In the present academic world, the status quo of subjects typically taught in schools are changing rapidly. Curricula in many school systems appear to be outdated and need to be improved and modernized. Classic literary works, that are so well-known by educators and students, are now in the process of being removed. According to Lyndsey Layton, author of “Common Core State Standards in English spark war over words,” “The Common Core State Standards in English, which have been adopted in 46 states and the District, call for public schools to ramp up nonfiction so that by 12th grade students will be reading mostly “informational text” instead of fictional literature.” With standards such as Common Core, it is believed that by exempting non-fictional …show more content…
For instance, even though literature is used in numerous school systems, some individuals do not see literature as a needed component in order to academically strengthen students. In fact, it actually can be seen as irrelevant, due to the fact that it no longer relates to the interests of students. According to Jean Edelstein, author of “Learning to hate literature,” discusses the negative repercussions of literary based classes when stating “. . . It 's often suggested that the classics are bereft of any appeal to Youth Today.” Because of the old-fashioned dialect and peculiar sentence structure, there are some that do not see any relevance for students to continue studying literature. With its preserved language that was written to appeal to individuals of particular time periods and interests, it no longer has relatability to the interests of modern-day youth. Because of this, students have no desire to actually learn and comprehend the different areas of literature. For this reason, individuals firmly believe that if schools were to exempt literature and replace it with more recently published writings, students would be more apt to engage themselves in the aspect of
Did you ever think that books that have sex, obscene language, and immoral subjects can make a good book? The Catcher in the Rye has been on the banned reading list for exactly those reasons. The book was mainly put on disapproval from between 1966 and 1975 in almost every school district in the United States. The book was said to be so bad that in 1960 a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was fired for assigning the book to an eleventh-grade English class. Despite some opposition to the novel, however, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye should be on a reading list for the freshman students because it gives a crystal clear image on how the world is in violence, sex, and obscenity and the book also teaches the motifs of lying and deception.
Literature; it has compelled us, entertained us, educated us, and drove us to madness. It has served as life instruction, by using the characters as the lesson plan. It is sometimes blunt, sometimes ugly, and in Truman Capote’s case, is so gruesome that we do not dare forget it.
As it is inevitable that children will grow up to be exposed to the world's evils, which are shown in novels like Fahrenheit 451, teaching the context and meaning of those evils in a learning environment allows for more of a educated understanding and a fuller grasp on the issues within. By reading controversial novels in schools, students in middle and high school will benefit tremendously by being exposed to them in a learning environment. Although teachers and parents have control as to what the students are exposed to at a young age, Fahrenheit 451 should not be banned from middle and high schools as it depicts the effects of censorship on a dystopian society through use of controversial material which doubles as
In his essay “Disliking Books,” he examines the standard that many teachers hold. The author believes that the view of other teachers is that “leaving me alone with literary texts themselves, uncontaminated by the interpretations and theories of professional critics would enable me to get on the closest possible terms with those texts” (Graff 26). Teachers, as Graff believes, leave their students with only their own interpretations and perspectives on a text. This does not encourage learning or critical thinking, but hinders students’ abilities to improve and develop ideas their own. Without guidance, students cannot delve deeper into the subjects in which they are learning. Alternatively, in his “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” Graff reveals isolation in perspective of teachers through his own experience with teachers holding opposing viewpoints and theorizes “teachers in modern periods need nonmodernists (and vice versa) in order to make their subjects intelligible to their students” Graff 340). Hence, without elaborating on a subject from all possible viewpoints, a student will have a limited understanding of what it is and how to apply it in their life. Each student will take a different standpoint on what is said, and if they disagree, it will slip through their
With more and more up and coming techknology, books, news papers, encyclopedias, etc. seem to be becoming a thing of the past. Dana Gioia, author of “Why Literature Matters,” states very strong opinions supporting the importance of literature. The speaker uses strong appeals to sway the readers opinion as well as facts and comparison.
Adolescent literature will always be challenged, as long as there are children in this world. This may be a hot topic to touch debate about whether which books are appropriate to be used in the academic environment. Though, the purpose of these debatable senses is to provide the best and proper education for young adults to maturity. Developing the best literature for young adults requires team work and trials that will improve the value of a text decided among parents, students, and teachers. Again, the selection of these adolescent literatures is to promote maturation that would prepare your kids and my kids for the reality and future situations in their lives.
In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read” (1999), Francine Prose argues that literature is not being exposed to and taught to high school students in the way that it should be and that students learn to “loathe” it due to this. Prose provides her audience with her personal experience as both a mother and a college professor along with her own research on the books and suggested purposed of them. She continues to expand on this topic in order to help illuminate the importance of literature itself, not being associated with personal experiences or morals. Prose’s position is valid and she makes her essay directed towards school boards, teachers, and students and continues to maintain a critical tone throughout her essay.
What are Literary lenses? The term acts a figure of speech. The lenses are used to view a piece of literature from different angles in order to find multiple themes. This has been a relatively new expression in the last few decades as literary lenses have grown to be taught in high schools and colleges throughout the United States and the world. Since the terms creation in the late 20th century, students now learn many of these lenses in school to analyze pieces of literature. The lenses can help a reader understand why something happened, or where it is taking place. They can help to bring discriminatory things to light and cast them aside to better appreciate the work. In the University of Minnesota’s College in the Schools Literature class
In preparation for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam, high school students must read many kinds of literature during the year-long course to familiarize themselves with different time periods, movements, philosophies, and genres. Advanced Placement students must learn to think critically, and be ready to find, analyze, and express literary connections through written analysis. The biggest challenge of teaching and learning Advanced Placement English is the difficulty covering the entire scope of literature in two semesters. Twentieth century literature often gets neglected. The pace of the curriculum can also limit the creativity of lesson planning and evaluation. Many teachers rely heavily on lecture, discussion, and a traditional analysis paper.
There has recently been a renewed interest and passion in the issue of censorship. In the realm of the censorship of books in schools alone, several hundred cases have surfaced each year for nearly the past decade. Controversies over which books to include in the high school English curriculum present a clash of values between teachers, school systems, and parents over what is appropriate for and meaningful to students. It is important to strike a balance between English that is meaningful to students by relating to their lives and representing diversity and satisfying worries about the appropriateness of what is read. This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss censorship in schools and to argue that the censorship of books in the high school English curriculum is limiting and takes away literature that is meaningful to students.
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 brings forth many critical messages about the importance of independent thought that are valuable to any reader. Currently, Fahrenheit 451 is, on average, read in high school freshmen or sophomore English classes. The messages it presents have the capability to completely change a person 's outlook on how they construct their opinions and make decisions about the world around them. However, in order for the book 's underlying messages to be understood and applied to a student 's life it must be read in early college or late high school english classes.
To test this hypothesis, I propose surveying school system directors and superintendents in the State of Tennessee. In fact, the Director of my school system expressed interest in this topic during a recent conversation and offered to help by providing contact information for fellow directors across the state. I would like to devise a relatively simple survey that would begin with a series of objective questions aimed at determining the subjects’ fiction reading habits over an extended period, including quantity of novels read and preferred genres. Next will follow a limited number of broad, subjective questions, such as favorite novel-length works of fiction read over their lifetimes and whether they considered those works influential in their personal and/or professional development as leaders. The survey would then narrow, asking them to recall either specific characters, events, or themes that they considered most impactful in those works and why.
Literature has been part of society since pen met paper. It has recorded history, retold fables, and entertained adults for centuries. Literature intended for children, however, is a recent development. Though children’s literature is young, the texts can be separated into two categories by age. The exact splitting point is debatable, but as technology revolutionized in the mid-twentieth century is the dividing point between classic and contemporary. Today’s children’s literature is extraordinarily different from the classics that it evolved from, but yet as classic was transformed into modern, the literature kept many common features.
Literature has had a major impact on society, and, also our history. Literature has reformed and shaped civilizations, changed political systems, and has exposed injustices (3). Our literature has changed and developed as we have, keeping up with our society. “...literature is crucial for the advancement of society (3).” With literary works, we can convince others to view things a certain way, share our opinions, and more. Literature is greatly intertwined with our society and everyday lives, and they would not be the same without it. Literature plays an irreplaceable role in our
Literature has many meanings but to me when I hear the word literature I think of large tomes of words and stories that have become classics over time however this is only one definition of literature. Literature comes from that Latin word littera, that directly translated means letter, thus supporting the idea that literature is written. This view however leaves out the idea that there can be oral literature as well from which many of our stories and books come from.