Skool Sux!
I’ve been informed by the A.D.D. generation that essay-length blogging is a no-go. Too long. Too hard to quickly consume.
I hated reading when I was in my teens, but, now I love it. An almost infinite wealth of information waiting for me, and I can choose the subject based on my interest and liking. But, after years of being forced to read things that were not interesting to me, reading was painful instead of pleasurable. A requirement instead of a recreation. I look back on that in sadness.
Unfortunately, thanks largely to our culture, school, and anything that feels like it, becomes boring for most people. At a recent lunch I was at with a bunch of kids (17-20ish people), I thought it would be super fun to interject some great history stuff I had learned into our conversation to help prove a point that was going around. As soon as I started rattling off the interesting facts (about the history of the oil and beer industries in America, and how the big corporations squashed the little guys)…
…yawns. Three of ‘em. All around the table. Glazed eyes. Suddenly, they were in a lecture, not just having fun chatting. Granted, my un-dynamic vocal delivery probably didn’t help, but, it was pretty obvious what was going on.
I wish school/reading/learning was more fun for America. I’ll have to address why in another blog though, ’cause this one’s already waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.
Could you please just post a youtube.com video of this post? Reading is hard and boring.
[kidding, of course]
Comment by Timmy — September 13, 2007 @ 9:18 am
i’m pretty sure that’s why very very very few people read my blog. say what you need to say man. it’s the a.d.d. kids’ loss
Comment by matt — September 14, 2007 @ 1:37 am
i’ll listen to you talk about the history of the oil and beer industry……
Comment by jess. — September 18, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
Imagine teaching a group of 7th graders.
Imagine doing it ALL DAY LONG.
Imagine they had to read stuff and junk.
And learn.
Comment by steven wesley — October 1, 2007 @ 6:39 am
Thank God for essay-length blogs. Good writing shouldn’t be any longer that it has to be, I suppose, but most topics of substance require some length in order to adequately address. As an essay-length blogger myself, I suppose that I have a personal investment in the matter which renders me non-objective. But does anyone really believe that our nation has benefitted from the affectedly truncated aphorisms which constitute, say, contemporary political expression? As Bill Mallonee once wrote and sang, “i hear that this is an election year / and i suppose it’s true / big world gonna get / what little it has coming to her.”
Comment by Sam Sundquist — October 13, 2007 @ 11:59 am