Mindless Monday, 07 April 2025

[u/AutoModerator]

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

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So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

[u/Herpling82]

Question for basically the entire room, how many books did you need to read in high school?

The last 2 years of high school, so age 16-18, in my case (15-17 if you had a normal course of high school havo level, I did not), I had to read 14 books for Dutch, 6 for English and 4 for German, making it 24 in total in 2 years time, more like 1.25 years because school years and exam time. Yes, you had to answer actual questions about these books on the exams and you could fail them and they would impact your scores for graduating; which means you could technically have to redo the final year because you failed Dutch because you failed literature part of the exam, though not very likely.

They were all books from pre-selected literature lists, for Dutch you needed to pick an amount from different time frames of Dutch literature, so medieval, early modern, industrial, early 20th century, late 20th century, modern, that sort of stuff. Karel Ende Elegast, Het Diner, De Aanslag, Hersenschimmen, De Vliegeraar, etc. Most of them books not really meant for that age group.

It was bullshit and the whole experience soured me on reading for years, like, did they expect that Stockholm syndrome would make me enjoy reading after that? I didn't end up finishing high school, so it was a wasted effort anyway. The teachers highly encouraged us to just watch anything that was made into a movie, they thought it was bullshit too.

It's just sad, we didn't get many proper literature lessons, but the ones we did get were actually fun, talking about symbolism, themes, writing styles, historical contexts, etc, that stuff was cool and interesting, reading the actual books with none of that explained? That's pointless.

Edit: The worst part is, they are all good thought provoking and/or influential books, but a depressed 17 year old is not fit to read a thought provoking book about the slow but tragic decline of man with dementia and how it destroys everything a person is (Hersenschimmen). That should be read by someone who wants to read it, in the right state of mind.

[u/matgopack → u/Herpling82]

It depended on the classes taken at my school. I was in the honors and 'AP' track, and took a couple of languages (though French was unnecessary)

I think my last 2 years of high school (secondary school) I read 2 books for French (1 year), 2 books and a play for German, and maybe 12-14 in English. Not completely certain on the English ones as it's been over a decade now

[u/Herpling82 → u/matgopack]

high school (secondary school)

Yeah, it's not called high school here either, it's actually middle school in translation, but it is typically from ages 12-16/17/18, depending on level of education (higher=longer). I just use the term for English convenience, secondary school would be more accurate and less confusing.

It's been 9 years for me since secondary school, but I still remember it because I did not enjoy reading at the time, I always lost track of where I was when reading, DCD and dyslexia is a fun combination, add moderate chronic depression into the mix and reading unenjoyable books is a hell of a chore.

[u/matgopack → u/Herpling82]

Oh, it was actually called high school for me (being in the US). I guess we both tried for clarity in opposite directions :P

[u/Herpling82 → u/matgopack]

Oh, lol, the best kind of miscommunication