Kids these days need help. They're messed up, they're depressed, they’re killing themselves. Literally. It just seems like young people need counseling more than ever. If we want to help our youth we need to try and get them pumped, happy, excited to be alive! That brings us to what kids do, or are forced to do, all the time: go to school. They go to school where they are assigned to read books, such books that are said to be great works of literature that everyone should be forced to read at some point or another in his or her life. But what are these books, really: As I Lay Dying, Of Mice and Men, The Bean Trees? They consist of tragedies, memoirs of darker days, novels where the main character questions the importance of his or her own life, and coming to the conclusion: not very important. No wonder these kids are depressed! If I were forced to read about being betrayed at birth by my parents, or my mother dying and me having to lug her rotting corpse all over the damn place, because I was just too poor to bury her (thanks, Faulkner for that pleasant image) I'd be seriously messed up too. Lovely literature? Yeah, no, I think not.
I think back on reading those books in high school, how painful it was, mentally dragging my feet though all the depressing crap that these authors think anyone in the right mind wants to read about. I mean really. Oh please? Can I read another? I crave knowing the pain and anguish of other people. I just jump up and click my heels when I hear we’re reading about a kid getting stranded in the wilderness with nothing but a freaking hatchet. NOT! It’s horrible! I’d rather have someone back over my arm with a car, seriously. Listen to kids. They voice how much they dislike the books. Curriculum should change, like right now. Think of how test scores would skyrocket if kids were allowed to read things they actually wanted to read; but no they’re stuck reading sucky-boring-make-you-want-to-cut-yourself-literature that all the “wiser” people of society say are just fantastic, wonderful, moving piles of words.
Let's take Of Mice and Men for example: sad and depressing, a mentally handicapped man who's life ultimately sucks a great deal of crap; and what else is it? It's required reading for high school sophomores. You don’t hear kids waking up in the morning and saying, “Oh I just can’t wait to read that awesome book about all my family members dying. Kick-Ass!” That isn’t what kids want. Wait to read those things when your old, or already nearing death, or have nothing better to do and just want to feel really really sad. All people talk about is how our youth is disturbed, they’re screw-ups, they’re never happy… No-Duh. We’re forcing them to read, listen to, and comprehend the most depressing crap that’s out there in a quaint little published paper package. We need to get kids reading the happy classics. Come on, people, even Shakespeare had some comedies.
by Sinclair Dotson
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ReplyDeleteit is a really good subject and catches interest because anyone who reads this will agree with you. until this blog, i never thought about how depressing the books we had to read really were. the points are good and the book examples are dead on. i can tell you actually read the books or did research on them to know what they were about. your lingo is good and its casual. it makes me more ingaged then if it were proper.
suggestions:
consider changing the way the blog is set up. look at everyone elses blogs and see how they are all set up in paragraphs. the way yours is set up is kind of confusung because there is a space in the middle of sentences. also try to make actual paragraphs that state different points. it will make it easier to follow and your reader will understand your argument more clearly. is this blog 750-1000 words because maybe it is just me..but it seems short? but over all good job. i like it alot.
BY: Jordan Turner
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ReplyDeleteWorking: Well personally I disagree with this but was interested all the same. Your knowledge of books and authors is very helpful because you know what your talking about.
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: Blog Format and give us more to work with.
by Myles Allen
i promise to change the way its set up, the double spacing butchered it.
ReplyDeleteI love the introduction:
ReplyDelete"Kids these days need help. They're messed up, they're depressed, they’re killing themselves."
It's perfect.
But I do think the next line "literally" should be in its own paragraph, and you should drop the exclamation point, which makes it seem like you're taking these issues too lightly. Also, I'm not sure the "or not" comment after that works. So why include it?
The last line--"Come on, people, even Shakespeare had some comedies"--is also very well done because it conveys your voice while also reinforcing your message. (But don't forget the comma after "come on.")
Before you refer to AS I LAY DYING and the other book that I can't identify, it makes sense to mention them by name. In fact, it seems to me that a list of these books would be helpful after this line: "But what are these books, really?"
I would also put a paragraph break before "Let's take Of Mice and Men for example."
Most importantly, this feels more like a detailed outline than a finished essay, and at less than 400 words, it's obvious why: you need to fill in more of the meat . . . more examples of books that make kids depressed or suicidal, and more stories about how kids you know (or even you) responded to specific books. Maybe even some suggestions for classics that could be assigned in high schools. If you're feeling adventurous, you might even give one extended example of the books assigned by one teacher for one specific class and talk about how the various kids in that class might have been troubled by that book.
(And in your academic version of this essay, you should add some stats about how many high school kids kill themselves or suffer from depression.)
In addition, be sure to read this post out loud and do so SLOWLY. Though some of these sentences are perfect--the two I mentioned are good examples--others feel a bit clunky and need to be more polished. You'll hear those problem areas if you read out loud and--ideally--have someone read this out loud to you.
Lastly, you're having a problem with spacing and line breaks. Be sure to fix that when you post your revision.