Well i started class today and we are starting to read A Separate Peace.
It was weird for me, the teacher wrote down the themes for everyone in the class. Doesn't that kind of ruin the point of honors? I would like to find out the themes for myself and if other kids cannot find them, they shouldn't be honors. I expect many other situations throughout the year that are similar to this.

Does anyone else agree with me or am I just being bitchy?

Hell yes! Socratic method ftw! I don't tolerate this "here is are the themes/formulae, now write me an essay/answer these problems" bullshit in the sciences nor in the humanities. Fuck that, you should be told the basics and then left to discover on your own. If you don't discover, you get the hell out of college. What would have happened if the Chinese, at the dawn of civilization, had been told how their culture should operate by Europeans? Then there would never have been the major advances of Eastern and Asian culture. Cultural diversity stems from leading cultures to identify what is right for themselves in the same way that intellectual (yet still factual, at least in the sciences) diversity allows students to identify truth for themselves.

The only thing that interests me about mathematics, for example, is the process of discovery. I would have hated it if my jr. high school teachers just told me the quadratic formula and gave me some problems. Blasphemous! Tell the kids what they need to know, and let them work their creativity. Go tell your teacher that you don't see a point in having students memorize themes and would rather have a discussion about what the themes were. Tell her how boring the book is now that you know that you don't even need to look for the themes. Don't put up with this bullshit, it's only holding you back intellectually and creatively.

/rant

Hell yes! Socratic method ftw! I don't tolerate this "here is are the themes/formulae, now write me an essay/answer these problems" bullshit in the sciences nor in the humanities. Fuck that, you should be told the basics and then left to discover on your own. If you don't discover, you get the hell out of college. What would have happened if the Chinese, at the dawn of civilization, had been told how their culture should operate by Europeans? Then there would never have been the major advances of Eastern and Asian culture. Cultural diversity stems from leading cultures to identify what is right for themselves in the same way that intellectual (yet still factual, at least in the sciences) diversity allows students to identify truth for themselves.

The only thing that interests me about mathematics, for example, is the process of discovery. I would have hated it if my jr. high school teachers just told me the quadratic formula and gave me some problems. Blasphemous! Tell the kids what they need to know, and let them work their creativity. Go tell your teacher that you don't see a point in having students memorize themes and would rather have a discussion about what the themes were. Tell her how boring the book is now that you know that you don't even need to look for the themes. Don't put up with this bullshit, it's only holding you back intellectually and creatively.

/rant

I agree with you completely. The public school system is in the trash, there is no room for leeway or doing something your own way! Everything is too politically correct to tell a kid, you are not suited for this class, go to a lower level. Some kids you can just tell they get absolutely nothing from the class they are in. While, some other kids, want to learn all about literature and make it a part of their thought processes and experiences, and the former group of kids is holding the latter group of kids back!! :mad:

Should I really tell my teacher my thoughts about this? If she has any intelligence, most teachers don't, she will understand. She goes through the same thing every year every class period. It MUST get beyond boring telling every kid what to think. I think it would show her I am wanting to learn in her class, and the way she is doing this is not teaching me anything.

I agree with you completely. The public school system is in the trash, there is no room for leeway or doing something your own way! Everything is too politically correct to tell a kid, you are not suited for this class, go to a lower level. Some kids you can just tell they get absolutely nothing from the class they are in. While, some other kids, want to learn all about literature and make it a part of their thought processes and experiences, and the former group of kids is holding the latter group of kids back!! :mad:
No I can't say I agree with you there. Just because you're intellectually superior (and trust me, I was and still am in that position quite often) doesn't mean you should discriminate against or otherwise emotionally beat a kid. All students have the capacity to learn, and school wasn't built around you. Say, how old are you?

Should I really tell my teacher my thoughts about this?
You should wait a couple days if this is your first day; telling us what grade you're in might help.

If she has any intelligence, most teachers don't, she will understand. She goes through the same thing every year every class period. It MUST get beyond boring telling every kid what to think. I think it would show her I am wanting to learn in her class, and the way she is doing this is not teaching me anything.

No, don't tell her that she's not teaching or that it's boring, just that you think it would be more productive if she taught humanistically rather than just telling you what you need to know. If you're still in high school though, you might not be able to do that since standardized testing is king and your teacher wouldn't dare spend a minute teaching you how to learn when her students' test scores on the line.

The way I see it, you should never let a bad teacher stop you from learning. That philosophy served me well in jr. and sr. high school, and if you apply it, you should be able to learn faster on your own pace than with any speed that the teacher might permit. Go home and read your book looking for the deeper meaning. Actually, I wouldn't recommend that book as far as important books that have important and transcendental themes, but there are surely plenty of things you could be doing in class that are educationally important and still allow you to please the teacher with your grades. We all know HS is a joke, but if you can get through it quickly and discover (for yourself, nobody's going to do it for you) more than you could have learned by giving your full attention, you'll be better off for it. After a while it also kills the boredom; go read a book or practice your creative skills, or contemplate philosophy (after being given the proper template, of course; can't start from nothing), and you can win this game regardless of the actions of others.

Well, thank you for the help and constructive criticisms. I am fifteen and sophomore. I wasn't going to tell her anytime soon, sometime later in the year.

You're first response, yeah you are right, that was a bit harsh of me and selfish.

I will be sure to say it in that way, but she most definitely won't change everything, because of testing like you said.

Thank you for the last paragraph. It has given me a few ideas on how to just help me get through the years. I do read a lot and draw a bit during class when the teacher rambles. Once i get some more musical theory down Im going to try some composing and see how that goes. Well, nshanin thanks for you're insight and help. :D

No problem; always nice to see the youth taking their future into their own hands instead of blaming authority figures.

lol, I read that in my sophomore AP english class and hated it. She didn't give up the themes that easily, although she said most of them during the class discussions, so as long as I didn't sleep it was painfully simple. What do you think of the book so far?

lol, I read that in my sophomore AP english class and hated it. She didn't give up the themes that easily, although she said most of them during the class discussions, so as long as I didn't sleep it was painfully simple. What do you think of the book so far?

I actually like it quite a bit. It reminds me of my friend and I a few years back. Just how Knowles describes the two characters and how they react to each other is almost identical to how we used to be. I was Gene and my friend was Finny.