Should English Be Compulsary Poll (1 Viewer)

[thisnameistaken]

English should not be compulsory, advaned is all bull****, who the f gives a sh*t about journeys, and its boring as hell anyway, only minor parts are relevant to life, it only benefits those who are good at it and get their UAI's boosted because those who arnt are affected comprehensively. 60% scales to approx 25 and 70 approx 50 , WTF. If english should be compulsory then so should mathematics

 

[kaylierose]

i was avtually thinkink about this yesteram currently studying HSC eng. adv. and i was eally thinking that it is reeally not that useful. i don't think it should be compolsory.
There is nothing in the coarse that i think would actually be useful for the future. i don't know why studying things like "in the wild" and gwen harwood poetry" is going to be very beneficial, and its really not that interesting to any students that i have talked to.
I understand studying english if we were to actually be learning something useful, it also may just be my teacher who just likes to talk and prove how great he is and think she knows everything and doesnt teach us what we actually seem to need for the assesments.
My point i think is just that there should be more of a syllabus for english so we know where were going with what we are learning in class and whta we are expected to know.
but at the same time HSC english is almost just telling us what we should think, not letting us learn anything but just write down what the board want us to know about whatever it is that we are studying.

pretty much, HSC english is just useless for some peaple, but great for others who are into that kind of thing. There is nothing in the syllabus that all atudents really should have to learn.
So it should be ofe=fered as optional.

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

uh, if you cared to look it up, the syllabus does tell us the aims and purposes of the course. it is also heavilly reliant upon our own interpretations and values, and if you bothered to look on the board of studies once in a while, youd not only find that, youd realise that what we do in english is called conceptual learning. eg, an understanding of harwoods poetry enables us to value and understand why some texts have textual integrity and why. that allows us to be analytical when looking at documents, something very useful in most jobs =]

 

[Affinity]

uh, if you cared to look it up, the syllabus does tell us the aims and purposes of the course. it is also heavilly reliant upon our own interpretations and values, and if you bothered to look on the board of studies once in a while, youd not only find that, youd realise that what we do in english is called conceptual learning. eg, an understanding of harwoods poetry enables us to value and understand why some texts have textual integrity and why. that allows us to be analytical when looking at documents, something very useful in most jobs =]

This my dear is just as indecipherable as a postmodernist text.

the terms conceptual learning, integrity and analytical could mean almost anything. In most cases these terms are just flashed around without the user needing to know what they are on about.

If I interpreted your post correctly you pointed out that the subject "English" places emphasis on general analytical skills. If that is the case it shouldn't be called English then. As far as I know, English refers to the language and it's use and therefore an objectie study it ought to remain. If they want a course to debate about values... call it sociology or philosophy.

And how relevant is understanding Harwoods poetry in judging the merits of a factual document? Reading the former is more about aesthetics and appreciating the use of language, while for the latter we verify claims of a document for it's objectivity.

By your argument it would be better to study modern history. And one could argue that 4 Unit maths is useful because it allows one to better understand and be wary of pitfalls when looking at figures provided by the media.

 

[ccc123]

Using the same argument against her, I pose the question, ‘Why should English be Compulsory?’, why not another subject like Australian History, or Geography.


.

Because these subjects are not as imperative for most people.

*sigh* Obviously, this subject can be debated ad nauseum. I guess the bottom line then is that currently, the Board of Studies clearly perceives English to be of greater value than other subjects, and has thus selected it as the compulsary subject. Suck it up, maths/science lovers, that's the way it is, and if you have a problem with it, I implore you to go lobby BOS or something, rather than starting these futile arguments.

 

[happyhiccups]

English is an important study, think about it, we just read "an imaginary life" and it was looking at the impacts of communication barriers,and another text that supports why the BOS had made english compulsive is "wild Swans" looking at cultural differences and once again it shows barriers which we particularly in australia need to overcome as we are a multicultural society...english isnt just about reading a book, its about analysing the book and interpretating a meaning which i suppose is a tool necessary to everyday life

 

[miegoreng]

No way should English be compulsory. I never learn anything really useful. Come on does anyone learn anything good about Journeys or analysing texts. And no I'm not dumb. If you look at the numbers of people who do extension English, it is far fewer than those doing extension Math, both 1 and 2. This clearly shows that math rules over enlglish. Clearly Enlgish is not imperative for most people.

All I have really learnt is how terrible English is after so many years of compulsory English. With your thesis statement, you come to your conclusion first and expand on it. When expanding in your essay, you totally ignore all facts that contradict your thesis statement. I mean I could essentially prove 3+2=6.

2+2=4. 2x2=4. Therefore plus equals times. According to the style of English and post modernism I should be right. Also, Enlgish is also there to keep a certain nationality getting 100 UAI all the time doing 4unit math, physics, chemistry and biology. That nationality is well known to be good at math and science but weak in English and Aussie people in high places in NSW obviously have national pride.

Why else would English still be here, when there is strong opposition to it's "compulsoriness"? We're not learning how to read and write here, it's about insights into stuff, which very little people care about.

 

[MoonWildFlower]

I think English is a fairly useless subject. Knowing how to spell, read, use correct grammar and write essays are all important skills, but high school English lessons don't seem to do much to advance skills in those areas. They seem to just make us study some of the most boring texts in existence, then think of an idea we want to write about and take bits out of the extremely boring text which will prove the idea. It's a bit of a waste of time in my opinion...

 

[Apey MatrixElf]

English as it is: no.

However, English as a subject that will teach you important things like proper speech and grammar (like how people always get "their"/"they're"/"there" mixed up, etc): YES.

We NEED these things so that society doesn't gradually slump down into such a pathetically kindergarten, semi-illiterate state that we all speak like Snoop Dogg and his "homies", or write in SMS-type semi-English!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(That wasn't racist; I just believe they're dreadful good role models in terms of proper speech etc, not to mention morals!!!! And that SMS-es are teaching people how to spell incorrectly.)

HSC English is generally hated for how it doesn't teach you anything that you'll actually need for "the real world"; yes, we can write an essay! Yes, we can deconstruct a wide variety of texts to indicate similes, metaphors, bildungsroman, allusions, etc!!
But DO WE REALLY NEED THAT?!?!?!?!
(I can argue both sides here).

The problem is, that I just finished arguing, for the sake of it, that theoretically, 3+2 COULD equal six, and made a whole load of people rather confused.

THAT is the problem with English!!
You can say whatever you like, and if you argued well enough, you could convince people that we all really have green skin with pink and orange blotches, and that we simply called it (skincolour), brown, etc.

We DON'T need to know about the infinite number of possible interpretations of Harwood and that quite a few come under the "psychoanalytic" or "universal themes" category.

We DON'T need to know about journeys and how they are an integral part of out being!! We CERTAINLY DON'T need to know their different forms!!

We should simply learn the skills that we will require throughout our lives.
(Like, the afore mentioned spelling and grammar).

If we want to do analyses etc, we should simply elect a separate course, under "Analytical Studies," or something like that.

It's not English!
It has to do with words and paragraphs, yes, but don't Biology, Commerce/Economics, History, Geography, and even Physics and Mathematics?

 

[Aplus]

English enables the student to appreciate, understand and demonstrate the the culture and context of the society they live in, and in turn, make them better thinkers, creating better ideas for the world, and making better individuals, which in turn makes a better society. It educates students to think critically and to form their own opinions. It encourages students to form their own ideas, and not just believe everything that they hear and see. This also creates individuality and a feeling of true self importance in today's massive society where people everywhere are conforming to certain values and beliefs without even questioning them or examining how they apply to their lives. Therefore, the study of English is greatly important for the improvement of our society and the individuals who influence it.

 

[miegoreng]

English enables the student to appreciate, understand and demonstrate the the culture and context of the society they live in, and in turn, make them better thinkers, creating better ideas for the world, and making better individuals, which in turn makes a better society.

Better ideas for the world!!?!?? Maths helps with engineering and that is so much a part of the world. We'd be far behind without Math rather than English which hasn't made the world a better place. No subject should be compulsory because we all do different things in life.

It educates students to think critically and to form their own opinions. It encourages students to form their own ideas, and not just believe everything that they hear and see. This also creates individuality and a feeling of true self importance in today's massive society where people everywhere are conforming to certain values and beliefs without even questioning them or examining how they apply to their lives. Therefore, the study of English is greatly important for the improvement of our society and the individuals who influence it.

Todays' massive society is far more questioning and open than you know and English did not help society question things. I would get a feeling of true importance by knowing I helped bring down Enlgish as being compulsory.

If English becomes not compulsory, I'm confident it would do nothing at all or perhaps even benefit society. This is because we can choose an extra subject that we enjoy and that will actually be used by us in the future and therefore make our society better.

English should make up a new module called 'The Importance of Free Will'. Then finally the few deluded people will realise it is not important to ALL the people doing the HSC.

 

[Aplus]

English should make up a new module called 'The Importance of Free Will'. Then finally the few deluded people will realise it is not important to ALL the people doing the HSC.

I never said it was important to ALL people.

 

[Apey MatrixElf]

I think that we shouldn't call what we do "English"; it manipulates the English language, sure, but other than that, it doesn't really have anything much to do with English itself ("English" being the skills we develop in communication etc, dealing with grammar, spelling, and letter structures, etc).

Essays MAY be a method of communication, but really! We don't need "Journeys", for one thing.

It may each us how to analyse, interpret, question, and respond - which is great - but it still isn't "English". We should take Philosophy/Sociology/whatever we like to do this instead, because PLEASE!!!!! don't tell me it's English.

I stand by my "Analytical Studies".

 

[hurikai]

Better ideas for the world!!?!?? Maths helps with engineering and that is so much a part of the world. We'd be far behind without Math rather than English which hasn't made the world a better place. No subject should be compulsory because we all do different things in life.

You don't get it. *Intelligence* is something that is not associated with your ability to perform mechanical mathematical operations. An appreciation of culture, art, literature is what Aplus refers to, and these are the things that make us succeed as *human beings*.

You're making a different argument on material grounds. Yes, on purely economic grounds science, maths, so on are highly important. But our ability to think about issues relating to our existence and to derive meaning from everyday experiences is what makes us humans and not robots. A society founded purely on materialism is empty.

Of course, I don't think English should be compulsory in yr 11/12, but this is on the grounds that people should be able to choose what they do in life and what they are examined on. Also, English may not be the most direct route to the above - generally I don't like the structure of the HSC. I think English itself though, like philosophy, is a worthy pursuit, but it shouldn't be forced on the masses who aren't willing to learn.

 

[hurikai]

I think that we shouldn't call what we do "English"; it manipulates the English language, sure, but other than that, it doesn't really have anything much to do with English itself ("English" being the skills we develop in communication etc, dealing with grammar, spelling, and letter structures, etc).

Essays MAY be a method of communication, but really! We don't need "Journeys", for one thing.

It may each us how to analyse, interpret, question, and respond - which is great - but it still isn't "English". We should take Philosophy/Sociology/whatever we like to do this instead, because PLEASE!!!!! don't tell me it's English.

I stand by my "Analytical Studies".

It's a study of the English language and how it is manipulated to create meaning. That is English.

Although YESYESYES I agree that the HSC english course isn't that great and philosophy would probably be more of a direct approach.

I think the whole "Journeys" thing is just watering down the course to appeal to those who aren't as good at english btw.

 

[Aplus]

You don't get it. *Intelligence* is something that is not associated with your ability to perform mechanical mathematical operations. An appreciation of culture, art, literature is what Aplus refers to, and these are the things that make us succeed as *human beings*.

You're making a different argument on material grounds. Yes, on purely economic grounds science, maths, so on are highly important. But our ability to think about issues relating to our existence and to derive meaning from everyday experiences is what makes us humans and not robots. A society founded purely on materialism is empty.

Of course, I don't think English should be compulsory in yr 11/12, but this is on the grounds that people should be able to choose what they do in life and what they are examined on. Also, English may not be the most direct route to the above - generally I don't like the structure of the HSC. I think English itself though, like philosophy, is a worthy pursuit, but it shouldn't be forced on the masses who aren't willing to learn.

Yes, there is a difference between the advancement of the spiritual nature of humanity and the material demand of the society.

 

[Apey MatrixElf]

(Nods to Hurikai) that's what i tried to say, but i was tired, so...
And it may be manipulated to create meaning, which EVERY subject does, but I think they've gone a bit too far; they've veered off the whole "what is English?" and into an oncoming petrol tanker.

I think they have Journeys for that too, but it's just so unnecessary!

Ach.

 

[miegoreng]

I never said it was important to ALL people.

EXACTLY! That's why it shouldn't be compulsory!!!!

 

[rosypink]

stuff english - useless topics were learning...too much essays not even worth doing =[

atm i vote no - stupid english should not be compulsory :burn:

 

[Shoubadoo]

English sucks. It should only be compulsary for people who did badly in the SC.

The majority of people who vote english to be compulsary are women.

Says the guy who does 3unit English
I don't know if that's been stated already, thought I'd put it out there :]