Truth is beauty, beauty truth, sir!

A topic on the radio the other day was about whether or not English should be a compulsory subject in high schools. Any opinions?

It should be in English-speaking countries, yes. COME ON!

I said I respected the "it depends" response, but I certainly don't respect the "Come on!" response, also known as the Lleyton response...Zing!

Yes I compared you to Leyton

What are a Leyton?

I was doing Gob from Arrested Development.

I don't know who that is, and yeah I spelt Lleyton wrong one of the times (I'm not sure which; two "l's" what the hell??).

But you still have to explain why it should be compulsory in English-speaking countries.

I still don't know what a Lleyton OR a Leyton is.

Teaching people to properly comprehend and use the language of their country should be compulsory.

A Lleyton is a Lleyton Hewitt, as in the one that goes "Come on!".

What do you mean when you say "properly comprehend and use" a language? And why do you think the English course does this?

i think the current syllabus (did i spell that right) doesn't do what Marc believes it does. It's supposed purpose is to teach an appreciation of english language literature, and to get kids using their own creativity. the same subject could be just called literature, and yes it should be compulsory- for the simple fact that it gives students a chance to both use (and expand) their creative brain bits, and because it assists in building a students ability to explore/critique/understand the various literary works that their society both uses now (the simpsons were used in the HSC in recent years) and those of the past (Shakespeare, etc)

Not so much a rant as what i hope is the beginning of another lively discussion.

Enjoy your new rank.

I, too, hope it turns into a nice discussion.

I agree with your description of what English is supposed to do, and I agree that it is valuable, but when it comes to being compulsory I'm less sure. Surely mathematics, or science, or history, are all very valuable, but none of them are compulsory. The most pertinent example is Maths, since, as you know, it was compulsory but now isn't.

That doesn't mean English shouldn't be. It means Maths should be.

Yeah good point. Though I do see the side of the argument that allows kids to select the subject that they think will help them best - wait, kids don't know shit.

And neither do we. That's what makes it so juicy.

Yeah... I guess. Doesn't address the question though.

What question?