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Madame, for youre newefangelnesse,
Many a servant have ye put out of grace.
I take my leve of your unstedefastnesse,
For wel I woot, whil ye have lives space,
Ye can not love ful half yeer in a place,
To newe thing youre lust is ay so keene.
In China we study classic Chinese (used since 3000 years ago) together with modern Chinese, and there is a debate whether it is necessary. Many languages in Europe and Asia have a long history of literature and I wonder how many countries require their kids to learn the classics in the original form.
Only if you study drama at a university. Otherwise, not one bit. We do touch base with it a bit by reading some literature, but for most that only lasts 3 months or so out of the K-12 experience.
Madame, for youre newefangelnesse,
Many a servant have ye put out of grace.
I take my leve of your unstedefastnesse,
For wel I woot, whil ye have lives space,
Ye can not love ful half yeer in a place,
To newe thing youre lust is ay so keene.
In China we study classic Chinese (used since 3000 years ago) together with modern Chinese, and there is a debate whether it is necessary. Many languages in Europe and Asia have a long history of literature and I wonder how many countries require their kids to learn the classics in the original form.
I hope not. Waste of time and resources. I'd rather the kids take less social studies, literature, and history and more math and an MS Excel (or spreadsheets) course and also PE.
I hope not. Waste of time and resources. I'd rather the kids take less social studies, literature, and history and more math and an MS Excel (or spreadsheets) course and also PE.
A general education helps to some extent.
After all Newton was fluent in Latin and Einstein spoke at least 3 languages. Our brain works in a complicated way and needs a lot of stimulation.
However I agree American students should spend more time on math and science.
However I agree American students should spend more time on math and science.
So should all the Chinese my son works with who can't get the job done. However he is making a TON of money on overtime because they can't do what they were hired to do. So there you go.
BTW: Chaucer wrote in Middle English. Not Old English. Very little Old English survived in written form and what did is nearly indecipherable. No one "learns" Old English.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 06-22-2013 at 07:34 PM..
Chaucer is usually taught in Highschool. Along with Shakespeare, Beowulf, and other books in archaic English.
Everyone needs to study history, in order to understand their heritage and to learn from the mistakes of the past. Studying history you can learn a lot about politics, too. Social studies are needed in order to under stand the world, other countries and our own society. Humans aren't robots or computers that you can just program to do math and nothing more. What a dangerous proposal, to eliminate literature, history and social studies!
Madame, for youre newefangelnesse,
Many a servant have ye put out of grace.
I take my leve of your unstedefastnesse,
For wel I woot, whil ye have lives space,
Ye can not love ful half yeer in a place,
To newe thing youre lust is ay so keene.
In China we study classic Chinese (used since 3000 years ago) together with modern Chinese, and there is a debate whether it is necessary. Many languages in Europe and Asia have a long history of literature and I wonder how many countries require their kids to learn the classics in the original form.
I took two classes in Old English. I loved them. I can still recite the first English poem. Primitive English, but English; according the the experts.
Chaucer came later. Middle English, as Dew Drop said. This poem sounds almost Germanic.
The thing is, I'd guess that fewer Americans are studying Old English these days. they are too worried with "getting jobs" and "keeping up with STEM subjects".
So should all the Chinese my son works with who can't get the job done. However he is making a TON of money on overtime because they can't do what they were hired to do. So there you go.
BTW: Chaucer wrote in Middle English. Not Old English. Very little Old English survived in written form and what did is nearly indecipherable. No one "learns" Old English.
I know it is Middle English, I used Old English because the general public don't distinguish them strictly unless necessary. But maybe I should not. There's Old Chinese and Middle Chinese too, but usually we call both of them "old Chinese" . I just assumed English speakers do the same.
It seems you or your son don't like Chinese? or your son works in an awful company? What a pity!
Last edited by Bettafish; 06-23-2013 at 11:33 AM..
I took two classes in Old English. I loved them. I can still recite the first English poem. Primitive English, but English; according the the experts.
Chaucer came later. Middle English, as Dew Drop said. This poem sounds almost Germanic.
The thing is, I'd guess that fewer Americans are studying Old English these days. they are too worried with "getting jobs" and "keeping up with STEM subjects".
I don't understand it at all.
I was interested in linguistics and took a course. Old, Middle and modern English were used as examples to illustrate language change. I still remember one homework assignment was to find phonological changes and write the rules. Very interesting!
I believe even stem students would be interested in some of the stuff. It's just a matter of attitude.
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