there is plenty of “blame” to go around if you want to play that game.  I would rather point out that the system is broken and no amount of tinkering with it is going to make it better.  You can’t “prepare” people unless you’re a cannibal.  Schools are not humane and students know that.  I need to see the questions that were asked and the sample of students before I can say more.  I read the NYT regularly for the first time in my life last year as part of a freebie program at my university.  I really wasn’t that impressed except for some notable exceptions on the editorial page.  In fact I thought the reason Judith Miller was arrested was because of her horrific writing, not protecting “sources”. 

{lime tree}: What Does Poetry Mean?

{lime tree}: What Does Poetry Mean?

There are contexts, obviously, when it is perfectly sensible to ask what a poem means. For a student reading Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," it is quite reasonable to ask what Frost means by looking into the lovely, dark woods and then saying "But I have promises to keep / And miles to go before I sleep." It is also fairly easy to answer: he means that oblivion is tempting, but there are reponsibilities the living must honor. It is less easy to answer the question "What does the repetition of the phrase 'miles to go before I sleep' mean?" In fact, it may be a meaningless question. More on this later.