Before we get to the listening, I want to share the opening of this piece: THE ELITE COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO CAN’T READ BOOKS. You can't read the whole thing without a subscription, but the opening is enough:
Nicholas Dames has taught Literature Humanities, Columbia University’s required great-books course, since 1998. He loves the job, but it has changed. Over the past decade, students have become overwhelmed by the reading. College kids have never read everything they’re assigned, of course, but this feels different. Dames’s students now seem bewildered by the thought of finishing multiple books a semester. His colleagues have noticed the same problem. Many students no longer arrive at college—even at highly selective, elite colleges—prepared to read books.
This development puzzled Dames until one day during the fall 2022 semester, when a first-year student came to his office hours to share how challenging she had found the early assignments. Lit Hum often requires students to read a book, sometimes a very long and dense one, in just a week or two. But the student told Dames that, at her public high school, she had never been required to read an entire book. She had been assigned excerpts, poetry, and news articles, but not a single book cover to cover.
The first thing that took me aback was "College kids have never read everything they’re assigned, of course..." What the hell? Since when? Reading everything you are assigned is pretty much the bare minimum I have always assumed--though, ok, you might skim the boring bits. But in first year university I did all the reading plus I read a whole bunch of other stuff because it was the first time I had access to a really good library and bookstore. I've always been a reader. When I showed up for grade one (no kindergarten in my town) I could already read quite well. From the age of eleven I have read around five books a week. Some of that is light fiction, and some books I have read two or three times, but I think it is safe to assume that I have read between five and ten thousand books so far in my life. And I'm still reading at that pace. Still doesn't mean I'm smart or wise, of course. But I am well-read!
Ok, Bruckner. Is Bruckner's Third Symphony the most rock and roll symphony ever? You tell me. The most rock and roll movement is the Scherzo at 34:15:
2 comments:
Belatedly reading through these posts, having been out of action for a bit. All this rings true in my experience. The seminars I had were unlively and boring tbh. One professor explained to me that gradually seminars have by necessity become quasi-lectures, as students are unable to lead discussions themselves. The other curious thing is that when I've been to various university libraries, almost no one else is actually using physical books from the shelf. I find it rather amusing!
If it ain't an actual physical book, it ain't an actual physical book!!
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