June 3, 2008
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Poetry as Punishment
A few dozen young people broke into Robert Frost’s former home and did some damage to his place.
Part of their punishment is to take a class learning his poetry. Here is the link: Link
What subject in school would you consider the greatest punishment for you?
Comments (140)
Mathematics. Numbers make my brain bleed.
physics.
Lit.
math
It really depends who’s teaching it.
Probably physics/chemistry/math… unless the teacher is great those are the worst.
Bible class. Stupid private Christian school.
Geometry.
hah, my friend paul… his mom once made him copy the entire fucking bible as punishment when he was around 12 years old. it took him forever. she wouldn’t unground him til he finished.
Math and gym class. Sometimes I wonder if hell is filled with algebra books and eternal cross-country runs.
Trig *shivers*
@porcupinesol - That’s ridiculous. I’d rant and rave too.
I think it’s science for me, Dan. Poetry seems fun.
This wouldn’t work on me; I have overcome my weaknesses and love classes on all subjects.
Right now? Elementary statistics. I’m taking a course, and it’s AWFUL. It’s so basic and boring, and we have to show work and do stupid corny worksheets. Oh, my.
All forms of math.
Those people ought to be ashamed of themselves!
Ugh, teaching geometry…I had taken it as a summer class which didn’t count for credits, and it was my teacher’s first year teaching the class, so she let (made) me help her teach the rest of the class. So much fun (agonizing pain).
History! I love math and science.
In art class, we were forced to sit and do absolutely nothing. Those 20 minutes were painful.
and to answer your question, i love all subjects. i love learning. the punishing subject wouldn’t matter – the teacher would.
history.
because it never changes.
so i get tested on things i’ve known since the 3rd grade.
Thermodynamics. That was not nice of them; I like Robert Frost’s work.
@porcupinesol - I agree, it all in who the subject is taught.
chemistry. i never want to go through that shit again.
No hichhickers guide to the galaxy references?
I AM RECOILING IN HORROR AT THE MEMORY
THE M WORD.
A FOUR LETTER WORD
MATH
Dang.
Probably poetry. haha.
Accountings, Chinese.
AHHHHHHHH.
Poetry,not Robert Frost especially but poetry in general.
I hated trying to figure out what the meaning was.
Unless it was Ogden Nash….who was to the point….
“A girl whose cheeks are covered with paint
Has an advantage with me over one whose ain’t”
“The cow is of the bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other, milk”
Language class.. Haha… doesn’t matter which one, Chinese or Spanish..
Math or Science….I would rather spend a year in jail than a year learning those subjects!!
Gym in the 80′s….or math any year!
debate… I was horrible at debate.
“A few dozen young people broke into Robert Frost’s former home and did some damage to his place.”
WTF? Those punk ought to be tarred and feathered in public!!!
That’s punishment? sheesh. I didn’t like physics too much, but that might be punishment for me heh. Law and ethics maybe? heh i dunno lol.
any math or science class.
What subject in school would you consider the greatest punishment for you?
I can’t think of anything I particularily disliked. I was lazy, so everything was bothersome to an extent.
I guess it’d be English. I’ve never had a particluar knack for grammar or character analysis and stuff. (I think my AP English teacher gave me a B- or a C in my last semester).
@angi1972 - What debate did you do for that class? Lincoln-Douglas or Policy?
Gym class…..seriously….I hated that class and all the sports involved in taking it.
Consumer Ed. Hella boring, even though I did learn a lot.
@huginn - We did some thing about toothpaste helping aid wars in foriegn countries… NO! I don’t know! I hated the class! You think I actually paid attention! lol
Actually its been… *glulp* eighteen years? and I have forgotten what our topic for the year was.
I hated Advanced Math when I was younger, however, if I had to take a class that would drive me nuts now, it would probably be a class on politics.
greatest punishment would be history.
and chemistry…and accounting. :] but poetry? hell no.
my boyfriend says he doesn’t have a bad subject.. damn it.
@angi1972 - Actually its been… *glulp* eighteen years? and I have forgotten what our topic for the year was
Haha.
If it were that long along, then it probably were Policy Debate (also known as Team Debate). Lincoln-Doublas debate only gained popularity in the late 80′s. I did Policy debate in the late 90′s, and by that time, it had morphed into less of a competition of communication and persuasion into something more erudie and academic.
So you did debate back during the good ‘ol days. =P
@huginn - Did you miss the PUNISHMENT part! lol
I am awful at arguing and I hate public speaking… lol I am glad it was fun for you though… If I could just watch I’d enjoy it….
Every time a teacher assigned an essay or almost any other kind of writing, my thoughts turned to homicide.
it depends on who is teaching it. A bad teacher could ruin any subject. However, math is the worse.
Oh horrors! Algebra!
chemistry
history
PLEASE NO! NOT SEX ED!
Honestly I don’t think learning his poetry is punishment at all.
Listening to untalented music artists like Hannah Montana at an incredibly high volume while being forced to sit in a very uncomfortable position.
@retired_at_21 - Surely it couldn’t be any other way!
I love poetry! If I got put in a poetry class as punishment I’d get in trouble more often. Math is my own, personal satan though. Luckily, as of 3 weeks ago, I am done with math for the rest of my natural born life!
I was homeschooled growing up and if given a choice. I would rather have gotten spanked then to do math. My mom used to threaten me with extra math if I misbehaved during school time.
M A T H
Biology. Argh….
math
Math. Hands down. Hated it.
You want to punish me? Let my world history and geometry teachers have another go at me. I would’ve loved their classes if not for a regular dose of asshattery.
I think the poetry part is less about punishment and more about trying to teach them what Frost stood for. Maybe try to give them a deeper understanding of the man.
Probably Calculus. Though I’m trying to learn more math now to make up for my hate for it back in the day.
Any of the math classes my boyfriend is taking (he’s an Electrical Engineer…his math is beyond my simple Animal Science/Behavior comprehension) or Biology or Botany or Horticulture….or Philosophy 205 with the same asshat, bleeding heart, moron of an instructor I had before. He was supposed to teach us about Ethics, but he did more preaching about how awful America is and how God doesn’t exist, etc. Yea, total jerk off.
My biology teacher was the worst burnt out hippie ever. She was actually legally allowed to grow pot in her back yard because of some project she was working on with UC Berkley. That’s how much of a burn out she was. I couldn’t take her class for a second!
that was mean Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets!
physics. definitely.
CALCULUS!
I despise all forms of math
That is such a gangster way to punish kids. Personally, PE really sucked. Math sucked, too, but god was PE pointless. I think the only reason why it was created was so that athletic people could compete with weaklings to make them feel better.
Maths. I hated every second of it.
Maths
i really enjoyed classes at school. i think i just didn’t like them when certain teachers were teaching. like i hated spanish class because the woman was horrible, but i enjoyed the language and i hated history because the woman was unbareable but i would have liked to have learned more.
it’s a really difficult question…
Music, singing in front of the class was terrible.
Biology. Egads.
@awth44 - robert frost is a vogon?
geometry or geography.
Maths!
Chemistry. Bar none.
EXCEPT.
I’ll never forget my tutor. In fact, he was my New Years date this year.
[sigh]
Math… ick.
Math
Chemistry. My teacher liked to make kids cry. o_O
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this speech, by Bill Gates, should be posted in all high schools, to ready the kids for the future.
like him or not, he sure hits the nail on the head here.
He recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reali ty and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1:
Life is not fair – get used to it
Rule 2:
The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3
You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6
If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7
Before you were born, your parent s weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..
Rule 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
http://www.illwillpress.com/vault.html TOPICAL RANT!
good read:
http://www.makingitso.com
THE GREAT BRAIN by Jon D. Fitzgerald THIS is a good series for 5th graders (when Dave read it)
http://www.forsythhumane.org, do love them critters
http://www.audio-bible.com/bible/bible.html, great resource
http://www.icasualties.org/oif sad resource, aught to send George
http://kuglerstudio.com, a better photographer in Charlotte
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To view Dave’s profile,
http://forums.prospero.com/dir-app/showprofile.asp?uname=DAVERAVE3
Oh, but Robert Frost is pretty cool… That would be like a reward.
A long boring math class maybe?
chemistry
Chemistry
I’d have to say poetry would be pretty bad.
Math and Science. Oy…
As an aside in High School, I had to read Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment for English Class. Because it was such a dry book, I used to make the crack that the crime was Dostoyevsky wrote the book and the punishment was we had to read it…
Bible study… would kill me.
Math.
Poetry (reading, writing, etc) was all very easy for me.
<33
Math or science. Especially math. *shudders*
physics and 20th century history
science
Ugh… Math.
Gym. >_>””
Pre Cal…
Since when are exclamation points in math??!!
Math!
Poetry/Literature is actually the only part of school that doesn’t feel like school to me.
It depends who is teaching the subject. I like most every subject I have taken thus far except for Ethics.
- chemistry
- biology
- geometry
- trigonometry
man, i absolutely hated those courses.
math
@saintvi - That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Oh god, Math or History. Although I do enjoy writing poetry, I wouldn’t be too keen on having to study it. 3-way tie.
I love Robert Frost! And you know what? This ‘punishment’ might do these hooligans some good.
i think that punishment would just reinforce why i destroyed his house to begin with.
math… or LOGIC (but only w/ my crazy old teacher ms. peterson… she was nuts!)
Something mind numbing like geometry.
@mitztaken1 - Oh my gosh, same thing happens to me. I think of numbers, and my stomach cramps up, too.
Yes, definitely math.
Math kicks my butt….for sure. I think it’s great that they had to learn his poetry, though. I think they will have a greater appreciation for it.
Oh gosh, any subject dealing with a map. I see the map and automatically my mind shuts down, and sleep prevails
Subject actually doesn’t matter. It’s how fucked up the teacher is that determines whether I hate the class…
agreed
math with a bad teacher,
and science with a bad teacher..
it makes such a difference, when you have a good teacher
i’ve loved and hated math and sciences, because when you ask why, and stump the teacher, you just feel like… the world is going to fall apart on your next test!
I was never a big fan of stats, literature, or history.
P.E…..unless it’s involving the beach, I can dig that.
If this is the punishment, I’m going to like, desecrate Poe’s grave or steal the genitals off of Oscar Wilde’s…oh wait, that’s been done. But seriously, I would LOVE it if they even offered a class to analyze Poe!
Punishment would probably be…chem. I never want to have to live through that class again.
None of the classes in school are really a punishment. Even my US History class (the most boring class I take this year) can be interesting at times. But, what would be considered a punishment to me would be to have to retake that stupid 3-hour SAT prep class. That was awful! I learned nothing and the teacher was so stupid.
theology — only because I have this thing about having ideas forced into me. The wall that goes up is made of radioactive steel and concrete. There’s a door but so many refuse to knock that the door itself has become barred!
I love poetry.
Higher level math and science classes.
What do I need them for? I’m not going to be a scientist or anything that requires the full knowledge of the symbols for every element on the periodic table. I’m most likely never going to use the knowledge that Chlorophyll is what makes plants green. I don’t think that the higher level sciences and maths should be mandatory.
Depends on the teacher. I love English, but I always end up with stupid teachers that give us the most ridiculous books to read… and love the whole thing. THAT is torture *~*
Communicated arts
I wouldnt mind at all.
Math – of any kind. It makes my head hurt and my brain cells drain out the back of my neck.
Depends on the prof – I’ve had nightmare classes in just about every subject.
math
Math
CHEMISTRY. Who knows how I survived that class.
mathhhhhhh.
biology who can live that or calculis thts also a hard 1
@Amandasbiggestfan - hahahaha
Math!
MATH IS DEATH
P.E. – we always got to do teh suck stuff
Punishment? Don’t send me to class. I enjoy learning.
Hahaha. I hate every class…. except my electives
Chemistry.
Math.
Yuck yuck yuck.
College chemistry or physic or computer science. They all give me nightmare.
wow, that’s actually really funny! not the breaking in and damaging, but the punishment.
hmm, i don’t know which of my classes feel like punishment. maybe that’s a good thing. i generally just don’t like homework and lots of reading, b/c i am a slow reader when it comes to textbooks 0__0 like history books! mannn
also, i had a tough time in chem.
i think of it as rehab
MATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATHMATH
Before this year, gym. After this year, chemistry. Horrible horrible teacher that did not teach us a thing.
Wow. That’s a strange form of punishment, but I actually think that’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind learning about poetry.
But Math….HELL NO.
World History, not because the subject just the damn teacher, he bored me to death and I passed by sleeping so I would shut up in his class!!!!
VBScript Programming. :]
It pulls of all my hair.
Dear Dan: Learning his poetry?! Didn’t they just commit multiple felonies as per burglary and vandalism? And since when have we set up education as a punishment for criminality? They can read Frost’s poetry all they want… in the privacy of their cells while serving their time. Then, when they’ve done their penance, they can continue their education for the right reasons.
Math is a torture for me, particularly calculus. I’m still surprised I passed the AP test on that one. I haven’t taken math since.
Meanwhile, what an awesome punishment that is! Finally a legitimate case where the punishment fits the crime. That is brilliant. They could make a movie about it with Kevin Klein as the teacher, but that’d be too much like “The Emperor’s Club.” Great movie.
Wait, Robin Williams! Oh dang, “Dead Poet’s Society”…
Anyway, I hope the kids learn something.