I never disliked Mondays until I became a teacher. I guess some of my student's attitudes have worn off on me. I complained about it in my posting last night, but when morning came I was over it. Three of my classes are watching a documentary about Jack Kerouac called, "Whatever Happened To Jack Kerouac?" The novel,
On The Road, was not as big of a hit as I had hoped, but most of them seem to like seeing the real people that the characters were based on. I keep telling them who's who and all that. Most of them really don't care. A few of my students didn't understand what Sal Paradise was doing on the road. Why wasn't he home working or something? They really need a road trip. Then they'd know.
3 comments:
I've been trying to remember how much I cared about past people and events when I was a teenager. It startles me lately how much my students seem to only want contemporary information. And I also notice this trend in young adult publishing--publishers want novels with contemporary themes and stories. Jack Kerouac was such a character--we want our students to care about him!
I know what you mean, Jan. I'm sure there were things that I didn't care about knowing when I was young. Ironically, by my late twenties and thirties, I began to care, appreciate even, many people, artists or otherwise, and information that I didn't realize would impact my life. If I had a nickel for every time I've said, "She or he didn't write, compose, paint, create...in a vacuum...," I could retire. It takes work to imagine oneself in another time and place. Most young people, in my experience, don't want or feel the need to do the work. Of course, this isn't true of everyone, but many. I think so much of it comes from the need to move fast, to multi-task, to know the latest, the best. The days of running down the road to see what happens, what's next, is over. And maybe it's time. Having said that, I do believe that it is incumbent upon someone, teachers perhaps, to keep the past, the continuum, alive.
Yes. I like the idea of teachers keeping vigil on the past and reminding our students that it does, indeed, matter.
As your more recent posts suggest, students have so much present tense to contend with; still, perhaps they can make more sense of the present with some context and background...
Post a Comment