Once again, why I hate the state of American education.

[FROGGEman2]

Oh Lawd, how I love Australia.

Seriously, I had a great highschool education. Like, really good.

Um.

Yeah, need sleep I do.

 

[Epitome]

[/quote]
Don't trust to heavily on firefox's spell check, sometimes it recommends me to use upper class english a lot of the time which would just make me look like a prick half the time.[/quote]

There is no other correct way to spell aluminium, it is the pronounciation that is being pointed out, also what is upper class English? Language is either right or wrong, correctly pronouncing a word does not elevate ones status?

Don't mean to grammar nazi, but I'm pretty sure the word is "disoriented" not "disorientated."
A lot of people get mixed up because of the difference between the adjective disoriented, and the noun "disorientation."

But seriously, wow. Just Frankenstein? God I've been lucky.

Nah, disorientated is a word. Sort of. I can't recall ever hearing or seeing it used by an American, but I know I've seen it on BBC a few times. Which, according to most Brits, makes it a fucking word.

As for aluminum or aluminium, well, Firefox just spell checked aluminium.

Furthermore, Epitome, numbers should be spelled out unless they are of a value of 10 or greater. Just another thing for you to fix with your, uh, bad typing...

Okay so that one I cannot blame on early morning typo's but seriously I am all for reinforcing a high standard of grammer, but picking over the little details is just being a grammer Hitler!!

 

[FlipC]

English Private School. There's a lack of Lord of the Flies being mentioned here ;< Seriously, no one else studied that at GCSE (14/15 years of age) level?

I also studied that, along with "Of Mice and Men" and so much poetry the majority has leaked from my mind in the 20-odd years since. Also Shakespeare of course; though not to the extent that the top-stream English class did.

So long ago now that I find it difficult to differentiate between those books read for school and those I read simply of my own accord.

As has been implied by other posters I too learnt more after leaving school than I did during my 'education'.

 

[Epitome]

I also get called on when using British spelling and not American. I always spell it "realise" with an "s." It's not wrong, just different from "realize" as Americans write it. Yet I still get counted off for "spell-check."

I really really hope your kidding......
I have a plan, get a photocopy of the Oxford English dictionary of the page with the word realise, highlight it and bring it to class. If you get counted off for it again staple the definition to your result and leave it on the desk along with a note politely asking just how many cereal box tokens he/she had to collect for a teaching licence.

 

[Plank of Wood]

I'm glad I have a decent English teacher, who actually knows what the hell they're doing.

Also, I studied Of Mice and Men at GCSE; and I've got a good feeling we may do 1984 soon.

 

[Sethzard]

I had to prove to my 11th grade English teacher that disorientated was a word. Sad day...

After that, he differed to my vocabulary in times of duress.

But it isn't it should be Disoriented, you're probably getting confused with disorientate.

 

[James Cassidy]

I really really hope your kidding......
I have a plan, get a photocopy of the Oxford English dictionary of the page with the word realise, highlight it and bring it to class. If you get counted off for it again staple the definition to your result and leave it on the desk along with a note politely asking just how many cereal box tokens he/she had to collect for a teaching licence.

I really wish I was kidding. I get it all the time.

*laughs* I'll have to try that. "So how many box tops did you send to get your degree?"
Unfortunately, every time I argue with them about it, they always give me the whole speech "Well, it is spelled that way in my book and so I shall spell it that way too" or other "I am the boss and you have to do what I say" line.

 

[Jirlond]

In Scotland we read Frankenstein in 3rd year - 3 years before senior year.

We read the playwrights as a class and the books seperately. Did your teacher give up because she was a moron or because the class found it too challenging?

Also you should watch QI, most of the things you googled are dealt with by the awesome Stephen Fry.

 

[Desert Tiger]

Meh. I never really learned much from my English classes. Mostly it was from reading and writing stories and RPing, forum style, in high school.

 

[Epitome]

I really wish I was kidding. I get it all the time.

*laughs* I'll have to try that. "So how many box tops did you send to get your degree?"
Unfortunately, every time I argue with them about it, they always give me the whole speech "Well, it is spelled that way in my book and so I shall spell it that way too" or other "I am the boss and you have to do what I say" line.

Grr I hate that bullshit cop out, its tantamount to "im older than you" or "im bigger than you", your status as teacher does not preclude you from being wrong, surely as a person who is supposed to teach they would wish to learn.. ( faith in humanity -1)

 

[Nickolai77]

English Private School. I had to put up with Christian rhetoric for the ~6 years I realised I didn't actually believe in God (with an extra ~8 preceeding that where I was under the impression I did) but they set me up with one hell of an education.

There's a lack of Lord of the Flies being mentioned here ;< Seriously, no one else studied that at GCSE (14/15 years of age) level?

I did Lord of the Flies at GCSE, not a bad book, quite interesting in terms of themes, plot was mediocre.

I'm sorry to hear that the OP's experience of English education in high school was crap, mine was much more pleasant. One question i have though is, in American high school's, are classes set by ability or random selection? In English i was in set 1 (top set) in Science i was in Set 3, in Maths set 3 or 4 (can't quite remember) and in the practical subjects like Design technology i was in the bottom set, set 6. (I was crap at anything involving using my hands)

The good thing about being in a set one class was that everyone there was motivated and interested in the subject, we had some brilliant class room discussions and a damn good teacher. If i remember rightly, the text's we did where Lord of the Flies (as i have said) A view from a Bridge, and a load of poem's from an anthology collection.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Explains a lot about Youtube comments.

 

[GrinningManiac]

In Britain, I'm doing AS-level English Lit., and I did GCSE English Higher, naturally.

Out teachers are fine, though the at-the-time Head of English was a complete MENTAL, and she was also prone to random split-second mood swings.

We did Richard III in Y10, which I loved, but we did Romeo and Juliet in our exams. Let me be the first to say that I think that R&J is his WORSE. I hate it, and it's illogical and crap. Romeo is an easily-infatuated little boy, Paris was a charming young man with much promise, and Juliet was a fluffy-headed bimbo.

What a crappy story with such a fabricated ending.

Bah

OT: I feel for all our American brethren across the pond dealing with that "system" of education, and I use "system" in the loosest possible terms.

I can't, however, help but feel smug slightly

 

[Lexodus]

Am I the only one who thinks Shakespear(*, **) plays are overhyped in this day and age? I mean, sure, in this day, everything was in context and made sense. But these days, half of the references make little to no sense, even if you decode the ole' English. I would have prefered to read Frankstein when I was in school, myself. Ok, MacBeth was good, but still not fun to read.

They make sense, but he's very overhyped. The Tempest? Frankly, I could write better in year three.

For English GCSE and A Levels, I've had to study extensively:

Romeo and Juliet
Pride and Prejudice
Saving Private Ryan (studying it sucks out the fun, I tell you)
Lord of the Flies (Egad, that book was SHIT)
Henry V
A fuckton of poetry
Death of a Salesman and some other drivel by that git Arthur Miller
And some other shit I've probably forgotten.

*Shakespeare
**This one has bugged me for a while now. What the fuck is a 'Shakespeare Play'? You don't get a 'Tolkien Book' or a 'Shakespeare Poem' or 'Shakespeare Sonnet' (although you do get a '(Michael Bay's) Michael Bay Film (Directed by Michael Bay (MICHAEL BAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111oneone)). It's just a play, written by Shakespeare.

 

[Plank of Wood]

In Scotland we read Frankenstein in 3rd year - 3 years before senior year.

We read the playwrights as a class and the books seperately. Did your teacher give up because she was a moron or because the class found it too challenging?

Also you should watch QI, most of the things you googled are dealt with by the awesome Stephen Fry.

*runs in out of breath*

Did someone say QI?!

 

[Lexodus]

I had to prove to my 11th grade English teacher that disorientated was a word. Sad day...

After that, he differed to my vocabulary in times of duress.

But it isn't it should be Disoriented, you're probably getting confused with disorientate.

In an ideal world, one would mean lost and confused, and the other telling a weeaboo that they're not, and never will be, Japanese.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

I've never really had to deal with moronic teachers somehow (although it might be due to the fact that I make sure to get into honors or advanced placement classes). All of my teachers (at least in high school and middle school) were somewhat intelligent, and all were open to criticism or kind correction if they were incorrect about something.

Well, except for my kindergarden teacher. She was a moronic ***** who not only flexed her "I'm older so I'm right" argument too often, she also hated me and was convinced I had mental problems, ADD, ADHD, or something similar. Ironically, I took a special test in school that revealed that I could read at a 4th grade level with an IQ that was higher than everyone else in the class (I cannot recall the exact number, but I know it was extremely impressive for a kindergardener).
From what I recall, she quit being a teacher at the end of that school year.

 

[rokkolpo]

I had to prove to my 11th grade English teacher that disorientated was a word. Sad day...

After that, he differed to my vocabulary in times of duress.

was your teacher like 19-20(and inexplicably stupid)or what?

 

[Sven und EIN HUND]

Yah.....Yah..... The shit we read in my english class(es, throughout the years) is mainly ....shit.... I would LOVE to read some classic literature, although I guess that's what will be happening in 11 and 12 because I'm doing literature. Generally english class is fun though, and it's my best subject.