<p>Donna, I see your point; the lines you quoted do imply the temporary nature of death. I hadn’t seen this before. I still think the “slave to fate” theme incorporates all those other causes of death, but it now seems to me secondary, as many of you said.</p>
<p>Call me a Philistine!</p>
<p>(Would someone please post a physics, math, or politics multiple choice so I can redeem myself?)</p>
<p>Just found out about the department-wide final for this class. Guess which teacher is in charge of the “poetry” section of the final? Yes, our favorite multiple-choice teacher. She LOVES poetry.</p>
<p>And there’s also a grammar section, which is being done by another teacher who gave nearly impossible grammar tests all year. Meanwhile, D’s teacher (Ms Poetry) spent 3 days in November on grammar. That is the entire extent of the grammar her class did for the entire year. And the review sheet that was handed out wasn’t too helpful, under the “grammar” section it simply reads: “Grammar.” AARRGGHH.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to have to have a little chat with the department head this summer…</p>
<p>I’m thinking that sometimes the “no actual symbolism” idea might have merit. I always think back on movie 2001 and Artie Clarke’s explanation of the black obelisk!</p>
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<p>I agree about the not-mentioning-a-soul thing, but “C” refers to EVIDENCE given in SUPPORT of the main idea (which should be more along the lines of “Don’t live your life in fear of death; death’s just a big chicken”). The teacher was asking for the main idea, and death being a slave to fate is just a reason that Donne gives as to why you shouldn’t fear it.</p>
<p>This really makes me thankful for my high school English teachers, who were just brilliant. (Good luck to your daughter on her final…)</p>
<p>My son recently finished The Catcher in the Rye. He told me that his English teacher is an idiot (16 year old’s words) … the teacher told the class that the book is about a typical teen, and that it typifies the angst all teens feel. S was disgusted. In his opinion, Holden is not normal in any way. S says Holden is in dire need of mental help … and that he is a pedophile, to boot. He is upset that any adult would believe typical teens are that weird. Of course, he knows how to play the game … he regurgitated the teacher’s ideas so he could get a decent grade. In his opinion, authors write to write … not to make some deep statements to be interpreted by English teachers overanalyzing the text.</p>
<p>I remember feeling the same way! :)</p>
<p>He HATES that so much of it is based on somebody’s opinion, and that said opinion is considered “right” and other opinions are considered “wrong.”</p>
<p>He might actually enjoy a college class where he is able to defend his own ideas instead of trying to read tea leaves and determine what the teacher wants him to say so that he can squeak out with a B. Unfortunately, his last English classes may be in high school, since he is taking AP English and AP Lit, and if he passes the tests I’m sure wild horses won’t ever drag him into another English class.</p>
<p>I did not enjoy English classes in HS, either, mom2three, and not much in college, either. But I enjoyed the “English class” in this thread. I was thinking that someone should start a poetry thread, and we could all discuss our interpretations of a poem, maybe one a week. Kind of a CC poetry group.</p>
<p>For me, this would fill some gaps in my education!</p>
<p>Judging from this thread, I think many of you would enjoy this poem by Billy Collins, who was the poet laureate a few years back. It’s called “Introduction to Poetry.”</p>
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<p>You can find more poems by Billy Collins at [Poetry</a> Foundation: The online home of the Poetry Foundation](<a href=“http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=80600]Poetry”>Billy Collins | Poetry Foundation)</p>
<p>I loathed, loathed, loathed Holden Caufield and still do. What a whiner!</p>
<p>One of the main reasons why the overwhelming majority of students struggle with the reading comprehension elements of standardized tests is a direct result of excessive inference and simply reading too much BETWEEN the lines. </p>
<p>Well-written multiple choices should have an answer that is clearly better than the other choices. “Finding” more than two “possible answers” is a sure sign that the reader inferred too much and violated the primary rule that the answer MUST be within the four corners of the document. Answers that include too much information or present too little support (in the text) are not the best ones. Since there cannot be two correct answers, redudant and similar answers are to be rejected. </p>
<p>For what it is worth, in the case of *this *MC test and according to basic rules of standardized tests, the answers to be eliminated are a, b, AND … d. </p>
<p>However, this does not mean that this is a good test and that the interpretation of texts should be confined to abcd(e) choices. In addition, one of the biggest problems for teachers is that their textbooks are incredibly poor, especially if their own lack of knowledge forces then to rely on crutches such a “Teachers’ Manuals” and canned answer books. Unfortunately, that seems to be the overwhelming situation in our high schools.</p>