The Continued Ramblings of a Frustrated High School Student
by Joseph
Our current assignment for English is to rewrite Shakespeare. Why, you ask, fucking why? Why is an entire grade at an Australian school being forced to mutilate not only art but what is quite probably the basis for all modern culture? To make it more relevant and understandable to modern audiences. A friend of mine raised the point to me, after, upon this announcement I got into an argument with the Head of Department for English over the matter, the reason we’re studying Shakespeare is because it’s relevant.
Shakespeare was a complete fucking genius. Even if you can’t understand a word of it while reading, the words themselves, together, are beautiful. There is a poetry to Shakespeare that is truly eternal. Shakespeare was probably the most intelligent and brilliant literary mind of all time. Because of this his writing was so profound that it reflected and depicted eternal human experiences and emotions. To suggest for a minute that anyone re-write Shakespeare is obscene, but to do so to make it more relevant is outright retarded.
If you can’t understand Shakespeare when you see it performed, you are too stupid to live. The point is, no one should be made to violate art for no reason, even more so if it’s just because someone’s parents were cousins. And that is why I will probably willingly fail English this semester.
Hey man, don’t willingly fail; I know you’re upset about this but try to keep a level head and think of the consequences of what you’re saying.
Get off the internet, Mum, and stop posting as “Mouse”.
Was going to post mispelled ramblings containing homophobic slurs under another name to lols it up (sampler: “Shakspere was a fag and he sux and why do we hav to do stupid shaksper!!!!11″ but eh, I’m lazy. …Product of my education?
Broseph I would spare a dime to see you write a ‘mommy blog’.
FUCK didn’t even close them thar brackets. OH FAILED ENGLISH EDUCATION.
So this assignment is to creatively retell a shakespearian work in your own words to demonstrate your understanding of the original content? One alternative is a multiple choice exam. (Q1) Tybalt is the house of Capulet’s pet cat T/F)
At work I have to wade through dozens of ‘creative reinterpretations’ of everything from aboriginal art to impressionism by six year olds. This assignment is hardly the biggest art-mutilating atrocity of the modern age.
Well, it’s worth mentioning that this year’s Year 12s are the first grade to do this task. Last year the famous Year 12 Shakespeare oral involved deconstructing a chosen character and acting out one of that character’s key scenes, demonstrating what Shakespeare’s use of particular words tells us about the character, etc. It was more analytical.
So yeah, this mightn’t be the worst task in the world, but it’s worth getting angry about, even if just because it’s such a clear example of how our education system is getting dumber. The dumbing down of individual English assignments, one at a time, is how we let ourselves get away with it.
That said, Joe, I don’t think it’s worth failing English over. Forgive me for my lack of idealism, but we’ve got to work within the system. That’s life. :\
I agree completely- Shakespeare is absolutely beautiful, and I’m so glad I’ve found someone who agrees!! Ah, the literary minds.