Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for May 07, 2012

Reminds me of the most important words an English major needs to learn: “You want fries with that?”(I was an English major, and no, I never did work in a fast food place.)

Publishing has never been glamorous. More of a case of mutual aggravation amongst professionals. But with the advances in technology even the middle men get the privilege of asking “Do you want fries with that?”

can i consult with his case manager and nurse practitioner?

Wow! I remember book stores! Oh, such memories…..

Public schools are a major contributor. They ban books with adventure and controversy as trash and push boring huge interminable tomes that are work to read. Indeed if you enjoy it it must not be literature. My author friend was speaking with a college professor and any friendliness vanished when she discovered his books SOLD to common people.

Unfortunately the comment on public schools may be valid. See, there’s a problem with TEACHING, especially large classes larger than a teacher can become friendly with. If they’re large enough you must keep order and control, then…you prevent free thought and thinking and interaction generally…and thus no teacher wants popular reading…it teaches the little recalcitrant boogers to think…plot, plan. Etc.

DANGER. Common people beginning to think…

Should be interesting.

As far as books are concerned, the writing is on the www.

Don’t we wish this were NOT true?!

Is that really where the pressure to ban Huck Finn is coming from? Don’t forget that Horace Mann’s model for American public schools was Frederick the Great’s system for turning out nice, obedient cannon fodder and mothers of same. As Emerson put it, “The end preexists in the means”.

It may have to do how books are taught. In high school I happened to read “Return of the Native” one summer and loved it. The next year it showed up in an English class and I hated it. They go through it so slowly and spend so much time picking at details that you lose the flow of the story. You need to read the book first and then go back to the the analysis. Don’t try to do both at the same time.

it’s a funny. laff at it. yeesh.

Gee. No one has mentioned e-readers. I’m finding that the younger generation has actually become more interested in reading with the new technology. It’s kind of hard to have a book signing, though…

No amount of teaching can ruin a good student.

funny that you are saying that on an internet site…are you writing that on an abacus?

Administrators – in almost any organization – when confronted with a problem only know how to do one of two things: nothing and overreact (a.k.a.: no tolerance.) Though seemingly polar opposed, what do those two tactics have in common? Simple: in both cases each tactic relieves the administrator of having to make a decision – to judge and pick sides.`If you do nothing, maybe the problem will go away, or at least hidden away (which is about the same thing) and perhaps you can move on before things either blows-up or collapses. Overreaction makes life simpler for an administrator; equating kids carrying into school ibuprofen tablets along with crack cocaine – both “unauthorized drugs,” you understand. Overreaction relieves the administrator of having to deal with a lot of grey areas, having to explain actions to those with opposing views, and having the shield of “regulations” to hide behind. Yeah, you might look like a fool, but no one can blame you if something goes wrong; you’re, after all, just “following orders,” though perhaps to an extent not intended even by those who drew up the regulations.

I’m hunting for a job right now that will look good on the flyjacket of my future bestsellers! Maybe rock band tuba player?

@ Commenters: How many of you are puzzled that folks with strong political/religious/social biases choose to preach their message on a COMICS page on the interweb? Seems ironic, (unless we are supposed to laugh…)

It will be interesting to see what Microsoft’s influx of cash does to Barnes & Noble.

@prrdh: Yes, that is EXACTLY where the pressure to ban Huck Finn comes from. Peoplefrom the community (NOT teachers/admin) who do not understand the novel do not realize that the point of the book is to show the inherent evil and unfairness of racism and slavery. They see certain language and go ballistic without thought. Studying this novel would eradicate a lot of the ignorance and inability to understand deeper levels and historical context. (Yeah, I’m an English teacher.)

There’s no such thing as “free” education. Somebody has to pay the bills. Teachers don’t work for nothing (nor should they), and buildings don’t erect themselves. As for public schools, their ultimate purpose to turn out good little subjects who will conform and obey. Any education that slips through the cracks is purely incidental.

Oh, and while I agree that the Creation Museum is pretty ridiculous, I might point out that the Scopes trial was actually a publicity stunt. Too bad lots of people didn’t quite get the joke…

We need more J.K. Rowlings and fewer 19th century bores to keep our kids reading and not tweeting their lives away.

i suspect e-books, everywhere, with the lack of education

I do agree with most of your comment. Howecer, I must take exception with your use of the term “western” religions. I venture to say that most of the worlds religions, past and present, have tried and succeededm in many cases, in controlling free thought. Case in point is the Muslim on Muslim violence do to the differences between Sunni and Shiite.

What is a western religion? Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Parsee, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Tao, Shinto, etc. all originated in Asia.

Publishers rejected free-enterprise book stores (I once had one), then required authors to employ “first readers” (agents) to save doing it themselves. One sixth of book titles (not copies) published today are from university presses – check random pages of Books in Print for proof. Publishers want beach books, not quality – read it once, discard, buy another one.

Education ultimately depends on the teacher. I went to public schools in the 60’s and 70’s, and even then we had a LOT of teachers who were just going through the motions once they got tenure.

Still, I had an English/Humanities teacher who took it upon himself to get the entire class out (on his own time) to theaters and such to give us some exposure to a world beyond the one 17-year-olds generally live in. Then there was another teacher who literally got in my face (wish she’d used mouthwash) about coasting along and not using my potential. They were huge influences on me and I’m eternally grateful to both.

Public education IS an “industry” that’s all about wages, benefits and pensions for employees (kids be damned), but there will always be individual teachers, however few and far between they are, who actually try to get students to learn.

Hmmm. As a Catholic, I must be brainwashed into thinking that I have free thought, and that my education was really coercion.

Wonder how they finessed the logic courses to trick me into non-logic?

EVERY public land disposal law has mandated funding for PUBLIC education with the “income”. The “founding fathers” valued education. Today, “floundering farces” are trying to make “privatization” and the destruction of “government” their objective, but: I have 122 books on my Kindle, some out of copyright, many others purchased, and also have lots of “printed” books, including autographed copies, now THAT is difficult on the tablet!

And hilarious, since most of the school day seems to be taken up in the teaching of leftwaddle. The worst the Right can do is turn out children who are morally fit… and skeptical, even of sciences that are “settled”. Of which there are none…