What's the point of required reading?

This is solid 👍

AMERICAN WRITERS FREAKING OUT OVER NEW SCHOOL READING LIST: 'Who designed this Kafkaesque nightmare?! Stop using our kids as lab rats'

Oh, please... they’re absolutely shocked, can you believe it? It’s almost as if they should have been the ones in charge in the first place. 🙄

And honestly, you guys are becoming quite a nuisance with this constant obsession over the required reading list. How on earth are we supposed to trim down the list of mandatory books without someone feeling left out or offended?

Maybe try actually reading something before you start acting like it's a grand tragedy.

The modern, relevant heavyweights aren't even on the list of works that are considered required. Those that remain are usually just things picked by professors or students as electives.

Are you some kind of biologist now, Manchildad? Please, enlighten us—how is a high school kid ever going to benefit from memorizing the cryptogams or the digestive system of a hydra?

There isn't a single thread here about those tedious historical conferences or pointless declarations, nor about the sheer madness of forcing kids to learn the respiratory systems of arthropods. Yet, somehow, this specific topic always stays pinned to the top of the feed. Everyone acts like an expert on literature and who deserves a spot in the curriculum. You really ought to focus on cleaning up your own backyard first.

wanderingbadger44 said:Oh, please... they’re absolutely shocked, can you believe it? It’s almost as if they should have been the ones in charge in the first place. 🙄

And honestly, you guys are becoming quite a nuisance with this constant obsession over the required reading list. How on earth are we supposed to trim down the list of mandatory books without someone feeling left out or offended?

Maybe try actually reading something before you start acting like it's a grand tragedy.

The modern, relevant heavyweights aren't even on the list of works that are considered required. Those that remain are usually just things picked by professors or students as electives.

Are you some kind of biologist now, Manchildad? Please, enlighten us—how is a high school kid ever going to benefit from memorizing the cryptogams or the digestive system of a hydra?

There isn't a single thread here about those tedious historical conferences or pointless declarations, nor about the sheer madness of forcing kids to learn the respiratory systems of arthropods. Yet, somehow, this specific topic always stays pinned to the top of the feed. Everyone acts like an expert on literature and who deserves a spot in the curriculum. You really ought to focus on cleaning up your own backyard first.

That stuff is gone, they cut out a ton of it from chemistry too 😉

Look, I didn't write the letter from those writers in the article—clearly, you didn't even click on it.

Does the average person really need Antigone? Where else are people writing essays like that outside of school? Future perfect? Passive state? We could go on forever like this.

Nikola Jokic essentially made the exact same point I did! It is quite funny, really. Only, instead of him going after an ugly little duckling, I ended up getting targeted by Pinocchio himself.

I mean, Jokic is really just a typical poser, isn't he? He still seems incredibly, almost deathly, offended that he didn't get his name etched into history as the father of the modern American education system.☕

urbantinker8 said:I mean, Jokic is really just a typical poser, isn't he? He still seems incredibly, almost deathly, offended that he didn't get his name etched into history as the father of the modern American education system.☕

Honestly, I find him absolutely darling.😛 Honestly, if they had implemented his reform instead of this current mess we're stuck with, things would be ten times better. Instead, we’re all just sitting here spinning our wheels and collecting participation trophies while nothing actually changes. 🙄

Kate Cox2 I suppose I should probably start by saying that...
I don't know, I guess he’s just really sweet, in his own way.😛 I mean, I guess his version of a reform would probably be ten times more effective than this current mess we’re dealing with, while we all just sit around passing the time and collecting little trinkets. 🙄

I have this nagging feeling that if things were different, we’d just be looking at the exact same mess, only it would probably go by a different name.
I guess I’m just not really into collecting things anymore. Maybe it's just a phase, or maybe I've finally reached that point where I realized how much clutter actually accumulates over time, but yeah, I think I'm done with it.🎉

urbantinker8 said:

Kate Cox2 I suppose I should probably start by saying that...
I don't know, I guess he’s just really sweet, in his own way.😛 I mean, I guess his version of a reform would probably be ten times more effective than this current mess we’re dealing with, while we all just sit around passing the time and collecting little trinkets. 🙄

I have this nagging feeling that if things were different, we’d just be looking at the exact same mess, only it would probably go by a different name.
I guess I’m just not really into collecting things anymore. Maybe it's just a phase, or maybe I've finally reached that point where I realized how much clutter actually accumulates over time, but yeah, I think I'm done with it.🎉

It’s got the same name, sure, but honestly? It’s a completely different level of garbage when you actually get into the details. 😬
If I remember correctly, they used to get criticized for including way too many modern authors, so now they've gone ahead and stripped all of them out. 🤣

Honestly, even with the new curriculum and all this massive overhaul, things are probably going to stay exactly the same. It really just comes down to whoever you happen to get assigned to. If you land in a classroom with an enthusiastic teacher, you’ll actually end up reading a ton. But if you end up with a bureaucrat who’s just checking boxes? They’ll probably just follow the "copy and paste from the internet" method and call it a day. At the end of the day, it's on the students too—those who make an effort to read at home will learn, while those who don't will just stay uneducated.

If parents don't step up and actually encourage their kids to pick up a book, there’s really no chance they'll become lifelong readers. Honestly, you just can't rely on the American school system to handle that part anymore. I remember when I was growing up, my dad used to leave books scattered all over the living room coffee table, and it just naturally made me want to dive in. Nowadays, it feels like if it doesn't start at home, it's not going to happen.
I’m a little worried that this might be a step toward parents demanding homeschooling more frequently. On the other hand, maybe this shift will actually push private schools to step up their game and provide better quality education. It's an interesting crossroads to be at.

Honestly, the only reform left that might actually save us is just shutting down the schools and sending kids out to work the fields instead.

2nd Grade Elementary School:

'The woman screams, throwing her hands up in pure desperation, while the little piglet—scared out of its mind—bolts straight into a stick of butter, then dives headfirst into a pile of flour. You can just picture the chaos! She’s yelling her head off, grabbing a coal shovel to chase him down, and all the kids are running right after him, shrieking and laughing, trying to corner the little guy.'

...

So basically, we're looking at a world where names like Ivan Aralica, Miljenko Jergović, or Ante Tomić—people who actually meant something to us—just don't exist anymore. Gone are the classics like Smogovac, Harry Potter, or those Agatha Christie detective novels everyone grew up on. Even the heavy hitters of modern global lit, like Alice Munro, J. M. Coetzee, Imre Kertész, Hanif Kureishi, or Orhan Pamuk, are totally wiped out. Looking back at the reading lists from the early '90s, they even tossed out Milan Kundera, J. D. Salinger and his 'The Catcher in the Rye', Ivan Goran Kovačić, and a whole bunch of others. Kundera and Salinger? Dead and gone. There's zero room left for someone like Goran Tribuson and his 'History of Pornography', let alone Olja Savičević Ivančević with her 'Radio Cowboy' or Ivan Simić Bodrožić and 'Hotel Zagorje'. To make matters worse, there’s barely any space for women at all; if high schoolers are going to encounter any female authors, it'll only be through the likes of Vesna Parun, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf, according to some obituary in the New York Times.

Tyler Ruiz502 said:It’s honestly not even worth my time to play the "what if" game. We’re all just doing what we feel is right in the moment—period. Sure, if you listen to the armchair experts on these forums, they’ll tell you that if we just stop stepping in, the child will eventually figure things out on their own. Start being independent. Start thinking for themselves.
But let’s be real—not everyone is going to step up like that.

Check this out—"can't even begin to wrap my head around it." What kind of catastrophic fallout are we talking about here where missing a couple of textbooks or notebooks at school for a day or two is such a massive deal that you wouldn't even dream of looking into it?

Does "It's not an option for me" sound a bit better? Or should I just stick with a blunt "I won't"?

Why not?

It’s honestly better than relying on random people on some internet forum—I actually know how things tend to play out in real life.
If I had pushed her to take notes, it probably would have just caused more unnecessary friction—though, in all honesty, she wouldn't even have thought to do it herself.
And let's be real, there's no guarantee she’d suddenly decide to start checking things the second time around. It's highly unlikely.

Kids just aren't mature enough—and they're nowhere near responsible enough—to manage every little detail of their schoolwork, keep track of deadlines, or even figure out basic time management. I mean, hats off to the kids who actually can pull that off.

Tyler Ruiz502 said:It’s honestly better than relying on random people on some internet forum—I actually know how things tend to play out in real life.
If I had pushed her to take notes, it probably would have just caused more unnecessary friction—though, in all honesty, she wouldn't even have thought to do it herself.
And let's be real, there's no guarantee she’d suddenly decide to start checking things the second time around. It's highly unlikely.

Kids just aren't mature enough—and they're nowhere near responsible enough—to manage every little detail of their schoolwork, keep track of deadlines, or even figure out basic time management. I mean, hats off to the kids who actually can pull that off.

Is a kid supposed to work like a remote-controlled car where they only move when you point them in a direction?

Tyler Ruiz502 said:She’s just completely checked out when it comes to school 🤷
Honestly, she would probably be more than happy to head back to class with the same kind of attitude she had last Friday—you know, the one where she was practically begging me to just open things for her so she wouldn't have to lift a finger on Sunday.

Does a kid know they need to put on pants, a shirt, and shoes before heading to school? Most likely, yes. I doubt they'd show up to class in pajamas and slippers.
Basically, the child already understands they have to get ready to leave the house and go to school. Adding "packing the backpack" to that list shouldn't be such a massive hurdle.
Even if they can't perfectly organize everything themselves, you should at least be able to make them aware that the bag needs packing, so they might even prompt you by saying, "Hey, let's get my bag ready."

Besides, how can you be sure they aren't mature enough to just pack a bag when, as you put it, you "can't even fathom" letting them try to handle that part of the job alone?

Alright, let’s say I’m totally fine with them cutting all those old classics from the curriculum if we’re talking about Harry Potter and stuff. But what on earth are they hiding by ditching Salinger and Kundera? I wouldn't call myself a huge fan, but seriously—what's the deal?

It’s about time they ditched Pinocchio; kids absolutely loathe reading him (just like they do with Alice in Wonderland). But look, stuff like hero Pavlov’s streets or Heidi? Those stay classics and people actually want to pick them up.
Honestly, I'm feeling pretty bummed out 😢
And this guy—God, he clearly doesn't even know what a stick or a pair of pants are. What a pathetic loser. Like, why would anyone ever bother building a vocabulary or learning about things outside their own tiny little bubble? Seriously... talk about a nasty attitude.
At this rate, our kids are just gonna turn into a bunch of uncultured, clueless idiots with zero depth.

For crying out loud, The Buttercup Dance Dress is hands down the most beautiful, soul-stirring children's story ever written... give me a break...
I really hope teachers and professors keep picking the heavy hitters from literature for their students. Let's not end up spiritually bankrupt.

To even qualify as "idiots," you’d actually need to be experts in at least one thing.

Our kids are doing way worse than those idiots—they can't even get basic geography right about Kazakhstan, they're clueless on the history of the Crusades, or how ferns reproduce...