I'm signed up for literature of war and genocide as my English class and I'm regretting it, Help?!?!?

Question

I read Maus I(holocaust) and First They Killed My Father(Cambodian Genocide) over the summer and I liked Maus but the other one is so detailed it's crazy, I knew it was bad but I would of never dreamed that bad. But I think Creative Writing would be better for me. I didn't read any of those summer books and I'm considering switching out. Is the class I'm in right now any good? I would be pretty far behind if I switched. School starts Thursday and I can't decide, I need help.

Answer 1

Do you work well? If you procrastinate, there is no point going to Creatvive Writing because you wouldn't be able to cope. On the other hand, if you are a good worker, and you feel CW is better for you, then switch.

Answer 2

Creative writing courses are tedious and largely a waste of time no matter what your interest is.  (I'm a writer and have found nothing more worthless than a college "creative writing" course.)

I always recommend going the literature route, but if you've already procrastinated enough to be worried about being left behind I recommend you just skip english for now and find a decent art appreciation or physical education course to fill your time.  

Language arts, regardless of your major, requires time and effort to be successful.  If you're a non-english major I recommend the standard survey courses, if you are an english major I suggest you suck it up.  Some of the classes suck in the most extreme ways!  

Good luck no matter the route you travel.

MavistheMave - there's usually a lot of reading for a writing class.

Answer 3

Having no idea what the rest of your reading list is, it's impossible to say. Each school and teacher has different books - there's no standard, and this course isn't one that's taught everywhere.

If just the one book is bad for you, focus on the others when writing your papers. You don't have to memorize every detail = it's lit, not history. But if it's too graphic for you, that's different, and it's a good reason to switch out. Is Johnny Got His Gun on the list? The whole idea of that book is hard to deal with - although it's an excellent book.

You say you'd be behind if you switch to Creative Writing, but if the class hasn't even started yet, how behind can you be? How much reading is there for a writing class? You can do some each week. You shouldn't have to read the entire course's worth of books before the class starts.

If you're sickened by the readings, you'll be troubled all semester. Switch now and push a little to catch up with the work.