Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts discussion

Book 2: School time

Started this today.
Tom is now attending school with Mr Stellig with a great deal of focus being Mr Stellig's teaching methods and focus on Latin. Tom does not like Latin and struggles to study it. We are repeatedly told how Tom's strengths are practical. Maggie, however, relishes an opportunity to learn.

I wondered about several things here:

Should education always be practical? Should we learn for learning's sake. In my own country, there was some discussion a few years ago about the usefulness of still teaching Shakespeare or replacing Shakespeare with modern, Afrocentric literature. Shakespeare could, for us, become as vague and distant as Latin.

Secondly, I was intrigued by Maggie. Although she is told that Euclid is hard and Latin impossible she gives it her best shot. Perhaps appreciating something that she does not have. Or appreciating any opportunity to prove that she is as good as Tom. She is devastated to be informed, once again, about the inferiority of women attempting to pursue an education.

My heart really ached for Maggie here. She's so enthusiastic about learning and so eager to be thought of as clever, then all her her dreams are shot down by someone she respects. And all because she's a girl. It made me think of how some people nowadays still say that girls are bad at math and science. But it seems the expensive "eddication" is wasted on young Tom.

I just started this section and I was struck once again about how education is useless for many. Apparently it has been that way for centuries. I homeschooled my children because public schools today do not incorporated alternate ways of learning and don't focus on strengths that might not developed in an ordinary school setting. I did very well in an academic setting. However, my practical son would not have been successful. I was told he would never graduate from high school, yet he did with the appropriate education.

A boy who loves to build things or repair things should be trained to be a plumber or a mechanic. A good plumber and/or mechanic is really smart and can make a great deal of money. Why should a young man study Latin if he wants to be a farmer?

Today, it is expected that everyone NEEDS a college education. However, many of these graduates come out with a degree and NO job. They have a college degree and large debt, so they don't want a demeaning job, such as a plumber. In the meantime, the USA will have a mechanic/plumbing shortage when the older generation dies.

Just because a person can't conjugate Latin doesn't mean he is stupid. My mechanic just solved a complicated issue with my car with a few minutes of experimentation! What a smart guy!

I do hope that Tom will develop a little bit of humility and empathy now that he is in a humbling situation.

☯Emily wrote: "I just started this section and I was struck once again about how education is useless for many. Apparently it has been that way for centuries. I homeschooled my children because public schools tod..."

Congratulations with the success of your homeschooling.

This topic in our book is really interesting and very relevant in our age and society too. In my country we are discussing how many should be admitted to high school and if not it will bring more faliours to non-academic young people to go through high school in stead of starting on a practical education.

I often see newly rich, non-educated people choose the most expensive private school for their children, regardless of other disadvantages, thinking they will in that way make sure they get the best education. It still happens.

I loved Eliot's metaphor discussion on page 156 (in Penguin), "What a different result, when changing the metaphor!"

Eliot's writing is so good. Excuse me, but I don't believe in modern writers. After writing like this, who can live up to this standard?

Although I guessed that Mr Tulliver's financial situation would turn out this way, I still cried at the end of this section.

Charlotte wrote: "Eliot's writing is so good. Excuse me, but I don't believe in modern writers. After writing like this, who can live up to this standard?

Although I guessed that Mr Tulliver's financial situation w..."

I agree! I'm having a hard time reading other authors after this one, although Charlotte Bronte is living up to my heightened expectations so far (I just started Jane Eyre).

And George Eliot is so relevant! I also enjoy Anthony Trollope's writings and some of his books sound like he is writing about today's events.

Apropos of your comment, Emily, it was only a few short years ago that leading periodicals in the USA were strongly suggesting that the book we (many of us) should be reading now was Trollope's The Way We Live Now. That was because of the money-handlers of Wall Street, delighted with a newly-invented 'derivative', the credit risk swap, were having such a speculative romp. Trollope wrote about a chap from an earlier era who also worshipped the great golden idol, Profit! Some folks say that the UK and the USA both share a language, English, and are deeply divided by it. After reading Eliot and Trollope and perhaps a few others, I wonder if it couldn't be accurately stated that the two countries have the same (de facto) religious faith----Materialism? Just a thought . . . . .

Mizzou wrote: "Apropos of your comment, Emily, it was only a few short years ago that leading periodicals in the USA were strongly suggesting that the book we (many of us) should be reading now was Trollope's The..."

So true.