Forum members who'd never opened a book in their whole lives

[Anglo-Celtic]

Is Catcher in the Rye used for the programming of CIA disposable killers?
Young men with nothing to live for, the perfect weapon?

JD Salinger was in military intelligence during World War 2, I wonder if he kept working for the agency after the war.
MK-Ultra was starting around this time too.

You busted me! I'm a super soldier who is programmed by MK-Ultra Monarch mind control, so pray that my handler doesn't post my trigger word!

[CosmoLady]

You busted me! I'm a super soldier who is programmed by MK-Ultra Monarch mind control, so pray that my handler doesn't post my trigger word!

LOL, the agency does not want or need "super-soldiers" to kill Lennon or Reagan or RFK, they want nutjob lone shooters,

they want disposable, aimless, not-very-bright, anti-social incel types,

possibly psychotic stoners with no memory, Catcher is perfect for them!

[Anglo-Celtic]

they want nutjob lone shooters

I can still work for them! One out of three ain't bad, right?

[Universe]

I think that a major flaw in our curriculum is that, rather than encouraging young people and developing reading habits, we have for decades pushed a chronological order that places the Iliad and Odyssey.................
As a result, a big number of high schoolers really dislike reading if they haven't developed that habit at home through upbringing.

(Yes, from now on I will communicate only via GIFs and images)

[Insuperable]

Reading novels helps to improve comprehension and writing ability.

These are critical life skills, and also reflect general intelligence.

Reading frequently also helps with learning grammar and vocabulary,
often more quickly, naturally and intuitively than direct lessons.

And reading high-quality novels will cultivate intuition, discernment and understanding of the human condition,

which is intangible, priceless, and possibly life-saving.

One begins to notice and recognise archetypes, patterns and themes that repeat themselves.

Does art reflect life, or does life reflect art? High-quality literature is the study of life itself.

Like I said, reading the real stuff does it much better. Comprehension, attention ... you name it. You don't need to read useless long ass novels.

[Teutone]

Like I said, reading the real stuff does it much better. Comprehension, attention ... you name it. You don't need to read useless long ass novels.

Ofc you can, what kind of logic is this?

You can also watch Harvard lectures online instead of TV shows or Movies.

You can also do 500 times more useful stuff right now instead of posting on TA, but you seem to post on TA.

Fictional books are billion times better than movie adaptations and if you are interested in a topic/story its great and better if you read the book.

[Scarface F]

I think that a major flaw in our curriculum is that, rather than encouraging young people and developing reading habits, we have for decades pushed a chronological order that places the Iliad and Odyssey in the hands of students first, epics that, in my opinion, can only be enjoyed by a very experienced reader.

As a result, a big number of high schoolers really dislike reading if they haven't developed that habit at home through upbringing.

Really agree with this. I checked random list of obligatory literature for first grade of Gymnasium (age 15), and it's overwhelmingly packed with ancient Greek and Roman texts which indeed are too complex for such age group to appreciate or fully understand.

Antigone - (around 442 BC) - Sophocles

Fables - (6th century BC) - Aesop

Fairy tales - (1835-1845) - Hans Christian Andersen

Flower from the crossroads - (1902) - Antun Gustav Matoš

Equinox - (1895) - Ivo Vojnović

Electra - (around 413-410 BC) - Euripides

Aeneid - (29-19 BC) - Virgil

The boastful soldier - (end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd century BC) - Titus Maccius Plautus

Iliad - (8-7th century BC (?)) - Homer

Iverje - (1899) - Antun Gustav Matoš

Oedipus the King - (around 429 BC) - Sophocles

Metamorphoses - (8th AD) - Ovid

Medea - (431 BC) - Euripides

New splinter - (1900) - Antun Gustav Matoš

Chained Prometheus - (first half of the 5th century BC) - Aeschylus

Selected short stories - (1894-1905) - Vjenceslav Novak

Odyssey - (8-7th century BC (?)) - Homer

Stories from the past - (1916, 1926) - Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić

Regoč - (1916) - Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić

Son of the Motherland - (1940) - August Cesarec

Tired stories - (1909) - Antun Gustav Matoš

U glib - (1901) - Vjenceslav Novak

Goldsmith's gold - (1871) - August Šenoa

[Scarface F]

I am dead sure you’re a Jane Austen reader

I love Pride and Prejudice.

[Scarface F]

He is/was super-intelligent, and some of his books are great (like Manufacturing Consent),

but Chomsky is a profound hypocrite on a fundamental level, like other wealthy communists, and is not honest with his reader.

I can't stand that asshole. Allergic to him.

[Scarface F]

I believe they have so-called "legacy places" for the children of former students?

Not really these days. Even legacy students won't get in if they are not top of the top.
But if you belong to certain minority/gender and happen to be academically excellent, that can help a lot.