The Base of Understanding | Teen Ink

The Base of Understanding

February 18, 2009
By Anonymous

What is the point of English class? People often claim that they are already proficient in English after middle school. However, without proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar, how can one make a good impression or acquire a solid job? English, the fourth most common language in the world, is vital to interact with others. In high school English classes, students not only speak English, but they analyze texts, make connections, improve grammar, use punctuation, and enhance reading skills. The purpose of English class is to learn, understand, and develop skills to help with the child's future.
In English class, students discuss literature and examine the characters and their actions. Analysis may seem worthless, but it allows people to expand their perspective, discover morals, as well as augment reading and writing skills. Reading creates a better understanding of the world even if those people are completely fictional. It also reveals the opinions, viewpoints, and stories of numerous diverse people. For example, Thomas Jefferson would never have been to put together such a cogent and eloquent Declaration of Independence had he not studied the literature of thinkers before him, especially Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan and John Locke's Two Treatises of Government. Freedom of speech would be very different had people not read and studied Voltaire's passionate defense of tolerance. Understanding the consequences of actions can help readers make astute decisions. Being able to comprehend those pages of words lets people recognize ethics and individuality, allowing not only the reader to become a better person but also to better other people.

Writing research papers and essays on literature lets students utilize their extensive vocabularies and practice formal writing. Personal connections and interpretations can be made as students demonstrate their elucidation of literature in their essays. Essays on novels, plays, and poems, greatly help students learn to analyze text and find morals. Through research papers and essays on literature, people can contribute to society and present their own thoughts to the public. The best example of this is the personal narrative, where students have the opportunity to display their own creative ideas with vivid imagery. Elie Wiesel's Night depicts a tragic story of a young Orthodox Jew being sent to a German concentration camp. By presenting his own thoughts and opinions, Wiesel has changed people's impressions of the Holocaust. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, an anti-slavery novel about a suffering Black slave, strongly affected the public's attitude toward African Americans in slavery. Thus, literature can have a profound effect on people who read it, enough to change society.

Proper grammar and punctuation are crucial in providing good impressions on intellect and education for requirements such as job interviews. Poor grammar and punctuation often leads to disparagement and vilification. Without a formal English education there would be varying ways of speech and writing that would lead to confusion of communication especially in the English language. Simple phrases such as 'It eats shoots and leaves' have significantly different meanings with commas added. When wording and intents must be extremely precise in creation and interpretation of the law, a lack of formal education in English could lead to wildly different applications of the same words. Improper English would also extensively affect the notes, letters, e-mails, editorials, newspapers, magazines, and scientific papers. Thus, without an official high school English class, readers without proper English may begin to interpret the English language in diverse ways and understand the news and factual information with different meanings. Precise grammar and punctuation is essential to the communication of written text.
The purpose of a high school English class is to encourage thinking for a higher level of comprehension. A high school English class is a necessity. It is imperative to study proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation and to offer good impressions. The teachers strongly accentuate the ability to learn, understand, and develop reading, writing, and speaking skills in English. Because we use English as our base of understanding, we are obligated to emphasize the formal education of the English language in high schools so that there can be success in interaction. In addition to having a good education, properly learning the English language can expand thinking and spread ideology to millions of people through interpreting text and writing literature. Therefore, studying literature, writing essays, enforcing accurate grammar, utilizing correct punctuation, and taking an English course in high school are fundamental for the personal development, communication skills, analytical thinking, and philosophical progress of the students and their futures.



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