Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au> wrote:
I read The Lord of the Rings when I was in grade 6. I don't think that any teaching in regard to reading literature should be required in high school. Anyone who can't read LOTR by year 8 is probably a lost cause as far as serious reading is concerned.
Maybe, although people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds might be the exceptions if proper education were offered, but on the other hand that education would be best provided prior to year 8.
so is essay writing for anyone who studies the humanities/social sciences. (Even in the natural sciences, beyond a certain point one has to be able to write papers/theses/dissertations).
What portion of the population do a humanities course at university? I expect that it's a lot less than half the population and I don't think there's any good reason to force the entire population to pretend to learn about writing essays about literature for that.
It would mean less general education for much of the population and very early specialization in that case, i.e., different academic/non-academic streams at early secondary school. Whether that's desirable or not is a complex issue - as I remember, that's how it's essentially done in Germany for example.
I think there's an important role for serious school education intended to prepare people for rigorous academic study at university.
Unfortunately such serious education is incompatible with having every child complete year 12.
To which the usual reply is that year 12 isn't for everyone, or at least, academically serious year 12 isn't. It should be *available* to everyone who wants it, of course, but if there are people who want to go into a trade/apprenticeship/job training programme earlier than that, then why not?