Lord of the Flies. What's a good grade for reading it?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lord of the Flies. What's a good grade for reading it?

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:11:42 AM EDT

IMHO, I think the book "Lord of the Flies" is perfect for 8th graders.

My 8th grader is reading it.

His teachers are flipping out saying how "advanced" he is compared to the other kids. Am I wrong in thinking that schools are dumbing down the academics and pushing books for younger kids back so now the high schoolers are reading them, if at all?

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:20:43 AM EDT

[#1]

I read it in 8th Grade

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:21:53 AM EDT

[#2]

It's a great book. I'm thinking 6th grade should be an appropriate grade to read it.

That's when we studied it many years ago.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:22:40 AM EDT

[#3]

11th grade for me. Class was British Literature.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:24:54 AM EDT

[#4]

I think you're fine. My small public middle/high school had us reading that book in the 8th grade as well. And we were so small we didn't have a boys football team for the high school.

If our puny little school could do it, yours is probably miles ahead.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:30:33 AM EDT

[#5]

8th grade for me too. tx public school in the 80's

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:31:37 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
IMHO, I think the book "Lord of the Flies" is perfect for 8th graders.

My 8th grader is reading it.

His teachers are flipping out saying how "advanced" he is compared to the other kids. Am I wrong in thinking that schools are dumbing down the academics and pushing books for younger kids back so now the high schoolers are reading them, if at all?

It depends on which schools. In certain schools, in certain parts of the country, things have been dumb for a while. I remember starting school in America in '83 and being surprised at how low the level was. Then at a private school in '89, I was surprised that as an 11 year old, I was writing a 15 page paper on aphasia (w/ bibliography) and attending and participating in autopsies. I wish I'd read Lord of the Flies around 11, I think it would have helped understand what was going on in school.

Kids are capable of a lot more than we give them credit for. If I had one, I'd want him to go to a school where doing "advanced" work was relatively common and other children were learning at a higher level. If your son sticks out for reading that book, I'm guessing he's probably not being challenged and doesn't have a chance to make friends with other smart kids. Maybe a more challenging high school is in order?

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:32:34 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
I think you're fine. My small public middle/high school had us reading that book in the 8th grade as well. And we were so small we didn't have a boys football team for the high school.

If our puny little school could do it, yours is probably miles ahead.

IME, smaller schools tend to be more challenging.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:33:08 AM EDT

[#8]

My 9th grader is doing a report on it right now. He is in honors english. He is going waaaayyyy deeper into it than I did in 9th grade. I wasn't an honors student though either. The kid is way sharper than me.

I think 9th grade is fine. Some kids are going to get a lot out of it, some aren't. Sounds like life to me.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:40:08 AM EDT

[#9]

6th or 7th grade for me

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:41:58 AM EDT

[#10]

That's more of a preschool level book IMHO.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:43:15 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

I read it in 8th Grade

Yeah or 9th, but in that time frame.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:45:46 AM EDT

[#12]

It was required reading in 10th and 12th grade for me. I hated it both times. I think it is good enough for a 9th grader.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:50:50 AM EDT

[#13]

I read it in 5th grade, but it is probably more of 7th or 8th grade material.

Posted: 5/3/2011 5:53:43 AM EDT

[#14]

7th grade was my first thought without having read the rest of the thread. Then upon reflection I think it was required reading for me in the 9th grade, but I'm not sure.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:03:58 AM EDT

[#15]

We read it in 5th grade.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:16:44 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I think you're fine. My small public middle/high school had us reading that book in the 8th grade as well. And we were so small we didn't have a boys football team for the high school.

If our puny little school could do it, yours is probably miles ahead.

IME, smaller schools tend to be more challenging.

True, but I didn't attend Exeter or Choate.

It was tiny public school in a town of 5,000 people.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:19:01 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I think you're fine. My small public middle/high school had us reading that book in the 8th grade as well. And we were so small we didn't have a boys football team for the high school.

If our puny little school could do it, yours is probably miles ahead.

IME, smaller schools tend to be more challenging.

True, but I didn't attend Exeter or Choate.

It was tiny public school in a town of 5,000 people.

Neither did I.

I was thinking small, country schools. But then again my experience was in Iowa, which tends to have decent public schools.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:20:19 AM EDT

[#18]

I read it in 6th grade in an advanced class.

We also read L. Sprague de Camp's A Gun for Dinosaur.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:21:28 AM EDT

[#19]

All I know is that I know a 26 year old that had to read it for a college course.

There may well be a difference between reading it and getting it. In the course they had to write a paper dealing with the Evilness of human nature after reading that book.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:21:41 AM EDT

[#20]

I think I read it in 4th grade. Could have been 5th.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:22:16 AM EDT

[#21]

We read it in 8th grade.

Posted: 5/3/2011 6:26:27 AM EDT

[#22]

We read it in 6th grade, any teacher thinking that is too advanced for a 8th grader should not be a teacher.

We also read Hiroshima(history class) in 6th grade and by the freshman year Aldous Huxley. We also studied the hidden meanings of the stories and more.

We also read John Stienback but the ones I always wanted to read but never did were the true classics like Odyessy and Illiad

Posted: 5/3/2011 11:54:38 AM EDT

[#23]

There was a list of banned books that I found online, and selected some titles for my son.

Lord of the Flies was on the list. I can't remember which other ones I got him, but I got at least a couple more from the list.

Posted: 5/3/2011 11:59:11 AM EDT

[#24]

5th grade in Maryland then 9th in Alabama

Posted: 5/3/2011 12:00:52 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

IMHO, I think the book "Lord of the Flies" is perfect for 8th graders.

My 8th grader is reading it.

His teachers are flipping out saying how "advanced" he is compared to the other kids. Am I wrong in thinking that schools are dumbing down the academics and pushing books for younger kids back so now the high schoolers are reading them, if at all?

Parents are retarded and don't act as parents anymore. They want to be "friends" with their children and never set limitations. "No Kevin, you can't play Xbox for 12 hours, you have spelling homework" is a foreign concept. I have lots of PDD in my classroom (Parental Deficit Disorder). I'm surprised when I cross paths with a student on or above grave level. They look like Einsteins compared to the unwashed hordes.

<–––––––– Teacher.

Posted: 5/3/2011 12:06:40 PM EDT

[#26]

8th or earlier should be fine.

My school was terrible about such things.

We were never assigned to read that one, hell my class never even "had" to read 1984 or Brave New World.

I read them all in school by choice during class, because I hated listening to lecture.

I think I passed my english classes just because the teachers saw all everything I was reading(Basically every classic "dystopian" novel and HP Lovecraft), because I certainly never did any homework or classwork.

Which reminds me. If you want to test someone's reading comprehension and ability to use context clues....have them read A Clockwork Orange having never seen the movie.

Posted: 5/3/2011 12:14:02 PM EDT

[#27]

Read it in 7th at school.

Posted: 5/3/2011 12:16:31 PM EDT

[#28]

Schuls out hur aint two gud, we did red it in the twelfth grade.

Course I wuz 24 at the time.

Posted: 5/3/2011 12:16:50 PM EDT

[#29]

I read it in 9th grade (1980)

My 11 y/o read it this year (6th grade)

Times change, kids are being taught much earlier now according to everything I have seen.

Ralphs got the conch, Jack wants it

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lord of the Flies. What's a good grade for reading it?

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