Saturday, March 29, 2008

Whats the point of English as a subject?

I was talking to one of my friends a few days ago, and he said "I like math because it all makes sense. Unlike English class which happens to be the most pointless class in the world." This made complete sense to me.

In maths, everything makes sense, and even if we aren't going to use the information later on in life (that's right! You are not going to use more than half the information you learn in maths later on in life unless you are a math teacher). Each problem has a solution, and can be solved even if it takes some time.

But English is different. In English, you are taught how to read and write. This is useful when you are younger, but when you are 15, I don't think you need to be taught this anymore. Also, you are asked all those comprehension questions. What's up with that? When I read a book, i'm not thinking, hmm what a strange onomatopoeia, or what a wonderful metaphor! I normally just read a book to read the book. So when we are told to analyze a book for English class, what's the point. we are told to read the book for homework, and then, once we forget everything that we have read, we are supposed to be able to analyze it! What's up with that?
Another thing is that in English, there is no right answer. One paper can be graded by two different teachers, and get completley different scores. This is because there is no one answer for the questions. There is also not one explanation for a question either, like in the tradegy of Romeo and Juliet. Act III sc. 3, Juliet's mother, Lady Capulet, is angry at someone, but its not clear who that someone is. It could either be Mr. Capulet, or Juliet. You could argue that out, and either answer could be right.

So whats the point of having an English class? "you have to know how to write a letter, proper use of words, or when to use a comma", but we learn all of this any way in other subjects like History. What do you think? Which is the most pointless class in the world?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey aashni,
Like your blogs! :)

Aashni said...

Thanks Eline :) :)
XOXOX

Anonymous said...

History is because you learn the same stuff every year!

(Want your site listed? Join Lilac-Listings. Click my name)