[thenightwriterblog] The Night Writer: It's, like, a real bummer, dude

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Posted by The Night Writer:
It's, like, a real bummer, dude
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1167953698.shtml


   [1]Katherin Kersten's column in the StarTribune today laments the
   fallen state of youthful language skills, citing overheard examples of
   overused words ("awesome"), trite expressions and ubiquitous cursing.
   Her take, with which I generally agree, is that we are losing our
   appreciation for language due to a diminishing common experience of
   seeing it used well.

     Today, teens aren't the only ones who have lost the ability to
     speak and write with vigor and eloquence. Folks of all ages are
     reading less -- especially the classics, whose authors wielded our
     language most powerfully. As a result, our ability to express
     ourselves is diminishing, because we can't draw on their example
     for inspiration.

   Indeed, there has been quite some cultural devolution from "It is a
   far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far,
   far better rest that I go to than I have ever known," to "Don't have a
   cow, man." That doesn't necessarily mean that people, especially young
   people, are less intelligent or less stimulated; they have shown an
   amazing ability to adapt to the high-speed inundation of the digital,
   text-messaging world with it's word and number contractions and
   abbreviations, and some hip-hop rapping is remarkably facile and
   creative. What is missing is a certain cultural currency of universal
   themes and ideas. Kersten cites one example of an attempt to bring
   this back:

     Last month, Diane Ravitch, an eminent historian of education,
     provided the perfect antidote: "The English Reader: What Every
     Literate Person Needs to Know." In this anthology, she and her son
     Michael Ravitch have gathered what they regard as the most
     memorable speeches, poems, essays and songs in the English
     language.
     "Today, our common cultural reference points come from the visual
     culture: Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez," Ravitch told me last
     week. Our schools could help remedy the problem, but often don't,
     she says. That's because "'relevance" is now the watchword in
     education.
     In textbooks, teens tend to find countless stories about young
     people much like themselves, according to Ravitch.
     "How much richer it is to be able to use your imagination -- to
     communicate with people who lived 200 years ago and come away with
     something that remains in your head and your heart," she adds.
     Norman Fruman, an emeritus English professor at the University of
     Minnesota, agrees. "Good literature deals with ideas, as well as
     emotions and the psychology of human behavior," he says. "It
     records our greatest tragedies and our highest aspirations." During
     40 years as a teacher, he saw a steep decline in students'
     knowledge of their literary heritage.

   Having a collection of inspiring prose and oratory in one volume is a
   timely start. According to a [2]Wall Street Journal article from
   January 3rd ([3]HT: Port McClellan), the classics are being removed
   from what many might consider their last public refuge: libraries.

     Checked Out
     A Washington-area library tosses out the classics.
     BY JOHN J. MILLER
     "For Whom the Bell Tolls" may be one of Ernest Hemingway's
     best-known books, but it isn't exactly flying off the shelves in
     northern Virginia these days. Precisely nobody has checked out a
     copy from the Fairfax County Public Library system in the past two
     years, according to a front-page story in yesterday's Washington
     Post.
     And now the bell may toll for Hemingway. A software program
     developed by SirsiDynix, an Alabama-based library-technology
     company, informs librarians of which books are circulating and
     which ones aren't. If titles remain untouched for two years, they
     may be discarded--permanently. "We're being very ruthless," boasts
     library director Sam Clay.

   According to the article, books by Charlotte Brontë, William
   Faulkner, Thomas Hardy, Marcel Proust and Alexander Solzhenitsyn have
   already been pulled to make more room for more books from the recent
   best-seller lists. As in the schools, "relevancy" is puddle-deep
   evaluation that goes into giving the "customer" what they want, rather
   than what they ought to have. Granted, the argument, "It's good for
   you" has never been especially persuasive to me whether the subject
   was books or vegetables, and there is quality in many of the newer
   works. My contention is, however, that we may focus too much on the
   pretty, colorful fish in the shallows and never venture into deeper
   waters where there are some truly awesome (in it's literal sense of
   the world, not the teen version) creatures.
   While there are times I would like to take others by the hand long
   enough to place a good book there, I look realistically to where I
   have the most influence: in my family. Reading has always been a
   favorite pastime for our children, starting with my wife and reading
   to them when they were still infants. Both my daughters read from an
   early age, and Tiger Lilly was especially motivated to learn her
   letters well before she started school. The television has never been
   a big focus for the two of them (in fact, I probably watch more tv
   than they do) and I think this shows in their writing and vocabulary.
   There are still opportunities to go deeper, though.
   Tiger Lilly is our sole student in our little home-educating academy
   and she checks out staggering numbers of books from the local library.
   I am casting about right now, though, for a suitable classic and I've
   about settled on "The Count of Monte Cristo", one of my favorite books
   when I was her age. I think she has the taste for adventure and
   righteous outlook to become absorbed in the story while absorbing and
   appreciating the themes of liberty and justice -- and the well-turned
   sentence.

References

   1. http://www.startribune.com/191/story/921368.html
   2. http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110009472
   3. http://portmcclellan.typepad.com/michaelbrandonmcclellan/2007/01/dumping_hemingw.html