Is it just me, or is education going downhill? What I used to have to do in 3rd grade is now acceptable in 6th or 7th grade. When I went to kindergarten, I already wrote in cursive (taught in 3rd grade in my day....I don't know when it's taught now). Then again, my grade school didn't teach languages though so many people spoke French in my area (northeast coast).

Thankfully enough, I love learning more than anything else and am trying to learn French and German all at once. Unfortunately, I know more Korean than anything else without even trying.

What I see happening a lot (my best friend is an elementary school teacher) is that children who aren't really at the level to pass the grade are being passed anyway. Supposedly failing a year is bad for a child's self-confidence, I guess. I don't see how it's supposed to help by passing a child who isn't yet ready though - it just creates more problems, for that child as well as for the others who will be slowed down the next year because of that child.

I've not even heard of most of em *LOL*

Ones i've read (or seen movie)

The Silmarillion ~ if this one is the SciFi type novel, then i have read it, cant remember it much tho
Moby Dick
Emma
Great Expectations
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dune
Gulliver's Travels
The Three Musketeers
The InfernoOliver Twist
A Clockwork Orange
Robinson Crusoe
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest~ A must read for school
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Watership Down ~ Absolutley LOVE this book
Beowulf
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The War of the Worlds

It is bad to not keep a child back who isn't ready. Just as it is not passing someone ahead who is ready. When I was young, I was reading trigonometry books at the library, but had to say in addition/subtraction classes with my fellow classmates. By the time I was in 9th grade, I was doing my older brother's drafting homework and creating battleship designs for the Navy. Being held back gives people such as me less confidence because we're denied the ability to do what we dream of. Unfortunately, I'm incredibly smart and have no way of directing that intelligence since I'm so used to being forced behind others.

Then I have the ability to act stupid and say "RELEASE THE KRACKEN!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh yeah, and to make matters even worse, my baby brother (11 years difference) got the job I applied for even though I already had the security clearance and the experience.

the ones I have read....

Catch-22 - read it in my teen years, thought it was ok
The Silmarillion
Don Quixote
The Odyssey
Moby Dick
Emma
The Canterbury Tales
Great Expectations
Atlas Shrugged
Dracula
Frankenstein
Brave New World
American Gods - have read ALL his stuff, really enjoy it
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dune - enjoyed it but got lost a few times reading the series, enjoyed it though
The Inferno
A Clockwork Orange
Robinson Crusoer
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Anansi Boys - thought it was great, read it last month
The God of Small Things
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cryptonomicon
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Les Misérables
The Amber Spyglass - read the whole series just recently, really enjoyed them
Watership Down
The Aeneid
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - a must read in my opinion!
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The War of the Worlds

the ones I didnt comment on I read YEARS ago

I'm curious. Mark the ones you have read. Which did you love? What's not worth the paper it's written on IYHO?

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Catch-22
The Silmarillion
Don Quixote
The Odyssey
The Brothers Karamazov
Ulysses
War and Peace
Madame Bovary
A Tale of Two Cities
Jane Eyre
The Name of the Rose
Moby Dick
Emma
The Iliad
Vanity Fair
Love in the Time of Cholera
The Blind Assassin
Pride and Prejudice
The Historian: A Novel
The Canterbury Tales
The Kite Runner
Great Expectations
Life of Pi
The Time Traveler's Wife
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Atlas Shrugged
Foucault's Pendulum
Dracula
The Grapes of Wrath
Frankenstein
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Mrs. Dalloway
Sense and Sensibility
Middlemarch
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Sound and The Fury
Memoirs of a Geisha
Brave New World
Quicksilver
American Gods
Middlesex
The Poisonwood Bible
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dune
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Satanic Verses
Mansfield Park
Gulliver's Travels
The Three Musketeers
The Inferno
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Fountainhead
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
To the Lighthouse
A Clockwork Orange
Robinson Crusoe
Persuasion
The Scarlet Letter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Once and Future King
Anansi Boys
Atonement
The God of Small Things
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cryptonomicon
Dubliners
Oryx and Crake
Angela's Ashes
Beloved
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
In Cold Blood
Lady Chatterley's Lover
A Confederacy of Dunces
Les Misérables
The Amber Spyglass
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Watership Down
Beowulf
The Aeneid
A Farewell to Arms
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
Sons and Lovers
Possession
The Book Thief
The History of Tom Jones
The Road
Tender is the Night
The War of the Worlds[/QUOTE]

I've read...
 

A Clockwork Orange (the full version)

that's it.

most of these were read in school. can't think of one i didn't like although some were harder to read - well, not so much read but comprehend - than others

Wuthering Heights
Catch-22
Don Quixote
The Odyssey
Ulysses
A Tale of Two Cities
Jane Eyre
Moby Dick
The Iliad
Pride and Prejudice
The Canterbury Tales
Great Expectations
Dracula
The Grapes of Wrath
Frankenstein
Sense and Sensibility
The Poisonwood Bible
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Satanic Verses
Gulliver's Travels
The Inferno
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
A Clockwork Orange
Robinson Crusoe
The Scarlet Letter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Watership Down
Beowulf
Treasure Island
David Copperfield

most of the others i have read in school. i am huge reader. tons of books on my bed bookcase

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Catch-22
The Silmarillion
Don Quixote
The Odyssey
The Brothers Karamazov
Ulysses
War and Peace
Madame Bovary
A Tale of Two Cities
Jane Eyre
The Name of the Rose
Moby Dick
Emma
The Iliad
Vanity Fair
Love in the Time of Cholera
The Blind Assassin
Pride and Prejudice
The Historian: A Novel
The Canterbury Tales
The Kite Runner
Great Expectations
Life of Pi
The Time Traveler's Wife read
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Atlas Shrugged
Foucault's Pendulum
Dracula[/B] loved it
The Grapes of Wrath
Frankenstein
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Mrs. Dalloway
Sense and Sensibility
Middlemarch
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Sound and The Fury
Memoirs of a Geisha Loved it
Brave New World
Quicksilver
American Gods
Middlesex
The Poisonwood Bible read it but didnt enjoy it
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West bleck
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dune
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Satanic Verses
Mansfield Park
Gulliver's Travels
The Three Musketeers
The Inferno
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Fountainhead
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
To the Lighthouse
A Clockwork Orange
Robinson Crusoe
Persuasion
The Scarlet Letter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Once and Future King
Anansi Boys hated it
Atonement reading now
The God of Small Things
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cryptonomicon
Dubliners
Oryx and Crake
Angela's Ashes hated it
Beloved
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
In Cold Blood
Lady Chatterley's Lover
A Confederacy of Dunces
Les Misérables
The Amber Spyglass
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Watership Down
Beowulf
The Aeneid
A Farewell to Arms
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
Sons and Lovers
Possession
The Book Thief
The History of Tom Jones
The Road
Tender is the Night
The War of the Worlds[/QUOTE]

forgot about what a chore this one was. went to reread it recently to see if it was a maturity thing. yawn and double yawn.

I almost put A Clockwork Orange on my read list, but I didn't really read it as such - I saw (& somewhat enjoyed) the movie, & before I was old enough to see the movie someone I knew had a book with stills & captions from the movie...I know, doesn't count as reading the book. But about 20 years ago, an article in Rolling Stone revealed that the UK version of the book contained a final chapter or epilogue that was not included in the US version, and RS then printed the missing chapter. I did read that, & it gives a whole different spin to the story that I knew from the movie.

Wuthering Heights - Not too bad
The Odyssey- Read it a long time ago...wasn't too bad
Ulysses- Blah
The Iliad- Not my favorite
Pride and Prejudice- Good book
The Canterbury Tales- EWWWWWWW
Great Expectations- Also, not too bad
Dracula- Love vampires...this one started off kinda slow but it was ok
Frankenstein- Not too bad
The Count of Monte Cristo- Great movie
The Sound and The Fury- If this is the one I am thinking of, I was lost through most of it
Memoirs of a Geisha- Good movie
The Three Musketeers- Good movie
Tess of the D'Urbervilles- Run away screaming
Beowulf- I liked this one

Also recommend To Kill a Mockingbird, Where the Red Fern Grows, Summer of the Monkeys, White Fang, Black Beauty, Firestarter, and Sole Survivor

Atlas,

Yes'm, and it remains so. It broke new ground in SF in ethics and morality.

Now a lot of the others on the list I own, but have never read entirely.