Surviving the World

A Photocomic Education by Dante Shepherd

Lesson #1115 - English Classes

It occurred to me the other day that all those middle school and high school English classes are one of the major reasons that everyone on the internet thinks they know how to critique and review. In other words, that's right, Sister Daniel, I'm blaming you for the internet!

In relation to the second part, I was curious if there was a consensus terrible assigned book and polled people on Twitter. There seemed to be a pretty wide range in answers - a lot of Charles Dickens, a lot of "Great Gatsby", several "Ethan Frome" and Melville and Steinbeck, a couple strange opinions in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Lord Of The Flies" (I am completely bewildered at those hatreds) - and while I was delighted that someone else suffered through "Sand County Almanac", I was completely disappointed there was not a universal rejection of "Catcher In The Rye". I cannot make fun of that book enough, it was so terrible.