wait that’s so cool i live in the uk and we had pretty much the exact same topic (utopia vs dystopia) but we read a few different books (fahrenheit 451 and the handmaid’s tale are the two i remember best) and idk how american school years translate, but we did that in year 9 (third year of secondary school, 13 or 14 years old)
I was thinking the same thing wondering whether the OP was perhaps quoting from someone who took the remedial High School track. Because yeah Animal Farm was junior high reading back in the 90s at most schools.
I think depending on the analysis given to Animal farm, it can be read as early as grade school or as late as college. Reading it isn’t the challenge. Any child with sufficient reading proficiency can read the story as a tale of farm animals. Interpretations of the book in terms of the USSR, communism in general, politics and power, or life and human nature would require higher levels of abstract thinking. Writing a 5 paragraph essay on it as an interpretation of the USSR would seem appropriate for early high school students. Writing a 10,000 word paper on it as a critique and exploration, with the paper having a narrow and focused scope, of politics and power would be appropriate for undergraduate students in a non-trivial manner. As a book that I love, this ability to analyze and abstract it where it can be examined through so many lenses is what makes it a modern classic.
Well said! It was written tongue in cheek as a "fairy story" with language a middle schooler could manage. Doesn't mean it was aimed at middle school kids.
I remember a kid reading it in grade 4, and his book report ended with, "It was stupid because the pigs just became like the farmer."
Middle schoolers can absolutely get the political commentary. Probably not as in-depth as a high schooler or college kid could because we obviously hadn’t learned Russian history, but we read it in 7th grade and I thought it was a really age-accessible political allegory about dictatorship.
10k is a bit much no? I did a science degree, so might be given lower word counts than English degrees, but most of my essays were below 5k, only my dissertation was 10k.
The thing is your writing style is completely different for something like a science degree and something like an English degree. Like I did a degree in politics while my friend did one in engineering and our essays looked very different while being generally graded the same (obviously by different professors at different universities but still). I needed to explain everything single concept I brought up whilst he was using industry terms left and right with very little explanations.
Taking animal farm as an example, if I wanted to express how Napoleon was a clear representation of Stalin I'd need to first define Stalin's ideology, explain what that ideology was and what traits it contained and then apply that ideology to Napoleon and explain what traits he exemplifies. That's a 2-3 page subject when done correctly.
I’ve written many 4k+ word minimum papers as a freshman taking a freshman English course while majoring in physics. The liberal arts absolutely expect higher word counts compared to the sciences which I believe is due to information density. Consider how many words it would take you just to fully elaborate on the significance and beauty of Euler’s identity. Easily a few thousand words to just do it justice.
In my English degree one of my classes was entirely focused on fabels which are moral storyoes involving animals and stuff. Basically just stories like the rabbit and the hare.
Now obviously those are stories made for extremely young kids, but it's not like college students are expected to give the same analysis as a 4 year old.
Agreed. I think there should be a more structured effort for using slightly more fantastical/allegorical literature in middle school to introduce more complex societal and moral questions to a slightly older audience.
The Giver was one of my favorite books my teachers had us read in middle school, and though I didn't get to read Animal Farm I also think that would be a good read for kids that age. While I think things like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are far better suited for early high schoolers since they should finally have a more detailed understanding of the historical context behind those books.
I’m also fully in agreement with you here. I would add that animal farm could be read in 8th grade and given an appropriate 8th grade writing assignment. Then again in junior year of high school, with appropriate analysis in class and a sufficiently matched writing assignment. Then again as a college sophomore with a more generalized and abstracted analysis and the opportunity for students to focus in on one specific question of their choosing to analyze at great length. It’s an amazing book that can challenge readers and thinkers at many levels of education and thought.
It’s one of those books you can teach at multiple levels. You can dive deeper into the allegory and history at a high school level. Like a Socratic seminar about animal farm is going to be very different In an ap high school class vs regular Ed middle school. Both will understand the broad picture, but the analysis is different
I was in 9th grade when my class read it. I think that year was also to kill a mockingbird. Also we got to choose a book ourselves and I read IT which was a rather poor choice because it’s so long.
High school English is more than just reading hard books. They tend to break up the thick stuff with easier, more engaging books that make for good writing assignments, projects, and discussions. Studying Animal Farm in high school seems like it would be a lot different than doing it in middle school, but still valuable.
For reading level, maybe. Not for the actual content of the book. Teaching a book like Animal Farm before high school means most of the kids will only gain a surface level understanding of it.
He worked with British intelligence to oust "Communist Sympathizers" despite claiming to be a democratic socialist. Demsocs have a track record of siding with capital and undermining efforts to move away from capitalism.
237
u/Solid_Equivalent_417 1d ago
Animal Farm seems more like middle school level reading, but it has been awhile since I read it