• Ajen@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    8 days ago

    The article is about a course that’s required for all freshmen, not just lit majors. Here’s the first sentence of the article:

    Nicholas Dames has taught Literature Humanities, Columbia University’s required great-books course, since 1998.

    • Treczoks@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      8 days ago

      It still applies. If you cannot X, but X is required, don’t do it.

      If you cannot read books, higher education is probably not your thing.

      • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        8 days ago

        I didn’t say their point wasn’t valid, I just thought their reading comprehension was ironic.

    • SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      8 days ago

      I can corroborate that it gets crazy even in courses expecting high literacy. I had the painful experience of teaching a 3rd year course in communication studies that was part of the media production stream. It required writing preproduction documentation and a script. There were a lot of questionable attempts but there’s always a range of interest and skill, right? One student, and let me remind you this is third year at a university, I called into office hours. I’m a fan of poetry, so I just had to be sure that she wasn’t cleverly lampooning Gertrude Stein in some ironic way. Sadly, no, she just had no fucking clue how to write ANYTHING coherent. Amazing.