New School Year, New and Old Tutees

School started this week where I live. Today a former tutee, going into his sophomore year at Yale, is coming by to say hello and bringing his sister, who is starting her sophomore year in high school, with him. I hope she has one of the few good teachers for English literature. I often wonder how many of these teachers even have certification for teaching the subject. It certainly isn't because they understand the works they teach or how to write an essay. When I tell students to consider the religious turmoil that was current in Shakespeare's time when reading "Hamlet", or when I warn them that didactic argument is not appropriate for critical essays they look at me as though I have lost my mind. "But my teacher said," is a common response.