Academia: The Surest Way to Stifle a Love of Anything That Can Be Taught
Well, once again something I used to enjoy has been sucked dry of any and all enjoyment because I was dumb enough to take a class on it. It never fails. I see a class listed that looks interesting and simultaneously fulfills a degree requirement and the next thing you know, I loathe whatever subject I was being taught.
This time around it is Shakespeare. Though, to be honest, I never was fond of Shakespeare. I did enjoy a good play and I always enjoy reading. Well, now I hate it and I don’t want to read a damn thing for at least 3 months. I intend to just let my brain rot for a while. There is something about incessant and overreaching analysis of a subject that makes one want to vomit concrete and nails. Not only that, but I have been stuck reading the less than amusing “historical plays” which, amusingly enough, are quite fictionalized.
I have just tackled Henry IV part 1. I am not looking forward to the other 6 plays I have to read and write analyses of. Why can’t I just read something for pure enjoyment? Why can’t we discuss what makes it enjoyable? Why do I have to get scientific with the author’s reasoning in adding a character or a line or a stage direction?
I’m quite certain that this is one of the reasons there is a decline in reading in American youths. Our teachers are clubbing us to death with literature.
