posted
. . . how school systems eschew science fiction?
I mean, you'd imagine an American Lit. class at least would have one science fiction story in the whole textbook, considering some of the best science fiction this century has come out of this country--Asimov, Bradbury, etc.
Is it not "real" enough? Are science fiction books just nerdy reads with no real themes or power? I don't think so. You can't read Ender's Game or Fahrenheit 451 and say that.
Really, some of the best illustrations I've seen of interesting philosophicall concepts were in science fiction or fantasy stories. It's like free verse as compared to standard, rhyming iambic pentameter.
Posts: 550 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
I had to read 451 in my Freshman lit class.
I've actually seen some public schools and many colleges and universities give SF it's very own class. My younger brother took a SciFi class in his high school and loved it.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Hey, I get to write a final paper on how the Alien movies are a modern form of classical epic poems.
But yeah, it does kind of bug me that there is so little respect for science fiction as a genre. Fortunately, we got to read Brave New World for one of my English classes in high school. Yay!
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posted
Ender's Game was required reading in my tenth-grade English class (and coincidentally, it was my introduction to Orson Scott Card). Of course, this class was rather an exception among my English classes.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I don't know about that generalization. My teachers throughout my education had assigned reading lists that at least touched on any genre or form you might encounter.
posted
Hmm... Stranger in a Strange Land, Ender's Game, Farenheit 451, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and several others, I'm sure)...
I'd have to say my high school didn't skimp out on Science Fiction, and for that I am most greatful.
Though the classes were dominated by Shakespeare and other Classical works (which I like almost as much). I'd hope that most curriculms allow you a fairly wide range, in hopes that you'll find an area that interests you enough to continue your reading habits.
posted
I don't think we did any scifi for school...wait...we did Chrysalids...but that is everything I can remember from the science fiction genre...
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I had a full semester class on science fiction in my junior or senior year. Unfortunately, the instructor was severely depressed and committed suicide before it was over. He was a cool guy, too.
posted
My roommate read Ender's Game in high school... then again, she's from Magna, Utah.
The only sci-fi I remember was a short story by Ursula LeGuin in an 8th grade literary anthology text and an Earthsea poster on my sophomore English teacher's wall. That's what got me reading her work, and it's among my favorites.
I also consider myself pretty well-read until I get to talking with my English major friends. Sure, I own over 300 books, but for some reason books I've read and bookd they've read only seem to overlap in Jane Austen. Even friends I know who graduated in Literature never had to read any scifi unless they took the one course offered every 2 years.
I think I hang out with enough dorks that my view of scifi's literary importance it rather slanted. What portion of regular society has even heard of the greats?
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
I think that for teachers, science fiction can be harder to teach than more classical works, especially if they're accustomed to talking about the classics.
That said, I really want to take a science fiction class sometime before I'm out of college. I've been rather hooked since sixth grade.
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posted
The only sci-fi that I did in school were short stories. I think it may have to do with the whole feeling that if you read sci-fi or fantasy you're a geek.
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posted
My school doesn't really accept Science Fiction. I mean that to say I guess they generalize that Science Fiction is not literary enough. I have chosen science fiction book on self reading projects such as a Research paper for Ender's Game and I am currently reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress on my own for English, but no I have never been assigned a science fiction book to read... Unless you count Fahrenheit 451...
Posts: 126 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I remember reading several science fiction books and/or stories in school, but nobody ever said, "Hey, gang, here's some science fiction." I think that, with the exception of Bradbury's "Golden Apples of the Sun", some people never even realized they were reading science fiction. The stories were treated just like any other.
Now college is a different matter. As an English major, I read a LOT of fiction in college, and the only times I remember running across science fiction were in an Intro to Lit class (Frankenstein) and in a couple of classes that weren't even in the English department, but were taught by a Social Sciences professor (1984, Brave New World, Woman on the Edge of Time, Herland). Although I did have an English/Honors professor that constantly talked about how much he loved Clockwork Orange and everything else by that author, but we never read any of it.
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He was a cool guy, too.
