Thursday, February 3, 2011

Education FAIL

Now, as you all know, I am a fan of the Twilight series. That said, even I have a problem with this 'Twilight' is now being used as required reading in an Honors Literature class at the university level. That's right, apparently there were no better options than a book about sparkly vampires and a whiny high-school girl. The books are fun, but let's be honest, it is hardly the pinnacle of literary genius. Here is a section of the syllabus:

"While we read and discuss some important, influential narratives about the supernatural – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight as well a few minor works – we will also explore how these texts, like much other fiction, try to create particular reading experiences, as they push us to consider the nature and importance of literary imagination and the way fiction’s seductiveness is tied to other potentially dangerous attractions."

Good job Ohio State University, for setting the bar so low.

9 comments:

  1. That's just awful. Works good for the frat boys, though, bunch of love-hungry girls walking around campus.

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  2. That Twilight even shares a sentence with Frankenstein and Dracula in a syllabus is appalling, but what's even more upsetting is the prose in Twilight. YUCK. Thanks for this info. In the beginning, I thought maybe Twilight was on the syllabus to observe a cultural phenomenon, but I guess I was wrong. Poor kids.

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  3. twilight is a good film and so are the best, but people need to stop spoiling and ruining it by going over the top with things, its like facebook! everyone uses it now, its more cool not to be on facebook lol xx

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  4. All I can hope is that Twilight is being used as a contrast to the others. It's relevant and could be a useful way to start conversations.

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  5. I always thought I was too stupid to get into a University. I guess I was wrong!

    hed www.hedabovewater.com

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  6. wow. that's completely ridiculous. I had to read Watership Down and Lord of the Flies in elementary school...what are schools coming to these days??

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  7. Wow. That's awful. It's one thing to compare and contrast something that's currently popular versus something that's classic, but the writing in the Twilight books is atrocious. The plots might be popular, but to study them in a 200-level English class can't be good for underclassmen grammar.

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