Time to vent about english texts and uniforms! (1 Viewer)

[lorikeet]

Hello!
This is for my English Extension 2 critical piece research.
Don't bother answering once term 2 2008 has started.
Please answer all questions (it's really short) and don't skimp on details! Try to avoid one or two word answers

(If you don't want other people to see your answers for some reason, send me them in a personal message)

Age:
Sex:
Name of School, University, or your occupation:
Suburb:

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
(strongly like, like, indifferent, dislike, strongly dislike)
Why?


2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school?

3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
-Did you finish reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
-DId you enjoy reading them (All, most, a few, none)?

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year?

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)?

6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
-Did you enjoy watching them (All, most, none, a few)
-Do you prefer more recent (1980 onwards) films?


THANKYOU ALL!!

 

[SiN3m]

Age: 16
Sex: female
Name of School, University, or your occupation: Strathfield girls' high
Suburb:

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
dislike
Why? the skirt and pants are not the least bit flattering!


2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school? pretty good...a little predantic about uniform but i think the control is at a good level

3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
-Did you finish reading them (All, most, a few, none)? I finished the books from 7-9 but to this day i have never finished an Austin book that we have studied (which i will change this year). i read about 3 quarters of the books that i hated but never end up finishing them, rather wait for the analysis in class and the movie
-DId you enjoy reading them (All, most, a few, none)? I usualy don't enjoy prescribed texts unless they are poetry or Shakespeare...i'm picky with novels so i think that has an impact

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year? 20 to 25 i think

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)?
usually. however i will try other genres if the blurb interests me. apart from that i ave 3 genres that i follow.

6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
-Did you enjoy watching them (All, most, none, a few)
-Do you prefer more recent (1980 onwards) films?
i've liked most of the movies however overanalysing some movies takes out the joy of watching them.

 

[Cerry]

Age: 17
Sex: Female
Name of School, University, or your occupation: Presbyterian Ladies College
Suburb: Armidale

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
(strongly like, like, indifferent, dislike, strongly dislike) strongly dislike
Why? It's fugly. In winter, we wear black shoes, bottle green socks, green tarten skirts, which are knee length at the shortest, white shirt, bottle green tie (in 11 and 12, you get to upgrade to a green tie with blue stripes and red lions), green jumper (red for 11 and 12) and a green blazer. The seniors look like Christmas trees. And the wind goes STRAIGHT through/up our skirts.
In summer, we wear green tarten dresses, which have drop waists, and basically look like tarten potato sacks with sleeves and buttons. And outside school, we have to wear our blazers (if it's not too hot) and these retarded straw hats, with green fabric bands on them.


2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school? Even at a public school, where they were pretty lax, I wore my uniform, did my work and didn't create too much chaos, so the more strict policies about uniform and behaviour don't bother me too much. Although, I gotta say, potentially ending up on Saturday morning detention for being hat/blazer-less in public, eating or drinking in public while in uniform unless seated in a restaurant or cafe, or chewing gum while in uniform is pretty sucky. Among other things.

3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
-Did you finish reading them (All, most, a few, none)? The only book I haven't finished reading was Persuasion, by Jane Austen. But we were doing a film study, and it was just recommended reading.
-Did you enjoy reading them (All, most, a few, none)? We do an average of 4 books a year. I'm starting year 12. There have been 3 books that I would have chosen to read outside school. There was one other I didn't mind. There are a lot I suspect I wouldn't have minded, if I hadn't done them for school/had a different English teacher. So basically, I don't like set texts. I have a particular hate for Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Especially Jane Austen.

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year?
Non-fiction, I'd say about 5, all the way through, in a good year. But I'll read a chapter or two of heaps for assessments and stuff.
I'd say I read somewhere in the vicinity of 50-100 fiction books a year, assuming you count re-reading books for the second, or thousandth time. I love reading.

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)? I read a the most fantasy (I love witches, fairies, dragons, talking animals and all that jazz), but I read lots of other stuff, too.

6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
-Did you enjoy watching them (All, most, none, a few) We often have to watch movies of books that we've read. I tend to find if I don't like the book, I don't like the movie.
I hate doing all the stuff about symbolism and film techniques, but I can think of 4 movies we've watched that I disliked. 3 of them were based on Shakespeares (and one had Leonardo di Caprio in it, too), the other was The Secret Garden, which I didn't like as a book. I actually still love 10 Things I Hate About You and Shrek, even though we watched both of them as film studies.
-Do you prefer more recent (1980 onwards) films? The only pre 1980 films we've watched that I disliked were things that I disliked in their original book form as well, so I can't really make a fair judgment on that.

 

[Forbidden.]

Age: 18
Sex: Male ... also I want it
Name of School, University, or your occupation: Model Farms High School
Suburb:

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
(strongly like, like, indifferent, dislike, strongly dislike)
Why?
The choice of clothing which is restricted to uniform is most of the time beyond my control, there is little I can do and there is little effect on complaining.


2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school?

Fair, at times excessive, to my standards. But it often corresponds to the overall behaviour of the students at my school.
3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
-Did you finish reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
All, in order to avoid falling behind. A book I have started reading must be finished unless the content is worthless.
-DId you enjoy reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
A few, it seems only a few books along the line of 'Stormbreaker' and 'Artemis Fowl' seems to interest me as both contain certain elements of action that hold my attention.

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year?

Almost none because I'm aliterate, at a rate of 0.1% per year to be precise, in other words I only read books prescribed at school.

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)? Action, it seems this particular genre is most successful at keeping me interested.

6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
-Did you enjoy watching them (All, most, none, a few) Most, because I enjoy visual literature compared to other forms of literature of the same rating or quality.
-Do you prefer more recent (1980 onwards) films? Some of the time, if the quality of the older film is better than many recent ones, then it is worth watching. However the direction techniques are most of the time better than older films.


THANKME !!

 

[me121]

Age: 17
Sex: Male
Name of School, University, or your occupation: Blakehurst High School
Suburb:

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
(strongly like, like, indifferent, dislike, strongly dislike)
Why?
Well, I don't like being forced to wear it. We should be able to wear whatever we want, so long as it complies with OHS regulations. Although on the other hand, having a school uniform means that there is one less decision to make when rushing to get to school.


2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school?
The check was only done during roll call, so you could just take of the jumper or whatever for roll call, then wear it the rest of the day with no questions asked. At the end of the day, the teachers who check uniform have been assigned that task from other teachers higher up the chain of command. They are just doing what they have been told to do.

3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
-Did you finish reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
I read the poems, short stories & films. But the other text, the play I did not read. The stupid thing is that you can succeed without reading the text. I don't have an opinion about this. However you may be good at composing text, rather than reflecting on literature, and unfortunately the bulk of the exam is reflecting on literature which requires you to know the text.

-Did you enjoy reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
None. Of the ones that I read, I hated them. They were outdated, uninteresting, boring. However once the teacher explained parts of the text, I realised the value of the text. Once I was tort English, I learned to appreciate the texts.

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year?
Fiction: 1
Non-Fiction: 50

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)?
No, not really.

6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
-Did you enjoy watching them (All, most, none, a few)
They were not enjoyable, nor did I feel like it was relevant to English studies.

-Do you prefer more recent (1980 onwards) films?
Definentley.

 

[Kujah]

Age: 17
Sex: Male
Name of School, University, or your occupation: Bossley Park High School
Suburb: Bossley Park

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
(strongly like, like, indifferent, dislike, strongly dislike)
Why?

Indifferent. Although the uniform looks crap, there is basically nothing we as students can do about it.


2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school?

Pretty tight. There'd be routine and surprise uniform checks during roll calls and classes on school uniform. Shirts, blouses, shoes, socks, jewelery etc would be checked. Teachers would also constantly tell male students to tuck their shirts in.

3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
-Did you finish reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
-DId you enjoy reading them (All, most, a few, none)?

Mostly they were enjoyable. The novels, poems and films were fine, but some of them were so repetitive and plain boring (like Things Fall Apart and My Place.) I did enjoy the prose texts over Shakespeare poems due to the language, but both were still good. I finished reading most of my texts, and I thoroughly enjoyed most of them as well.

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year?

Around 25-30 in total.

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)?

No. Different genres are pretty cool and sticking to one can be repetitive and tedious at times.


6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
-Did you enjoy watching them (All, most, none, a few)
-Do you prefer more recent (1980 onwards) films?

Most of the films I watched were interesting. These included A Perfect Murder, Dial M for Murder, Finding Neverland, Romeo and Juliet, Saving Private Ryan and Philadelphia. Though, I did tend to like the more recent films.

 

[emobopeep]

Age: 17
Sex: Female
Name of School, University, or your occupation: Merewether High School
Suburb: Broadmeadow, NSW

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
(strongly like, like, indifferent, dislike, strongly dislike)
Why?
I really like wearing a uniform, even if most other people don't xD I think it's quite flattering and easy to wear (since I don't have to plan outfits for every day). The sports uniform, however, is hideous.

2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school?
It's kind of lax, I guess. It's annoying, though, that some people flaunt the uniform rules completely and don't get into trouble because they're friendly with teachers. I suppose it's a good thing that in winter we're generally allowed to wear coats and jumpers outside of the uniform requirements without getting detention, but some people take it way too far.

3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
-Did you finish reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
I've finished them all.

-Did you enjoy reading them (All, most, a few, none)?
Most, yes. I'm not a fan of Shakespeare in general, though I enjoyed Julius Ceasar. I'd say that apart from the three other Shakespeare plays I have studied, I've enjoyed (or tolerated) every text.

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year?
30-40

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)?
I guess so. I like classic literature, prose and dark literature.

6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
-Did you enjoy watching them (All, most, none, a few)
A few, I didn't enjoy watching most films in English.

-Do you prefer more recent (1980 onwards) films?
Yes

 

[nrs1990]

Age: 17
Sex: Female
Name of School, University, or your occupation: Hurlstone Agricultural High School
Suburb: The school's is Glenfield.

1. When you were (or are) at high school, how did you feel about your uniform?
I'm currently in year 12, and I don't like my school's uniform.
Why?
The girls don't get pants in winter, we have to wear skirts, and it's cold. There are no pockets in the skirt, which is annoying, as well. Also, at the moment, the school is planning to make the blazer compulsory (though, thank god, it won't apply to me, because I'll have graduated). And then there are the insane things, like trying to mandate the colour of girl's hair ties. Pretty much, my school wants to dress us in such a way as to pretend that we're private, when we're really a public school.

2. How did/do you feel about the level of control implemented at your school?
They enforce the major parts of the uniform, but rarely bother to comment on smaller things, such as earrings, etc.

3. At School, how did/do you feel about the prescribed English texts you've been assigned (not just in year 12, but collectively)?
I rarely enjoy English texts, though I'm okay with my set for year 12 - and they don't have that much to chose from, anyway.
The problem is that they chose texts that they like, which I guess is natural, but often it means that we aren't into what they're giving us.

4. How many non school, fiction books do you estimate you would read in a year?
I couldn't estimate. A lot. I really enjoy reading.

5. Do you stick predominately to a particular genre (example fantasy)?
I read a lot of fantasy, that's the main genre I'm into, but I happily read other fiction. Mostly young adult, because I'm too scared to make the jump into adult novels. There are too many.

6. How did you feel about the films watched in English (Excluding documentaries)
Normally the films are fairly enjoyable. I prefer modern ones.