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« on: September 08, 2004, 07:40:07 PM »
My brother-in-law is fifteen and has just started high school. His English teacher is, in his words, a "hippie", meaning she emphasizes free thinking and interpretation rather than facts and basic information. He hates the class. The last time he went, all the students spent ten minutes contemplating a raisin and then writing their feelings about it. How does this help with English? He feels like he isn't learning anything and just writes the crap she wants to hear. He prefers the classes where he actually learns facts that he can apply and build on.
I've had teachers that went both ways, either emphasizing facts or interpretation. The ones who emphasized facts first and interpretation second were almost always the better teachers because they gave us a basis for our interpretation.