Your English Education

[MNGuy]

I'm curious about the educational credentials of Lit writers, what is the extent of your English education? I have the basic English education, courtesy of public schooling. I took one creative writing course in high school, was exempted from freshman English in college, but had to still fulfill the English requirement. So I took a British Literature series. What about you?

 

[Weird Harold]

I'm curious about the educational credentials of Lit writers, what is the extent of your English education?

Standard Public schooling through 12th grade, graduated in 1968.

Added Air Force Effective Writing in 1973, in residence at the NCO Leadership School.

Some English Composition was included in the NCO Academy, inresidence again, in 1984, but basically a rehash of the Effective Writing course.

But most of my English Education has been by Osmosis from reading a wide variety of subjects over 40+ years of reading ability.

 

[kellycummings]

Same here...Public school and basic college courses. Nothing exceptional. I read a ton though and that certainly helps with some aspects of writing. Of course I'm not the best writer in the world either.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I'm curious about the educational credentials of Lit writers, what is the extent of your English education?

In college, I took English 101, like anyone who wanted a degree in a California University. So far as things like grammar and spelling and punctuating, that was drilled into me in elementary school and has stayed with me for over fifty years.

That was the formal part. As a kid and a young man, I had my nose constantly in a book, even encyclopedia.

 

[SummerMorning]

8 years of English school, 8 years of really rotten second-language courses, years of reading and acting like a sponge

 

[Guest]

 

[dr_mabeuse]

BA, English comp. MS, Chemistry (shows you the marketability of an English degree. )

---dr.M.

 

[Linbido]

I guess that my English educaton is far from comparable, as I learned the thing from scratch as my second language. Fist six years from 4th to 9 th grade. (where I learned sod all since I got the dyslexia training I was granted by law way too late) And then through high school (where I learned even less since I dropped out at 16).

My English education consists mainly of mid 90's internet, sitcoms and subtitle-less bootleg VHS movies. Later on books and magazines. And more internet.

 

[gothgodess]

God I feel about as intelligent as a baboon's backside.
Being a Brit I took GCSE english at 16 and failed. Took it again at 18 and got a B but thats it and to top it off I'm dyslexic.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

BA in History. Never used it for anything but wall dressing (almost as useful as Doc's english degree). i clepted out of all my college englich somp courses. A blessing then, but has probably hurt me since my grammar is atrocious. Only writing course I took after highschool was Historyography and Historical Method. A course tha was, as my grandfather was fond of saying, as useless as tits on a boar hog.

-Colly

 

[Guest]

Catholic school from grades 6 through 12, learned to write to save my soul. B.A. in English Lit at age 51. One year of grad school (mostly theory). Extra courses in creative writing, Russian and theology, one very good poetry workshop (had to compete to be admitted). Been reading discerningly for over 50 years, writing over 40. Happy in it.

Perdita

 

[Weird Harold]

8 years of English school, 8 years of really rotten second-language courses, years of reading and acting like a sponge

That remind me -- I actually laerned more about English grammar and usage in two years of high school Spanish than I did in any English class I ever took.

I think learning how two languages are similar and different makes understanding the basics of language in general easier. At least it worked for me.

 

[Guest]

Harold, you reminded me - I had Latin every year of Catholic school, great for learning more about how language works. I actually think from time to time about re-studying Latin, might still.

Perdita

 

[oggbashan]

English at a preparatory school, a boarding school, a grammar school and an Australian High school to university entrance then some years as a UK Civil Servant writing reports, studies and answers to parliamentary questions.

Latin and French for same time and same schools.

Omnivorous speed-reader from age 3 (in English then French and Latin). Slowed down with age but a blockbuster paperback now takes about 1.5 to 2 hours.

Creative writing course started Sept 03.

Og

 

[Guest]

BS in Foundations of Education (fancy name for elementary education). Was required to take two or three years of English lit in college (can't remember which it was.) English was always my strongest subject in school. I have always been a voracious reader, pretty much always had a book in my hand while growing up.

 

[Black Tulip]

The only official teaching in English was in the Dutch equivalent of High School, meaning five years. We had a terrific teacher and I kept reading English books ever since.

Having an English sister-in-law helped.

I did study my own language and I am teaching that for more than 20 years now, so I think I can say I have a thing with words.

Creative writing is non-existent as something you can learn in my own language. No classes, no courses to take.

 

[Sabledrake]

Up until my last year of high school, I had intended and figured that I'd major in English in college. In the last semester of my senior year, I took a "humanology and psychology" elective and realized that was what I wanted to study.

So, BA in Psych and college creative writing 3x from 3 different teachers. And, actually, I think in terms of understanding character, personality, and motivation, the psych degree serves me just dandy as a writer!

Sabledrake

 

[Boxlicker101]

Up until my last year of high school, I had intended and figured that I'd major in English in college. In the last semester of my senior year, I took a "humanology and psychology" elective and realized that was what I wanted to study.

So, BA in Psych and college creative writing 3x from 3 different teachers. And, actually, I think in terms of understanding character, personality, and motivation, the psych degree serves me just dandy as a writer!

Sabledrake

I have always wondered: Why do people major in English in college? If you intend to be an English teacher, it makes sense, but otherwise, why? Personally, I took up Accounting.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I started to learn English when I was 5. I've always been interested in learning other languages, so my mother taught me a few phrases and a few songs in English.
I didn't get any official teaching until I was 10, however. Back then, English was mandatory in Swedish schools between 4th and 9th grade. Nowadays, they start much earlier, and I'm very jealous.
After those mandatory 5 years, I went to Senior High school and had English for 2 more years. It would have been 3, but since I by then had gotten married to a foreign guy, and spoke English daily at home, I decided to take a final exam of English one year ahead. I passed with great marks, and didn't have to study English any more. Instead I had those lessons off to concentrate on my other studies, which was a good thing, since I had asked for and been granted extra hours to learn 2 more languages, Spanish and German, in addition to French, which I had been studying ever since 7th grade.
I moved on to the university, and had 4 semesters of studying litterature, a little American, but mostly English.
Socializing with immigrants, listening to Ameriacn TV shows, reading English books, having penpals all over the world, having a Hubby who's an American, and writing erotic stories for a website called Literotica.com has also helped in keeping my English alive.

 

[pop_54]

God I feel about as intelligent as a baboon's backside.
Being a Brit I took GCSE english at 16 and failed. Took it again at 18 and got a B but thats it and to top it off I'm dyslexic.

You did better than me goth girl and welcome to the madhouse

I too suffered from dyslexia when younger, but it was diagnosed as stupidity at school in the 1950's.

I learned English at a very early age, I heard my mum talking it, then dad started up, so I thought I'd try it.

I took electrical engineering at college, we didn't need much in the way of English, it was all maths and science based. The only English you needed was to read the sign which said 'do not touch'.

I've never taken a writing course of any description, just basic stuff while at school. Spent most of my informative years at school dropping my pencil and trying to see up Delia White's skirt picking it up.

pops............The thick one.

 

[McKenna]

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[McKenna]

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[rgraham666]

I flunked English repeatedly in school.

Actually I flunked pretty much everything in school.

Mostly out of boredom. Any book I read in English classes was about 5 years below my reading level. And I have a minor motor control problem that makes it very difficuly to write or type quickly.

So all my English has been soaked up from reading. About a book a day for the last 40 years.

 

[HomerPindar]

seeing as I've given up lurking

Public school in the states. Currently doing an English/Sociology double major. I suffer from a mild learning disability in working with languages (not dyslexia) that makes my technical writing skills pretty poor. Spellings worse.

HomerPindar

 

[SlickTony]

B.A., English, University of Houston, 1977.

I have always wondered: Why do people major in English in college? If you intend to be an English teacher, it makes sense, but otherwise, why? Personally, I took up Accounting.

Tradition. In my family it was sort of traditional for the women to major in some kind of humanities and then marry an engineer or something of that nature. Projected result: mom helps the kids with their readin' and writin' and dad helps with science and math. It worked better for my mother than it did for me. Actually, I did at one time plan to be an English teacher, but fortunately, I had some exposure in the field to actual teaching before I ever got started; ever so much better than adding an Education degree and then finding out that I'd rather hose out slaughterhouses. If I had it to do all over again, I would have majored in commercial art. Outside of teaching and writing, which one can learn on one's own, an English major is of little use save to vet for faulty syntax and dangling participles the correspondence of people making four+ times your wages.