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Okay, we're done reading the stories and this is where I tell you what the class thought. First of all let me say that this group was particularly dull and conservative. They hated anything weird. Let me put my class into perspective. These are all middle class 18-19 year-olds, in a major city (Miami), just out of High School. They got into college because they can take tests but their reading and writing skills are utter crap. Now on to the reviews:
"Harrison Bergeron"
"I Hope I Shall Soon Arrive"
"Me and Miss Mandible"
They hated all of these. I mean, they didn't understand any of them and when I explained what was going on the next day in class they reacted like, "That's stupid" or “That could never happen”. These kids detest sci-fi in a big way. We even got into Will Smith's I, Robot and the few kids that'd seen it said it was "too futuristic" for them. They couldn't conceive of a future that wasn't exactly like how it is now. They have no foresight or imagination at all.
"Mr Loveday's Little Outing"
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"
These they loved. If there's one thing these kids know and understand is psychos and murder. The next day in class they raved about how cool these stories where and how they wanted to keep reading.
"The Secret Miracle"
"Light is Like Water"
Magic Realism was completely lost on this class. They couldn't understand how weird stuff could happen in a seeming realistic story. They often thought the magical elements ruined the story completely and, what really scared me (while discussing "The Secret Miracle"), was that a quarter of the class didn't know why the Germans were going to kill the Jewish fellow. They had only a vague sense of what Nazis were and did. So this class session quickly turned into a history lesson and sadly enough I was met with incredulous looks, like they really weren't buying what I was saying. (Of course, this is the same group that 4 weeks ago told me that they had thought aids had already been cured in the 90's, which is why you don't hear about it on TV anymore.)
"Let me Count the Times"
You'd think a story about masturbation and cumming all over someone's face would go over well in a class of 19-year-olds, but like I mentioned these kids are extremely conservative and most of them couldn't read past the first few pages. Those that did were appalled. All of them denied ever having masturbated in their entire lives and a few of them asked me if I could get in trouble for teaching this story in college. I was like, "you're in for a rude awaking, my little friends!"
"Sredni Vashtar"
"Open Window"
The only reason these stories were liked was because they were short. But most of them didn't understand how the kid’s ferret-god could kill the mean guardian (again Magic Realism is none too big with them) and the rest of the class thought the boy was utterly evil and should die a horrible death at the hands of Mr. Loveday. “Open Window” was met with shrugs and blank stares. They didn't even chuckle.
SO, I want to thank everyone who suggested these stories as they introduced these dense children to some weird shit, which made for interesting classroom discussions. Hopefully I put some strange ideas in their heads and started a growth process that'll continue through their college days and beyond.
But some how I doubt it. |
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