by Michael Hall

The class I hated more than any other in high school was English.  There was no class, other than Math, that was as boring and monotonous.  My view was pretty much the same as the rest of my peers—it was a waste of time.  We would just spend the hour doing grammar worksheets and book reviews.  The most difficult part of class was staying awake.  It was not until later on in college that I finally realized how rewarding English can be.  Unfortunately, I cannot give my high school English instructors any credit for this revelation.  This is because all that I remember about high school English is an overemphasis on grammar, assigned papers that were far from challenging, and classes that were absolutely boring.

In high school, English teachers appeared to be more concerned with teaching students the rules of grammar, and seemed less interested in showing students how to communicate effectively.  Teachers were always going over some new grammatical rule we had to memorize.  After listening to the lecture, we often were bombarded with an array of worksheets to complete, which involved identifying errors and giving explanations for why a given sentence was, or was not, grammatically correct.  Once we were deemed proficient, we were quizzed and then moved on to the next grammatical rule, where the cycle then restarted.  Grammar is undoubtedly a very important element of English, but how can anything creative come from such a regimented and restrictive process?  Before students are expected to adhere to the grammatical rules of communication, they should have an understanding of how to communicate.  Proficiency in grammar is inconsequential when compared to the mastery of communication, which is paramount.

Instead of challenging students with thought-provoking assignments, teachers would assign papers which were never asked to go beyond the most basic comprehensive summary.  Writing assignments normally took two forms: journals or book reviews.  I remember in one of my composition classes we were expected to write in a journal about the events of the week.  All we had to do was recollect, or invent, the experiences and then write them down.  But what can you learn from merely transcribing your experiences?  At a minimum, there should be some sort of self-reflective interpretation of those events.  Unfortunately, this was never asked and students rarely, if ever, chose to expand on the assignment without first being prompted to do so.  Another type of paper that was frequently assigned was the book review.  We were asked to simply talk about what happened in the book, who the characters were, and maybe a little background on the author.  Teachers were only concerned with how well we comprehended the plot.  We were never asked for our own interpretation, and were never challenged to think about the different issues the story raised.  We were never told that the book might mean something.  Because of this, the other students and I were deprived of many great opportunities to learn, and use, higher-order thinking skills.

English class was boring.  I cannot remember a single activity in an English class that I would define as fun.  All we did was memorize grammatical rules and summarize stories.  We never got a chance to discuss what we were reading.  Instead, the teacher just stood at the front of the room telling us what we were reading while the rest of us were taking notes.  It should not be this way.  Literature is supposed to stimulate discussion and bring up controversial issues.  There is much more to hear than just what the instructor is saying; the student’s have ideas as well.  Do teachers think that high school students are incapable about having analytical discussions?  If not, why then are they restricting students from expressing their own views of the literature?  Well maybe it is because students do not know how to analyze the literature yet.  Well, teach them!  By pushing students a little more and setting the bar a little bit higher, a more interesting learning environment can develop.

Overall, my experience in high school English was far from inspiring.  Everything from the misguided reliance on grammar to the robotic, recollective compositions left me with disappointing memories and missed opportunities.  Even the class itself was void of any creativity.  Students are just not being sufficiently challenged to make the classes memorable and meaningful.  Because of this, my memories of high school English entail an overemphasis on grammar, assigned papers that were far from challenging, and classes that were absolutely boring.