An excellent post, but I'd like to challenge a small point. You say that "If you hanker after any sort of penmanship, skip school and go to the library", presumably meaning that reading good books will make you write better. I watch football on television from time to time, but simply watching doesn't make me any better. I have to actually go and practise to get better.
The same goes for writing. It needs practice. Blogging is a good way of practising. I don't disagree that reading good literature is a good idea, but leads only to knowledge and inspiration, not skill.
Thanks, Simon. Point acknowledged.
I'll take the humanities student get-out-clause and reinterpret my words after I've written them. When I say "skip school and go to the library", I really mean "skip school and do it more efficiently" - with writing that means, well, writing or blogging or other forms of practice (and reading as indirect practice). With understanding the world around you it means books (and Google).
Four years back when I was doing my A-level English, I thought it was pretty funny that they expected people to be able to write with a fair degree of proficiency even though they hadn't actually had any training or warning that they might have to do so.
At the time, I was trying to write for the web, and had to basically teach myself how to write - making all the usual mistakes in the process.
2006-05-17EDT22:37:59+00:00
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I'll take the humanities student get-out-clause and reinterpret my words after I've written them. When I say "skip school and go to the library", I really mean "skip school and do it more efficiently" - with writing that means, well, writing or blogging or other forms of practice (and reading as indirect practice). With understanding the world around you it means books (and Google).
Four years back when I was doing my A-level English, I thought it was pretty funny that they expected people to be able to write with a fair degree of proficiency even though they hadn't actually had any training or warning that they might have to do so.
At the time, I was trying to write for the web, and had to basically teach myself how to write - making all the usual mistakes in the process.
The basic grammar rules can be taught at school (although they often aren't). Good writing is artistic, and like any art, there's an element of inspiration, creativity and originality on top of basic proficiency. These qualities are really hard to teach in a traditional classroom setting.
There are a couple of other learning methods; mentoring by an acknowledged expert, and parodying good literature (e.g. write about Google in the style of Oscar Wilde).
2006-05-18EDT09:50:39+00:00
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There are a couple of other learning methods; mentoring by an acknowledged expert, and parodying good literature (e.g. write about Google in the style of Oscar Wilde).
