and yet, it was from english, the 'complete waste of time' that you learnt the concepts of utopia and that 'One man's Utopia is another man's Dystopia.' Students are being motivated to work because they don't want to fail their uni courses, they don't want to fail at life. This is one reason why people drop out of school. They can't cope with this country's education. They can't cope with the pressure, they can't cope with the thought of the HSC, the UAI, they can't cope with the prospect of failing. The HSC means too much to kids today. They say its not the end of the world, but to alot of people it IS. Education is tedious, harsh, annoying, because in the end everyone's only doing it so they can get a stable career, make money and support themselves. The importance of education is to experience the world. To experience life, to be able to appreciate the things around us. Engineering for example, can show the beauty of machines, it can show us what's inside that plastic case or what's under the hood in the car, down to every last screw or bolt. Maths and science, they allows us to see things for more than that which meets the eye. The atoms in iron, the laws of gravity, the way in which the universe works. English, self expression, thought process, communication, they all show us beautiful things in this world. Ok lets not call it english for a second, because that isn't really the right term for the things it teaches, e.g. they probably learn the same things in Japan, but in their own language. i.e they would have a sub called 'Japanese' where they learn JAP poetry and JAP literature, but its essentially the same thing. Here is a quote from a very well educated Chinese man with a very high level of thought:
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif] “If your will is not strong, if your thought does not oppose injustice, you will fritter away your life stuck in the commonplace, silently submitting to the bonds of emotion, forever cowering before mediocrities, never escaping the downward flow.”
To me, these are truly beautiful words of self expression. Without that level of thought process, it is impossible for one to be able to achieve this level of expression. That is what the subject of english is teaching us. You asked 'Who here enjoys english?' Well I do, even though I don't like advanced all that much, I DO enjoy extension. And yeah, we DO learn the thought process through the content in this subject. I, for one, certainly have learnt to think at a higher level. To see things from other perspectives. When I watch a film, I'm no longer simply guided along by the director's hand. I even notice things like lighting, camera angle etc. Should english be compulsory? Ok, no it shouldn't, I agree with you there. However, that STILL doesn't make it a waste of time. No subject is a waste of time, because each and every subject gives you a little more knowledge, lets you see the world a little differently, lets you express yourself in more ways, lets you see the world in a little bit more detail.
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