Jules Verne Forum

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Re: 20K - which chapts to skip? (sorry 4 the blasphemy)

From: David Merchant <merchant~at~LATECH.EDU>
Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:03:14 -0600
Resent-From: <merchant~at~LATECH.EDU>
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>
Resent-Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 17:03:19 -0600 (CST)

At 01:27 PM 1/2/2008, you wrote:
>David,
>
>Rick has provided the "official skipping list" of 20K chapters. I
>don't think any Forum member can contest it.
>
>On the other hand, I would in a way side with Master Miller and
>suggest that you leave the students free to skip any part or chapter
>that they find boring, but ask them to provide their reason
>for skipping it in two or three sentences.

My only fear is that they will say every chapter is boring :-). Too
many of my students are people who don't like reading (well, they
think they don't like it, hard to say you don't like something if
you've never done it before). They work very hard at fining escape
clauses, loopholes, wiggle room. That they are experts and geniuses
at. And if that fails, then they just skip short readings and take
the penalty for failing a reading quiz (I'm working on increasing the
penalties for that). Every quarter I have to add another clause to my
ever lengthening syllabi to cover yet another loophole. Very literal,
these engineers! I do have some that like to read, and a few that
love to read - computer science majors, humanities majors, mainly.
I'm afraid it is in no small part the failings of the Louisiana
public school system. That, and the No Child Left Behind act - the
high school teachers are too busy teaching to the tests, and little
time for writing papers and critical reading. But that's a tirade for
another list, not this one.

TTFN,
David

-- 
Instructor, Department of English.
Louisiana Tech University  

Received on Thu 03 Jan 2008 - 01:03:46 IST

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