NWR: Kids today! scary!

diggitydog

My 20 year old intern from CORNELL has never heard of Oliver Twist.  When I said "you know, Charles Dickens?" he was totally blank.  Yikes.A. We are set designers/ prop stylists so I expect him to get obvious literary refrences if this is the career he wants.B. I'm sad that the educational system has failed him.

TiDa2009

I know of Oliver Twist, but we never read any Charles Dickens' books in school.  We didn't read The Great Gatsby, either.  I'm 25, so I assume these classics are getting more and more sparse in schools as the years go by.

georgia_bride09

So the "Please sir, I want some more" joke was lost on him, then?

diggitydog

Yes!  I even did the accent.   Sad.  

georgia_bride09

LOL. I am scared for when I have kids.

PandaBurr

My favorite required reading ever is Of Mice and Men, hands down. I've probably read it 3 or 4 times now.

MissSarah786

Of Mice and Men is great. The movie is also good and now they have a graphic novel of the book, which can be helpful to students, especially English language learners.

tlv204

That is scary. I love love love The Great Gatsby, btw.

shellydiane820

That is sad.  I didn't have to read Oliver Twist, however I did have to read Great Expectations, which has become one of my favorites.

AnneAndJJ

I'm still a University student myself, and I never read Oliver Twist, but I would recognize certain references to it. I read Great Gatsby and Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird and a bunch of other classics in school. Yay for the Ontario public school system!

PandaBurr

Ahh, I forgot about To Kill A Mockingbird. That one I liked as well!

PandaBurr

@ Tida 2009I know of Oliver Twist, but we never read any Charles Dickens' books in school. We didn't read The Great Gatsby, either. I'm 25, so I assume these classics are getting more and more sparse in schools as the years go by. That's a joke right? Dickens WROTE Oliver Twist! I'm 25 too! I'm pretty sure she's well aware that Dickens wrote Oliver Twist.