Do grades build you up, or do they break you down?
After Sweden got a new government in 2006, a new reform has caught media’s eye – the educational reform. The Centre-Right Alliance wants to bring grades into Primary school, since it is considered late to be given the first grades in 8th grade, as it is in Sweden today. Many debates are going on about how it is important to catch the problem in an early stage. However, is it really necessary to shorten our children’s childhood more than already is done?
Today’s society is forcing our children to grow up much earlier than before, even school is now becoming a more grown-up environment. By presenting grades in Primary school, our children are being forced to become something they are not – grownups. If we look to ourselves, we see how grades and massive workload affects us in a negative way – we constantly have to work hard to achieve a pass and therefore, we neglect our personal life. Do we really want our children to experience this pressure at such early age?
Another thing about giving grades to ten-year-olds is how they not always understand what these grades stand for. While one child might understand that a grade shows his/her performances, another child in the same class might understand these grades, as grades on his/her individual – Am I a bad person or is my English bad? This might let our society come to a stage where we stamp our children as failures.
However, many people argue that by giving grades this early helps us catch the problem in an early stage. This might be right, but even if we catch the problem early, is it really certain that we can fix the problem? Does not learning come with maturing? Another thing people argue for is how a grade stimulates the children to pine for a higher grade. This is something that is not proved – yes, it is shown that a motivated child might achieve a higher grade, but the fact that a grade is motivating is not proved.
To introduce grades in Primary school is a discussed subject – some people think it might be efficient since the problem is caught in an early stage. Also, how a grade might work as a motivation for getting a higher grade is seen as a plus. But, can we help counteract the problem even if it is discovered early? And does a grade motivate all children? Others think we should let our children be children. By giving grades at such early age, we are forcing our children into become more grown-up then they really are. Do we want our children to have the same pressure on them as we as grown-ups have? – probably not. Another thing that might be an affect by this early grading is how children might misunderstand them and think the grades are grades on their individual, not their performance. So let the children be children as long as possible, and let us grown-ups be grown-ups.
måndag 15 mars 2010
onsdag 3 mars 2010
Assignment 5
Paraphrasing and Quotation
1.
In Peter Barry’s article “Tackling Textuality - With Theory” (The use of English Volume 52, Number 1, autumn 2000), he explains how we usually interpret a text while reading it, by giving us a checklist. In this list, containing ten different points, one can read how we, without using theory, use so-called “close-reading”. By “close-reading” Barry means that we, by looking at different aspects in the text, merely focus within the text, when we also should look on the text’s connections outwards.
To illustrate how to not only focus on the text within, but also how it is connected to the surrounding, Barry uses Shakespeare’s sonnet 73. Barry gives examples of how words in the sonnet also work as clues and how they can give the reader a greater understanding for the whole context. One example he brings to the table is how the word “choirs” can have different meaning for different people. According to Barry, this word to some might mean the songs sung by birds, others might think of the historical background of this word instead; being deserted buildings. Due to the fact that just one word can give several meanings to a text, Barry urges us to also look outwards from the text.
Barry continues to emphasize the importance of literary theory by showing us four text principles. He means that these show us how a text is in relation to the world. As an example, Barry mentions the question “what are the signs in this poem that it is written by a man rather than a woman?” He continues by explaining how we by just looking at words recognize if the character in the text is of male or female gender – this principle he calls “literature and gender”. His three other principles are “literature and history” which was mentioned earlier by the example of the word “choirs”, “literature and language” – patterns in a text that are logical and guessed, and “literature and psychoanalysis” – how we as readers use different mental processes while reading.
2.
In the text, I think there are some phrases and words that should be quoted directly, since many of them are hard to rephrase because they already are perfectly phrased. If we take the check-list as an example, these are short and consist, which makes it no point in rephrasing them. They give the amount of information that is needed without being too long.
Barry also uses words as “close-reading”, “narrativist” and “deconstruction” these are words containing certain meanings, which are hard to exchange. If a phrase or word is “concise and striking”, what is the point in changing it?
3.
Peter Barry’s article was very interesting to me. It shows how easy it is to forget about our surrounding influence on a text, and how easy it is only to focus on what is within. After reading the text several times, I felt that Barry’s examples from the poems and the sonnet gave me a greater knowledge of how just a little word or phase can have so many different meanings. To be honest, the text seemed to me very overpowering in the beginning, being so long, with many different aspects. However, after reading it the second and third time it became much clearer and interesting.
As for the structure and the flow in the text, I think it is good. It starts by giving some background and a short presentation of the following text. This gave me as a reader an understanding for what the text was about. Although the text contains many long and hard sentences and words, I felt that these were necessary to the whole context. And, by reading them piece by piece, I understood them. Barry did not only use long and complex sentences and words, he also brought many short and concise phrases and principles which were easy to understand e.g. his ten points showing how we as readers concentrate on what’s within a text. To sum everything up, I think Barry’s article is intriguing and easy to follow.
1.
In Peter Barry’s article “Tackling Textuality - With Theory” (The use of English Volume 52, Number 1, autumn 2000), he explains how we usually interpret a text while reading it, by giving us a checklist. In this list, containing ten different points, one can read how we, without using theory, use so-called “close-reading”. By “close-reading” Barry means that we, by looking at different aspects in the text, merely focus within the text, when we also should look on the text’s connections outwards.
To illustrate how to not only focus on the text within, but also how it is connected to the surrounding, Barry uses Shakespeare’s sonnet 73. Barry gives examples of how words in the sonnet also work as clues and how they can give the reader a greater understanding for the whole context. One example he brings to the table is how the word “choirs” can have different meaning for different people. According to Barry, this word to some might mean the songs sung by birds, others might think of the historical background of this word instead; being deserted buildings. Due to the fact that just one word can give several meanings to a text, Barry urges us to also look outwards from the text.
Barry continues to emphasize the importance of literary theory by showing us four text principles. He means that these show us how a text is in relation to the world. As an example, Barry mentions the question “what are the signs in this poem that it is written by a man rather than a woman?” He continues by explaining how we by just looking at words recognize if the character in the text is of male or female gender – this principle he calls “literature and gender”. His three other principles are “literature and history” which was mentioned earlier by the example of the word “choirs”, “literature and language” – patterns in a text that are logical and guessed, and “literature and psychoanalysis” – how we as readers use different mental processes while reading.
2.
In the text, I think there are some phrases and words that should be quoted directly, since many of them are hard to rephrase because they already are perfectly phrased. If we take the check-list as an example, these are short and consist, which makes it no point in rephrasing them. They give the amount of information that is needed without being too long.
Barry also uses words as “close-reading”, “narrativist” and “deconstruction” these are words containing certain meanings, which are hard to exchange. If a phrase or word is “concise and striking”, what is the point in changing it?
3.
Peter Barry’s article was very interesting to me. It shows how easy it is to forget about our surrounding influence on a text, and how easy it is only to focus on what is within. After reading the text several times, I felt that Barry’s examples from the poems and the sonnet gave me a greater knowledge of how just a little word or phase can have so many different meanings. To be honest, the text seemed to me very overpowering in the beginning, being so long, with many different aspects. However, after reading it the second and third time it became much clearer and interesting.
As for the structure and the flow in the text, I think it is good. It starts by giving some background and a short presentation of the following text. This gave me as a reader an understanding for what the text was about. Although the text contains many long and hard sentences and words, I felt that these were necessary to the whole context. And, by reading them piece by piece, I understood them. Barry did not only use long and complex sentences and words, he also brought many short and concise phrases and principles which were easy to understand e.g. his ten points showing how we as readers concentrate on what’s within a text. To sum everything up, I think Barry’s article is intriguing and easy to follow.
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