Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

Davesnave

PasturesNew wrote: »

What I did was:
Go in. Teach. Get out.

Yeah, so did I, but it took 33 years.

It's not easy to break the addiction to captive audiences.

Exocet

Davesnave wrote: »

Yeah, so did I, but it took 33 years.

It's not easy to break the addiction to captive audiences.

Oh I know.

PasturesNew

Davesnave wrote: »

Yeah, so did I, but it took 33 years.

It's not easy to break the addiction to captive audiences.

Easy for me. It was a part-time role, for one year, miles from home ... I was doing a lot of driving there/back (sometimes 3x a day, 8 miles each way) and needed a full-time job, not a part-time one ... and that was the move that got me into IT.

treliac

Davesnave wrote: »

Kids are lovely, most of the time, but 'Lord of the Flies' isn't a million miles from the truth!

I remember reading that when I was about 14. Teacher asked if we thought it could really happen. I was so upset by it and was quite definite that it couldn't. I was so naive but it was a more innocent age generally.

I've just started to read 'The Selfish Society' and am finding it very interesting.

Malcolm.

treliac wrote: »

I remember reading that when I was about 14. Teacher asked if we thought it could really happen. I was so upset by it and was quite definite that it couldn't. I was so naive but it was a more innocent age generally.

I find it frightening how quickly society can brake down. I doubt the Humans species has evolved particularly far since the World Wars. Especially reading some peoples posts on here.

vivatifosi

treliac wrote: »

I've just started to read 'The Selfish Society' and am finding it very interesting.

Thanks tre, I will have to check that out at the library. It sounds really good.

The Amazon link to that book led me straight to this one, which also sounds compelling:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Age-Absurdity-Modern-Makes-Happy/dp/1847375243/ref=pd_sim_b_2

PasturesNew

I've never read Lord of the Flies. No idea what it's even about.

I used to love reading, I think what put me off it was school when they started analysing books, "what was X thinking when ...." I just don't get that at all, surely it's all daft guesswork. It's a story, the bloke wrote a story... end of. Why try to analyse something that's not there?

tomterm8

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never read Lord of the Flies. No idea what it's even about.

I used to love reading, I think what put me off it was school when they started analysing books, "what was X thinking when ...." I just don't get that at all, surely it's all daft guesswork. It's a story, the bloke wrote a story... end of. Why try to analyse something that's not there?

It's quite a good book... as long as you don't let the english teachers ruin it.

John_Pierpoint

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never read Lord of the Flies. No idea what it's even about.

I used to love reading, I think what put me off it was school when they started analysing books, "what was X thinking when ...." I just don't get that at all, surely it's all daft guesswork. It's a story, the bloke wrote a story... end of. Why try to analyse something that's not there?

Ah yes, but it is a bit like in vino veritas: every thing we write betrays our inner feelings and experiences.

The horrible memory for me was Jane Austen - with no real knowledge of history or social structures and no knowledge of Jane's background or of the seamier side of her novels - I just could not get my head round the idea of this stupid female writing such drivel, in a country likely to be invaded by a French revolutionary dictator at any moment. Why use one word, rather than a 10 word circumlocution?

The most depressing thing is the way our brains build time saving tracks that we call "experience".
I think I've had a novel idea and discover that I thought the same thing 30 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vino_veritas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen

PasturesNew

I went right off English teachers when I was had to do a mock O level. I had to write a story. I thought it was a good story (I STILL DO!!). But I got a fail.... teacher's remarks were that the whole story was pants because I only revealed in the last sentence that the person was dead/had died in the house fire the story was describing ... and the teacher said that dead people can't write stories.