SCBWI Saturday opened with a keynote presentation by Gordon Korman. After writing his first novel when he was 12 (what?!) and having it published during his freshman year in high school (huh?!), he went on to write over 70 books.
He talked about how when we're in grade school, we're assigned depressing books. Old Yeller. Sounder. Where the Red Fern Grows.
All stories in which dogs die. Not very uplifting. He asked, "Why weren't we assigned funny books?"
Then he asked, "Why don't we teach humor? Seriously? What do we use more often - a sense of humor or the ability to sense foreshadowing?"
Which of course, inspired today's question. How would you fill in the blank below?
Instead of teaching of us __________ they should have taught us _____________.
For example, "Instead of teaching us trigonometry (and you're crazy if you think I even know what trigonometry is) they should have taught us how many years it would take to pay off a bcbg dress when you charge it on a credit card that magically appears in your dorm mailbox."
Just sayin'.
xoxo,
Suzanne
About Me
- Suzanne Casamento
- Author of Fingerprints, Choosing Tally, and All the Moments in Between. Tweet me @suzannecasamento
I'm with you on the Trig/BCBG dress thing too. A class on managing credit would have been way more helpful than just about anything I learned in highschool.
ReplyDeleteInstead of teaching us how to fill in our evening hours with ineffective homework, they should have taught us to question/challenge the world around us.
ReplyDeleteInstaed of giving us boring "classic books" in literature, they should have taught us to appreciate literature based on works kids would really be interested in. I think things may be better now with a wealth of YA available (I don't think YA truly existed in the '60s).
ReplyDeleteStrangely, all the HS math and science I've found useful.
As for the credit card/BCBG dress--I would need to take a shopping class to know what a BCBG dress is. :-)
Instead of teaching us cursive writing they should have taught us how to type. THEN instead of taking a typing class we could have used that time to to learn self defense or religious tolerance or how to change a flat tire or humanitarianism. Geesh, anything else.
ReplyDelete