A problem that I’m working on, and want to remind myself to continue solving. Also, probably a problem that I will continue to work on for most (or all) of my life. Why should people learn anything beyond that which is required for survival? And specifically, why should anyone learn whatever it is that classes in “English” claim to offer?

I want to make sure that I try to answer this question on at least two levels: a practical, immediately applicable level and a level that is perhaps more holistic, perhaps even more spiritual in nature. For a broad and silly example: people should learn to read so that they can accomplish basic required tasks and so that they can contemplate some of the great questions and issues raised by writers from the past.

So the questions I pose myself are:

• Why is being an English teacher important?
• Why is learning to read actively, appreciatively, and analytically important?
• Why is learning to write clearly, persuasively, descriptively, and analytically important?

And so on … With all of these, I’m looking for answers that are equally valid to a white upper-middle class kid in the suburbs, an Hispanic day-workder in the inner city, a farmhand in Montana, or a child with a distended belly in Somalia.

If anyone’s reading this and you have your own answers or guesses, please leave your thoughts in a comment. I’m sure I’ll return to this topic again … and again.

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