Should I rat out my dd?

[Homeschooling6]

If what you want for your dd is to have character, then you must intervene, whether directly with her, or less directly with her teacher. Just because there are many kids that do the same thing, or worse, does not mean you have to suck it up and allow it. Avoiding conflict with dh is the chicken sh*t way out. Either you value honesty or you don't. If you don't, then by all means, stay out of the way and let your dd receive a grade for work that is someone else's.

 

You are the mother, and you know your dd and her ability level, and you know she is not doing her best. You said she waited too long to start the assignment. There is a lesson to learn here. There is a big part of me that would let my dd turn in the paper and hope the teacher recognizes that she did not read the whole book, then I would let dd know that she can't go anywhere until she does read the book and prove to me that she did so by discussing it with me - and I would be sure to ask questions that are not in the notes she used to write her paper.

 

Maybe I am just stuck in an episode of Cosby where Theo didn't read a book he was supposed to read for class but gets a passing grade on the test, so Claire tells him he still needs to read it and pass a test she prepares.

 

FWIW I agree with you, and would be very disappointed in my dd if she did this. I definitely wouldn't help with the paper and I would not allow use of the Internet for this or any other paper without knowing the book had been read. Just because others are lazy and dishonest is no reason to accept it from your own child. Hopefully a poor grade will be the consequence of not actually doing the work assigned. Even if it is not there would be consequences at home if it were me, with the intention of teaching honesty and the value of work. Good luck!

Noelle

:iagree:

[ma23peas]

Tough one. As a writing teacher and knowing my peers and myself, you realize there are some who do not finish books and still write papers, not condoning it!

 

I had to write a research paper on Bleak House by Charles Dickens...AP Lit ...I just could not get into this very lengthy novel...Sadly, I used Cliffs Notes, did my entire 3 month project in one night...I made one of the two As on the assignment, I felt awful when my teacher announced my paper and read excerpts from it. I have since read BH and use that example to tell my students how my error haunted me and how the conscience is a thing not to be bargained with.

 

That being said, make it clear what you think is the best thing..put it on a philosophical level...

"you may not think this is a big deal bc others do it, but your father and I raised you to put integrity and honesty higher than the road most travelled"

 

Let this be her decision...just let her know where you stand in a loving non-threatening tone...

[Denisemomof4]

As did I. Doesn't make it right, though. The whole friends jumping off bridges thing ...

 

Oh well. I'm quite clearly in the minority on this one. Story of my life. :D

 

Tara

 

Honestly, if you're having issues with her lying, there is stress in the house currently for a different lying issue, AND you know what your dd is doing, wouldn't you be enabling her if you sat silently and did nothing?

 

And I absolutely disagree with helping her or staying up and reading the book with her. Our dd's cause us enough pain. There are limits.

 

That's my very strong opinion, but I admit my little RADish is driving me cRazy right now, so I'm sure that's playing into my answer.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Denisemomof4

[Denisemomof4]

 

I'll be done now, too. Off to bed.

 

Tara

 

I'm so glad to see this. A good night's sleep will help you think clearer tomorrow. (today). Trust your gut on this.

[SKL]

I agree that character is important. But, I doubt that going to the teacher and basically demanding that she flunk your daughter is going to build character. I think it would be more likely to build walls - thick walls.

 

In my opinion, the way to build character in a teen is (a) to demonstrate it in yourself and (b) treat her like she is capable of it (even though she [like all humans] sometimes misses the mark). Character means choosing on her own to do the right thing - not doing it because the choice was not hers.

 

When I was that age, I was a college sophomore. My parents had not been involved with my schoolwork for as long as I can remember, and they quit going to parent-teacher meetings around grade 7 or 8. I honestly think that at age 17.5, it is appropriate for your daughter to set her own schoolwork priorities, as long as she's meeting minimum standards for graduation. Give her a chance to regret a poor decision all on her own. The earlier, the better.

[Denisemomof4]

I agree that character is important. But, I doubt that going to the teacher and basically demanding that she flunk your daughter is going to build character. I think it would be more likely to build walls - thick walls.

 

 

 

I agree with this. I don't think I'd let dd know I went to teacher.

[Pippen]

I had to write a research paper on Bleak House by Charles Dickens...AP Lit ...I just could not get into this very lengthy novel...Sadly, I used Cliffs Notes, did my entire 3 month project in one night...I made one of the two As on the assignment, I felt awful when my teacher announced my paper and read excerpts from it. I have since read BH and use that example to tell my students how my error haunted me and how the conscience is a thing not to be bargained with.

...

 

The flip side of the coin is when I had to read and do a paper (study guide?) on A Tale of Two Cities for a college history class. I read the book and labored for hours over the assignment before turning to Cliff Notes for help on the remaining few questions that I seriously couldn't answer. The prof recognized the threads from the Cliff Notes and gave me a "D" on the paper whereas those who'd just used the Cliff Notes got F's. I would have been better off skipping the Cliff Notes and skipping the questions I couldn't answer. Or asking the prof for help.

 

I'd back off and let daughter take the consequences, whatever those might be. If it doesn't catch up with her here, it will in the future. Turning her in isn't going to make her more likely to be responsible on future assignments. At this stage, deal with your home issues and let the teacher deal with the school side.

[Aggie]

If what you want for your dd is to have character, then you must intervene, whether directly with her, or less directly with her teacher. Just because there are many kids that do the same thing, or worse, does not mean you have to suck it up and allow it. Avoiding conflict with dh is the chicken sh*t way out. Either you value honesty or you don't. If you don't, then by all means, stay out of the way and let your dd receive a grade for work that is someone else's.

 

I agree.

 

If my dd pulled this, dh and I would tell her that her teacher is going to find out. Either by us telling her or by dd telling her. And there would be huge consequences at home. The grade isn't the point. And it isn't, imo, just a school/teacher issue.

[Impish]

Fwiw, I agree w/you Tara.

 

I wouldn't be silent, b/c to me, it would be condoning her lying and cheating.

 

I would have taken the puter offline.

[Mrs Mungo]

I think the answers are somewhat conflicting because of the original question. I would not go to the teacher. I *would* deal with it at home because every teacher *won't* be that easy. Not telling the teacher does not mean ignoring it.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I had a college Prof.(History) say that 50% of our grade (for essay exams) was how good we BS'ed him. She needs to make these small decisions on her own. Sink or swim, she's almost an adult.

You could discuss in depth with her the ramifications of what she is doing and leave it at that.

Or tell her teacher that your child is bending (probably not breaking) the rules... which will likely cause all out emotional war in your house.

This is a hardline approach... Which is not how I do things.

 

I'm a bit of enabler and would probably offer to read out loud some of the book and discuss meaning ect... If you helped her to do the right thing it might help her to change her behavior/attitude at home. As a Homeschool parent this is what I do every single day.

Edited January 24, 2012 by foxbridgeacademy

[Joyofsixreboot]

I would not rat her out. I pretty much did allmy high school papers from class discussion (pre-Internet). I think it's a pretty common occurrence.

[NanceXToo]

Would I love that she didn't finish the book? No.

 

Would I feel the need to take it upon myself to tell the teacher she didn't? No. Let the teacher judge the assignment on what she manages to put together in the end (which I wouldn't help her write btw), not a note from mom.

[Margaret in GA]

I would not rat my child out. It's up to the teacher to grade the work

 

Margaret

[bettyandbob]

No. I would not rat out my child. If the teacher can't figure out she didn't read the book that's not my problem. 4 out of 11 chapters--there are probably quite a few students who read less.

 

Do you need to add to your disagreements with your dd?

 

Do you need an argument with your dh?

 

Is the importance of telling the teacher more important than getting through your current rocky relationship issues with your dd?

 

I would not help with the paper though. I could only help if she had read the book.

Edited January 24, 2012 by betty

[Aelwydd]

I think your daughter is being lazy, not dishonest (unless she claims credit for other people's writing). I see a couple of possible endings to her assignment.

 

1.) She continues to read the book, but instead of reading it thoroughly, she skims it, looking for key situations and events she's been clued into by reading others' analyses. If she's a smart cookie, and is able to pick up the important points of the story and form a coherent narrative, then she should have enough information to answer those questions, and do so in an intelligent way.

 

And a note here: this method is not just simple laziness, though that can be a motive. But another, more important motive, is efficiency. This is actually a very crucial method and skill she'll need, if she wants to be an M.D. She'll face massive amounts of reading, research papers, and just sheer information, and she'll never have enough time to give all of it a thorough reading. She'll have to pick and choose which reading she can afford to give such in-depth attention, and which she can skim and reduce to essential concepts. If she can't do that, she will be heavily handicapped.

 

2. She will not be able to form a rational amalgam of the primary and secondary sources of information, and will write a disjointed, and poorly conceived paper. It will not be well-organized, or present any real thoughtful analysis, but a regurgitated mishmash of a bunch of disparate statements.

 

 

If the first scenario happens, you can still be irritated with her for not giving the book a complete and thorough reading. But, you should be pleased that she has the requisite thinking and writing skills be able to accurately size up a literary piece and be able to quickly ascertain its purpose and ideals, even without having read to it entirely.

 

Sure, a superficial reading like that will miss some more subtle and important details than a thorough reading would. However, my own experience has taught me that I don't have the time, the energy, or the resources to devote to every single project that kind of focused attention. So, some projects will get my whole, undivided attention, and others get less. The key is getting enough information. And btw, being able to do that well is not an exercise in laziness, but actually requires some real critical thinking skills to be able to piece all the bits of information together. If one is a lazy thinker, this method never works.

 

 

If the second scenario happens, her teacher will read it, add up two plus two, and get four (because that still happens, even in ps). Your daughter will get a grade commensurate with her efforts. Hopefully, she'll take that to mean that she needs to either sharpen her reading skills, or her critical thinking skills, or both.

[Haiku]

Thanks, everyone, for all your thoughts.

 

It's her problem, not yours.

 

This I agree with. Dd was raised in an orphanage and is a master manipulator. She is extremely skilled in evading responsibility and making her problems other people's problems. I have to stop buying in so much.

 

It would be my job to catch her and my job to ensure she doesn't get away with it. With your DD, however, she has another teacher who needs to do that job.

 

This I don't agree with it. That feels to me like taking dd's responsibility to honestly complete her work and foisting it off on the teacher in the form of making her responsible for catching dd cheating.

 

wouldn't you be enabling her if you sat silently and did nothing?

 

Yes, I do feel that way.

 

And I absolutely disagree with helping her or staying up and reading the book with her. Our dd's cause us enough pain. There are limits.

 

Oh, yeah. I never even considered doing that. That's absolutely her evading responsibility and me buying into it. That said, so that everyone knows I am not a complete Grinch, when dd came home from school with a Federalist paper to read, gave it an honest go, and really didn't understand it, I read it out loud to her and explained it, line by line, phrase by phrase. The teacher called me on an unrelated matter and I mentioned to her that the paper was really over dd's head in terms of language but that I really enjoyed reading it. The teacher told me dd was the only person who had bothered to read it.

 

I'm so glad to see this. A good night's sleep will help you think clearer tomorrow. (today). Trust your gut on this.

 

Unfortunately, I slept terribly. I couldn't fall asleep and dreamed about this all night.

 

I would not rat her out. I pretty much did allmy high school papers from class discussion (pre-Internet). I think it's a pretty common occurrence.

 

Again, common doesn't = right.

 

If one is a lazy thinker, this method never works.

 

And she is. Dd has totally bought into the "it's all about the grade" mentality. She is not interested in learning for learning's sake and sees everything that is not immediately practical in her life as not worth the effort. She is not generally very intellectually curious. Whereas my younger kids constantly want to know "who what when where why how?", dd17 is content just to ... not know. She hears about something new and ... doesn't care. She doesn't ask questions or want to know more. It's something I don't understand.

 

I homeschooled her the first year she was with us. It was an unqualified disaster. In order to save our family, I put her in school. It has kept the family from imploding but it has ruined her educationally, imo. She generally works hard in school, but only to get the grade. She's the classic example of "memorize and dump."

 

Tara

[lauranc]

She's 17.5. She has to write a paper for school analyzing a book she was supposed to read. She asked me for some help on it.

 

It became clear she had not finished the book.

 

She is on chapter 4 of an 11-chapter book, and the paper is due on Wednesday.

 

She has no intention of finishing the book and is writing her paper based on things she finds on the internet.

 

Dh does not want me to tell her teacher because we are dealing with a major issue with her right now for which she is already in much trouble at home. Basically, Dh (as he told me) wants to take the easy path, not the right one.

 

As for me, I am offended that she is cheating and lying, and I see this as directly connected to the home-based issue we are dealing with. I think I should tell her teacher.

 

What do you think?

 

Tara

 

Your daughter is 17.5? If she has a teacher to whom she is accountable, then there is no reason for you to be involved at all.

 

I have a son who is 17, and there have been a couple of books he's not finished before having to write a paper-- it's his life, his education. I wouldn't think to contact his teacher to let her know.

 

Ultimately, it's your daughter's choice to do what is right or not. She has to learn her own limitations, and have her own motivation.

 

Sorry, but I would stay out of it.

[EKS]

I think you should let it go. But keep in mind that I never read a single book for any of my English classes in high school. We didn't have the internet back then and I never had access to Cliff's Notes. I got all As and my teachers thought I was a "brilliant literature student." That is a direct quote from one of them. And this was a rigorous college prep school.

[Annie G]

I would stay out of it as far as contacting the teacher or insisting dd stay up late to finish the book. I would, however, let dd know I was disappointed that she took the easy route.

[AuntieM]

(didn't read all the replies first)

 

I sure would be tempted to tell the teacher, but I don't think I would actually do that for a child your dd's age. I would, however, make a casual mention of the plagiarism detection software used by many schools these days.

 

I also would not make it easy for her to co-opt the work of others.

Our wireless Internet at home tends to be a bit flaky - I have been known to just shut it down when my kids need to not be distracted by facebook and texts on their handheld gadgets. Or if I suspect they're surfing for easy answers.

[CalicoKat]

As long as she isn't plagiarizing, I think just let her do whatever. She's too old for you to make her do it properly. And it's not immoral, just lazy. Lots of kids don't read their assigned books. Some still manage to write good papers, but most don't.

 

:iagree: The consequence will be a bad grade if she doesn't write a good paper.

 

If she gets a good grade :D well that's a skill too being able too. My dh's really good at taking tests and writing papers. He hates reading.

[Denisemomof4]

Thanks, everyone, for all your thoughts.

 

 

 

Oh, yeah. I never even considered doing that. That's absolutely her evading responsibility and me buying into it. That said, so that everyone knows I am not a complete Grinch, when dd came home from school with a Federalist paper to read, gave it an honest go, and really didn't understand it, I read it out loud to her and explained it, line by line, phrase by phrase. The teacher called me on an unrelated matter and I mentioned to her that the paper was really over dd's head in terms of language but that I really enjoyed reading it. The teacher told me dd was the only person who had bothered to read it.

 

 

Tara

 

That's different. :001_smile: You would .also be helping her now if she were putting an honest effort into this assignment.

 

you're a good mom!

[Quiver0f10]

Well if it was a class that I required her to take and paid for then I would make her read the book. If this was a class she chose and paid for herself, I would stay out of it.

[justamouse]

Tough one. As a writing teacher and knowing my peers and myself, you realize there are some who do not finish books and still write papers, not condoning it!

 

I had to write a research paper on Bleak House by Charles Dickens...AP Lit ...I just could not get into this very lengthy novel...Sadly, I used Cliffs Notes, did my entire 3 month project in one night...I made one of the two As on the assignment, I felt awful when my teacher announced my paper and read excerpts from it. I have since read BH and use that example to tell my students how my error haunted me and how the conscience is a thing not to be bargained with.

 

That being said, make it clear what you think is the best thing..put it on a philosophical level...

"you may not think this is a big deal bc others do it, but your father and I raised you to put integrity and honesty higher than the road most travelled"

 

Let this be her decision...just let her know where you stand in a loving non-threatening tone...

 

 

Exactly.

 

Sometimes letting the person go through with their erroneous decision is the best way to let the conscience be developed and teach. A developed conscience is a better teacher than we ever could be.

 

You still remember that lesson years later.

[Teachin'Mine]

I usually read the assigned books in high school, but other times I relied more on Cliff and Monarch - the assigned reading was definitely not to my liking and turned me off of reading for a long time. :tongue_smilie: I did well on tests and papers, so I obviously learned what was necessary for the class. If we were graded for having read each chapter, then what I did would have been cheating, but we were graded for having understood the book which I was able to do without having read each and every word. Kwim? As you are the parent, you'll have to do whatever you think is best for your daughter. Sometimes when I'm not sure of the right thing to do, I decide one way and then I ask myself if it's a loving decision and then I decide the other way and ask the same question. Unfortunately our kids don't come with instruction manuals, answer keys or solutions manuals. :grouphug:

[chiguirre]

At this very late date, there's not much you can do to salvage this situation. If you can get the audiobook from the library, I'd have her listen to the last disc and read the chapter summaries for the intervening chapters. If she ends up doing the paper using Cliff's Notes, it's not the end of the world. Most of her peers will be doing the same. Based on your Federalist Paper experience, I doubt her teacher will be too upset by the Cliff's Notes based paper since they'll be seeing a lot of them.

 

In a week or so when you've both got more perspective, I'd talk to her about what she wants to get out of her education. She can write the papers without reading the books, but that's pure drudgery. Or she can actually read the books and gain a deeper understanding of the world, as well as writing a paper more easily. I'd also mention that most books are on audiobook and you can help her request them and pick them up from the library (if she doesn't usually use the public library or get the car to go there). That would make a book report much more manageable for her while still allowing her to form her own view of the book.

 

I can easily imagine Geezle doing this in 7 years. He really struggles to read and write and I can see him taking the easy way out, especially if everyone (or 95%) in his class are doing the same thing. I can see being very upset about the laziness/dishonesty, but it's also very hard to hold your child to a higher standard than the other students will have to meet.

[Amy in NH]

As long as she isn't plagiarizing, I think just let her do whatever. She's too old for you to make her do it properly. And it's not immoral, just lazy. Lots of kids don't read their assigned books. Some still manage to write good papers, but most don't.

 

:iagree:

[Tammyla]

She's 17.5. She has to write a paper for school analyzing a book she was supposed to read. She asked me for some help on it.

 

It became clear she had not finished the book.

She is on chapter 4 of an 11-chapter book, and the paper is due on Wednesday.

 

She has no intention of finishing the book and is writing her paper based on things she finds on the internet.

 

Dh does not want me to tell her teacher because we are dealing with a major issue with her right now for which she is already in much trouble at home. Basically, Dh (as he told me) wants to take the easy path, not the right one.

 

As for me, I am offended that she is cheating and lying, and I see this as directly connected to the home-based issue we are dealing with. I think I should tell her teacher.

 

What do you think? I wouldn't help her write the paper or discuss the book with her in any way, and I would insist she actually read the book.

 

Tara

 

There really isn't a good test for having read a book, and many students get by bs-ing (pardon my word choice) their way through papers and discussions.

[Aelwydd]

 

And she is. Dd has totally bought into the "it's all about the grade" mentality. She is not interested in learning for learning's sake and sees everything that is not immediately practical in her life as not worth the effort. She is not generally very intellectually curious. Whereas my younger kids constantly want to know "who what when where why how?", dd17 is content just to ... not know. She hears about something new and ... doesn't care. She doesn't ask questions or want to know more. It's something I don't understand.

 

I homeschooled her the first year she was with us. It was an unqualified disaster. In order to save our family, I put her in school. It has kept the family from imploding but it has ruined her educationally, imo. She generally works hard in school, but only to get the grade. She's the classic example of "memorize and dump."

 

Tara

 

Lack of curiosity seems to be endemic among most American students. Wish I knew the cure to that!

[Jenny in Florida]

She wants help writing the paper, not with editing. She has a list of questions she is supposed to answer in the body of her paper, and she can't answer them because she hasn't read the book.

 

It became obvious when I asked, "What is the major obstacle this family met? Did they triumph, or were they beaten?"

 

She looked at me and said, "Um ... um ..." with a deer-caught-in-headlights look.

 

Tara

 

Well, in that situation, for one of mine, I absolutely would not help one tiny bit once it became clear my kid had not read the book or completed the assignment properly.

 

I would tell my kid in no uncertain terms that I was disappointed with her decision not to read the book. And I would make equally clear that there is no way on earth I would help her cheat by essentially doing the paper for her.

 

I would not allow internet usage, so that she could not get details or information about the book online.

 

I would not allow her to stay home from school the day the paper was due.

 

Depending on the attitude she was giving me, I'd consider grounding her until the paper was returned, with a grade. (I'd want to see the grade.)

 

I say this with the knowledge that I did not read completely every book I was assigned during my academic career. (Remind me sometime to tell you how I bluffed my way through an exam question on Billy Budd.) But my point would be that, once a kid makes a decision to blow off a responsibilty, I would want her to feel it.

 

I don't think you can count on the teacher to notice or grade her down for this. I suspect, if there are going to be any consequences, you will have to supply them.

[Haiku]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

[justamouse]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

 

I read them, but I love reading.

 

And yes, you are right to hold her to a higher standard, and you are right to be so disappointed in her decision that you are furious.

 

But I still think what I said in my first post.

 

I see not reading the books the same as parents in the aisles of AC Moore complaining about how they have to do their kid's science projects. No joke.

[Hannah C.]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

 

I read all of them - in high school and college. I may have skimmed one or two, I don't remember. But I read very fast (thanks to years of homeschooling :D) and love to read, so it wasn't a struggle for me and didn't take inordinate amounts of time.

[Upward Journey]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

 

Maybe ;) I remember AP English senior year. I know I read all the way through Macbeth & Brave New World. We were assigned a lot of books that year. We were supposed to read a lot of books that year. I was good at listening and good at writing papers, and I got an A in the class. I read very fast and love to read, but only what I want to read. I did not take the exam. I knew I'd bomb it. And when I went to college the next year, this science/math major avoided taking lit. classes like the plague :)

[Impish]

I'm a bit of enabler and would probably offer to read out loud some of the book and discuss meaning ect... If you helped her to do the right thing it might help her to change her behavior/attitude at home. As a Homeschool parent this is what I do every single day.

To me, that handicaps the kiddo, in that they're not being taught independant study skills and abilities. At 17.5 (Tara's dd's age) she should absolutely be able to manage this on her own, w/out Mom enabling her by reading out loud. Esp a kid that wants to be an MD.

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

Nope, you're not the only one. I read everything.

[Aelwydd]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

 

 

I read most of them. Some of them, like "Catcher in the Rye," were just too pointless for me to get through. In fact, I requested a different book for my writing assignment that time. And I love reading. I used to spend most of my lunch hours in the library.

 

Some books are just a waste of time though. My best friend, who likewise loves reading and writing, really hated our senior English assigned reading: The Heart of Darkness. She only read half before flatly refusing to continue.

 

So, for our assigned paper, she wrote all the reasons why she despised the book, and why she didn't read all of it. She was honest and forthright about it. And, because she's an excellent writer, it was a well-written critique. It didn't answer the questions assigned to us, but she still made a "B" on it, because the teacher appreciated her rationale.

[Mrs Mungo]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

 

I read every one. I had perfect attendance in some of my college classes. :D

[Haiku]

So, for our assigned paper, she wrote all the reasons why she despised the book, and why she didn't read all of it. She was honest and forthright about it. And, because she's an excellent writer, it was a well-written critique. It didn't answer the questions assigned to us, but she still made a "B" on it, because the teacher appreciated her rationale.

 

I can see dd's paper now: I didn't read the book because I didn't start it until I didn't have time to actually complete it. I was going to cheat and just string together some stuff I found about the book online, but my mom caught me at it and gave me h3ll. In the interest of honesty, I'm letting you know that I didn't read the book and have no original thoughts on it, but if you want me to I could write down a bunch of other people's thoughts. Please give me an A for honesty. :)

 

;)

 

Tara

[Mrs Mungo]

I read most of them. Some of them, like "Catcher in the Rye," were just too pointless for me to get through. In fact, I requested a different book for my writing assignment that time. And I love reading. I used to spend most of my lunch hours in the library.

 

I think there are redeeming qualities to Catcher in the Rye. The main one being? The fact that he's telling his own story, without excuse or hedging. That means he eventually grew up.

 

Some books are just a waste of time though. My best friend, who likewise loves reading and writing, really hated our senior English assigned reading: The Heart of Darkness. She only read half before flatly refusing to continue.

 

I LOVE Heart of Darkness! I taught it to a group of homeschoolers one year. It is an amazing novel with strong correlations to the modern world.

[Aelwydd]

I can see dd's paper now: I didn't read the book because I didn't start it until I didn't have time to actually complete it. I was going to cheat and just string together some stuff I found about the book online, but my mom caught me at it and gave me h3ll. In the interest of honesty, I'm letting you know that I didn't read the book and have no original thoughts on it, but if you want me to I could write down a bunch of other people's thoughts. Please give me an A for honesty. :)

 

;)

 

Tara

 

Well, the teacher didn't reward my friend for her honesty: she rewarded her for a good critique. As in, she didn't like the characters, because of X, Y, and Z. She thought the plot was too muddled. She thought the writing was a barrier to getting into the story. Those kinds of reasons. Not, "I just didn't like reading and so didn't try until the last minute."

 

She did give it the ol' college try.

[Haiku]

I read every one. I had perfect attendance in some of my college classes. :D

 

Me too. I got my grade bumped up from a C to a B in some stupid senior synthesis class that was required to graduate (Semiotics in Communication) because I was the only one who showed up for a 4-day-a-week, 8 a.m. class, every. single. time.

 

Tara

[Haiku]

I think there are redeeming qualities to Catcher in the Rye.

 

I loved that book. My husband hated it and sees nothing redeeming about it. That makes me :confused: because I think the book is fascinating.

 

Tara

[Haiku]

Well, the teacher didn't reward my friend for her honesty: she rewarded her for a good critique.

 

She did give it the ol' college try.

 

I know. I was just being funny. :D

 

Or not, as the case may be.

 

Tara

[Jenny in Florida]

Nope, you're not the only one. I read everything.

 

I read everything in high school. I usually read it in class while waiting for others to catch up. I was the kid who wasn't ready when called on because I had my nose in the book reading ahead to prevent boredom.

 

My first year or two in college I didn't read everything, because I was young and still adjusting to the idea that no one would actually check up on me. I remember trying and not caring for the aforementioned Billy Budd and also a D.H Lawrence novel. Those are the only ones I actually remember skipping.

 

More frequently in high school, we were assigned excerpts of things or abridged versions, which I found frustrating. I routinely sought out and read the full work. (Most vividly, I remember doing that with All Quiet on the Western Front.)

 

Some of them, like "Catcher in the Rye," were just too pointless for me to get through.

 

GASP! I love that book. In fact, I was in high school during the time when it was too controversial to be assigned, and I found it in the public library and read it for spite.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Jenny in Florida

[Renee in NC]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

 

I read everything but Walden - I just couldn't do it! I got a B+ on the quiz, though. Still a prob between my college best friend and I. She *read* the stupid thing and got a B-.:tongue_smilie:

[Aelwydd]

GASP! I love that book. In fact, I was in high school during the time when it was too controversial to be assigned, and I found it in the public library and read it for spite.

 

I know, I'm a Philistine. I just found it boorish. Couldn't get into it at all.

[Aelwydd]

I know. I was just being funny. :D

 

Or not, as the case may be.

 

Tara

 

:001_tt2:

[elegantlion]

Am I the only one who actually read every book I was assigned in school? Am I just a goody-two-shoes? Honestly, it never occurred to me not to.

 

Tara

 

 

I did too, but I'll be the first to say I purposely didn't take the "hard" lit classes because I wanted to read what I wanted to read. But I lived back in the dark ages when Cliff Notes were about the only helps/cheats available and I'm sure the teacher knew them well.

[SKL]

I agree with this. I don't think I'd let dd know I went to teacher.

 

In the context of integrity and character-building, I would say that talking to the teacher of a 17.5yo behind her back in a manner that would negatively impact her grade is not an example of personal character and integrity.

 

If I decided to tell the teacher, I'd do it with my daughter's 100% full knowledge.