>the stultifying, boring education system--most
>students are introduced to poetry seriously in high school, which is an
>institution more geared toward training people to show up and be places on
>time and sit still for extended periods doing dull things--in fact what most
>people's lives will be.
>
>Thus, almost is formed a knee jerk reaction : Poetry = dull= bad.
As Hans Magnus Enzensberger said in reference to German poetry: There is
nothing more dangerous than a German teacher with a poem in his briefcase.
I've noticed that my son, who is surrounded with books at home and thus
privileged, and who writes obssessively - plays, novels - on an ancient
laptop in his bedroom, doesn't appear to associate this activity with the
subject English at school. He has a fairly humourless English teacher.
I can't work out if this is a shame - maybe not for him, but doubtlessly
for others.
Best
Alison
|