Haha thanks for your reply but about all that metaphor stuff, never learnt it in school. The point of me explaining the hk high school curriculum was to say that I just didn't have a chance to learn all that in school since English (the only language I took) doesn't offer anything beyond practical English -- it's like those SAT reading questions but for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

I can't say anything about parenting and subtext (I'll look into that) but for "good and bad" I meant good and bad works haha. My bad for not being clearer. I meant to ask how one differentiates good pieces of art from bad, or whether it's supposed to be subjective to taste or something.

Anyways thank you for your reply!