FB the Classroom
I've always thought that Facebook is a classroom of sorts. Apart from keeping up to date with how and what your friends are doing, articles are shared and personal views are expressed. You do not need to flip the newspaper yourself to know about the MH370 incident, for instance. Sometimes there can be such an overwhelming amount of sharing that it helps to piece everything into a full picture. (Not referring to MH370 flight now, because there are unknowns to that) I just came across the following minutes ago.
English Lit Students Lost For Words As Exam Paper Poem Contains Just Punctuation
The Huffington Post UK | By Molly Turnley Posted: 03/06/2014 16:54 BST | Updated: 03/06/2014 16:59 BST
A poem with no words, and only punctuation, left Cambridge English university students baffled.
Cambridge University English Literature students were left shocked and baffled after opening their papers and seeing the wordless poem. One student told The Tab Cambridge "I actually felt quite flustered and panicked a little when seeing it. I initially thought it was a printing mistake."
The poem, entitled Tipp-Ex-Sonate, is by 69-year-old, South African-native Koos Kombuis and is made up entirely of punctuation.
Tipp-Ex-Sonate was intended as a protest against apartheid censorship laws. From Kombuis's hometown in Cape Town he comments, “Where the people at Cambridge got hold of it is anyone’s guess."
Many of the English students felt wholly unprepared for analysis of the wordless poem with one adding: "Admittedly the question wasn’t impossible and I think a lot of finalists probably had the ability to interpret meaning from punctuation. But regardless it threw me and I’m concerned about my 2:1."
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So, if one had touched on the issue of censorship, he or she would have hit the jackpot. But it was more interesting reading this response by a teacher, "The poet has crafted this minimalist verse to possibly convey his sentiments of speechless wonderment at the human condition, to capture the beauty of inexpressible awe at his apparently overwhelming surroundings. To do this piece justice is to capture its beautiful silence and the rest of this analysis would do just that. Like the Emperor's New Clothes, only the enlightened would see what they want, as will you, my esteemed examiner."
Haha, so creative. And good language always gets me.
English Lit Students Lost For Words As Exam Paper Poem Contains Just Punctuation
The Huffington Post UK | By Molly Turnley Posted: 03/06/2014 16:54 BST | Updated: 03/06/2014 16:59 BST
A poem with no words, and only punctuation, left Cambridge English university students baffled.
Cambridge University English Literature students were left shocked and baffled after opening their papers and seeing the wordless poem. One student told The Tab Cambridge "I actually felt quite flustered and panicked a little when seeing it. I initially thought it was a printing mistake."
The poem, entitled Tipp-Ex-Sonate, is by 69-year-old, South African-native Koos Kombuis and is made up entirely of punctuation.
Tipp-Ex-Sonate was intended as a protest against apartheid censorship laws. From Kombuis's hometown in Cape Town he comments, “Where the people at Cambridge got hold of it is anyone’s guess."
Many of the English students felt wholly unprepared for analysis of the wordless poem with one adding: "Admittedly the question wasn’t impossible and I think a lot of finalists probably had the ability to interpret meaning from punctuation. But regardless it threw me and I’m concerned about my 2:1."
//
So, if one had touched on the issue of censorship, he or she would have hit the jackpot. But it was more interesting reading this response by a teacher, "The poet has crafted this minimalist verse to possibly convey his sentiments of speechless wonderment at the human condition, to capture the beauty of inexpressible awe at his apparently overwhelming surroundings. To do this piece justice is to capture its beautiful silence and the rest of this analysis would do just that. Like the Emperor's New Clothes, only the enlightened would see what they want, as will you, my esteemed examiner."
Haha, so creative. And good language always gets me.
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