Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yeah, because nothing makes kids love a book more than forcing them to read and regurgitate it.
Well in a time when people, teens AND adults alike, read and praise crap like 50 Shades of Grey and other bland drivel, perhaps we should be forcing kids to read.
$50 says most of your teens can't identify half the authors I just listed...
Hell, most people I know don't even know who Melville is.
And that's just pathetic...
ETA: It is official. Autocorrect is the WORST feature ever designed for phones...
I am surprised that some Tea Party member hasn't proposed forcing students to read The Turner Diaries given all the pearl clutching that the gun nuts are doing right now.
The Turner Diaries is crap. Unintended Consequences is a much better read.
Atlas Shrugged is one of the most painful and pathetic reads I have ever suffered though... and I can handle James Joyce. If you want to cause these students pain, just reinstate corporal punishment.
Yeah, years ago I read about 600 pages of that book and gave up... I mean it's not even the plot or the underlying philosophy I have a problem with as much as the fact that Rand is sort of sophomoric in terms of writing. The characters are simplistic and speak in long-winded monologues. Rand has no appreciation for subtle gestures in making her philosophy clear--she has to hit you over the head with these ponderous notions. Even compared to over-the-top fantasy or science fiction novels--Rand makes Lord of the Rings look like Albert Camus...
Just make the kids read bloody Shakespeare, you can learn everything you really need to know about life, love, and happiness from those works...
Atlas Shrugged is one of the most painful and pathetic reads I have ever suffered though... and I can handle James Joyce. If you want to cause these students pain, just reinstate corporal punishment.
you probably prefer "a singular woman", which is in fact even more boring the "atlas shrugged".
It's a failure of fiction, literature and especially philosophy.
No serious philosopher considers Ayn Rand to be a philosopher.
No social/political philosopher takes Objectivism seriously.
Actually, they don't even take Libertarianism seriously.
Ayn Rand and her silliness seems to appeal to people who try to appear
more intelligent than they really are. (i.e. Paul Ryan)
If Idaho is hoping to expose their students to ground breaking radical philosophy ahead of its time
I'd recommend "Thus Spoke Zarathrustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche
Clearly just showboating, and a horrible idea even so. Why?
Because Objectivism is interesting (in my opinion wrong-headed - then again, "at least it's an ethos", as the Dude says), but Atlas Shrugged is a poorly written book. If we're going to twist arms to make the young'uns read something, we owe it to them to at least make sure it's good literature. Also - I am going to take flak for this - also make sure it's fairly short pieces. Why? Because then they can be introduced to more ideas and more styles in the short time we have to try and cram some culture into their heads.
Atlas Shrugged has 1100+ pages - within that, we can give them (top of my head, list open to alterations, your mileage may vary, void where prohibited) The Great Gatsby, 1984, Brave New World, and Slaughterhouse 5 and still have 160 pages or so left over for a collection of great short stories.
Otherwise, we might as well give them copies of Battlefield Earth, destroy their enjoyment of reading forever, and be done with it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
