Serious Question

[Dudester]

In the 1970's, I had an English teacher who made me miserable. He was married, father of two, but he was very and extremely effeminate. The books he chose for us to read dealt with discrimination. Do you think he was possibly feeling guilt because he was living a lie? 

[Hilda]

In the 1970's, I had an English teacher who made me miserable. He was married, father of two, but he was very and extremely effeminate. The books he chose for us to read dealt with discrimination. Do you think he was possibly feeling guilt because he was living a lie?

I can't answer your question, but I have one of my own. I went to school in the UK and all the books we read in English class were set texts. An examination board would select a handful of representative texts and students would be tested on their knowledge of those texts.

I'm puzzled that your English teacher was able to choose books so freely. Even if student familiarity with randomly chosen texts was graded internally, I would have thought that someone would monitor what was being taught, to prevent one teacher choosing easy reads and another picking heavy stuff.

If you don't mind sharing, could you give one or two examples of the books your teacher chose?

[Dudester]

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Diary of Anne Frank

And these, which didn't have discrimination, but made me really miserable:
Beowolf
Volpone (the first paragraph would literally make me fall asleep, so I went to the teacher and told him that I would just take a zero on the project. He countered that I could pick a book, and if approved, if it was an A effort, I would get a C. I chose Tom Sawyer [for several reasons] and got the C).

[LittleSara02]

In the 1970's, I had an English teacher who made me miserable. He was married, father of two, but he was very and extremely effeminate. The books he chose for us to read dealt with discrimination. Do you think he was possibly feeling guilt because he was living a lie?

I can't answer your question, but I have one of my own. I went to school in the UK and all the books we read in English class were set texts. An examination board would select a handful of representative texts and students would be tested on their knowledge of those texts.

I'm puzzled that your English teacher was able to choose books so freely. Even if student familiarity with randomly chosen texts was graded internally, I would have thought that someone would monitor what was being taught, to prevent one teacher choosing easy reads and another picking heavy stuff.

If you don't mind sharing, could you give one or two examples of the books your teacher chose?

I don't know his experience but...

I think most states have clearly defined reading requirements, but the teacher might have you read things beyond this during class, refer to additional reading during lectures and in some advance course dictate additional reading outside of class. They can always go above and beyond but never less then the state requirements. That being said maybe some areas of the country or different forms of school, like charter or private, might deviate more.

[MissBarbara]

I can't answer your question either.

Keep in mind that a man who seems effeminate is not necessarily a gay man, and a gay man is not necessarily effeminate. Those are stereotypes, and you should meet my friend E's husband, who is one of the most manly men I've ever met.

I don't know when you were in high school, but I attended high school from 1994-98, and we read all three of those books as part of the standard curriculum (we also read To Kill a Mockingbird in 8th grade). For a white suburban girl (and at that point didn't realize I was gay), I found them enlightening.

I also read Beowulf, though in a modern English translation, in an honors English class when I was a senior. I found the first part, climaxing in the epic battle with Grendel, to be very exciting. However, like you, I had a hard time getting through the rest of it. Years later, I read a new translation by Irish poet Seamus Heaney. I highly recommend it.

[Dudester]

I can't answer your question either.

Keep in mind that a man who seems effeminate is not necessarily a gay man, and a gay man is not necessarily effeminate. Those are stereotypes, and you should meet my friend E's husband, who is one of the most manly men I've ever met.

I don't know when you were in high school, but I attended high school from 1994-98, and we read all three of those books as part of the standard curriculum (we also read To Kill a Mockingbird in 8th grade). For a white suburban girl (and at that point didn't realize I was gay), I found them enlightening.

I also read Beowulf, though in a modern English translation, in an honors English class when I was a senior. I found the first part, climaxing in the epic battle with Grendel, to be very exciting. However, like you, I had a hard time getting through the rest of it. Years later, I read a new translation by Irish poet Seamus Heaney. I highly recommend it.

I went to high school in the late 70's.
I'm particularly chapped about the experience because when Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan, come out in 1982, they referenced 19th century literature and outside of Tom Sawyer, I knew nothing of 19th century literature. It sent me scrambling to the library where I found out that they were referencing Moby Dick and The Tale of Two Cities. To be honest, it was a hard slog reading those two books, but the lessons within (obsession in Moby Dick and selflessness/sacrifice in TTOTC) were lessons I could and did use in adult life. The high school curriculum I suffered through (with the exception of Julius Ceaser my soph year) was completely useless in my adult life. I grew up with the wrong skin color in a small town and I was reminded, daily, that I was not wanted or appreciated. Reading books about discrimination was a deep insult because I lived discrimination every single day for 12 years.

[Dudester]

In the 1970's, I had an English teacher who made me miserable. He was married, father of two, but he was very and extremely effeminate. The books he chose for us to read dealt with discrimination. Do you think he was possibly feeling guilt because he was living a lie?

I can't answer your question, but I have one of my own. I went to school in the UK and all the books we read in English class were set texts. An examination board would select a handful of representative texts and students would be tested on their knowledge of those texts.

I'm puzzled that your English teacher was able to choose books so freely. Even if student familiarity with randomly chosen texts was graded internally, I would have thought that someone would monitor what was being taught, to prevent one teacher choosing easy reads and another picking heavy stuff.

If you don't mind sharing, could you give one or two examples of the books your teacher chose?

I don't know his experience but...

I think most states have clearly defined reading requirements, but the teacher might have you read things beyond this during class, refer to additional reading during lectures and in some advance course dictate additional reading outside of class. They can always go above and beyond but never less then the state requirements. That being said maybe some areas of the country or different forms of school, like charter or private, might deviate more.

I went to a private school, a military school. My younger brother went to a public school. I know that his school wouldn't have touched any of the books mentioned in this discussion because there was an anti academic mood in the school and town and the school wasn't interested in teaching anything (except auto shop, home ec), more in getting students through through to graduation because there was a high drop out rate due to several factors (in 1981, when he graduated, 75% of the senior girls were pregnant or already had children).