As I read Francine Prose’s article in class, I was momentarily stunned by how unapologetically blunt she seemed by tyrannically ranting about the repetitiveness and utter blandness of America’s high school literature curriculum. Most people I know prefer to take the easier route of skirting around the subject of America’s education system – or prefer to respond to the debatable topic with a tone of vague disinterest and indifference. My patience waned as I saw more and more people view this nationwide problem with dismissiveness, as they answered to this situation with an annoyingly monotone unison of, “Who cares?” Their droning answers to this alarming situation made me understand that not many people truly know just how horribly the curriculum …show more content…
may impact students academically. Although English literature is valued as less important than any other aspect of the education system, my opinions were resiliently agreeable to Prose’s argument that the American high school curriculum is indeed in a cycle of repetition. Transferring from one American high school to another made me realize that my initial apprehension about the educational system was confirmed, I knew that there was something deeply wrong with the American high school literary curriculum. Personally, having been in a Canadian high school for two years, I have already seen large differences in English literary curriculums. I witnessed various books of timeless art that were unceremoniously flung into the laps of disinterested students; students that were systematically taught how to navigate into a fictitious world. In reality, there is simply no precise way to traverse into an unknown world. You just dive in and let yourself drown in the vast sea of words. The schools I have attended were insipidly didactic in their methods of teaching: professors drone on as they indiscreetly read off of their syllabuses, occasionally making eye contact in order to give students the illusion of being taught. Numerous papers filled with inane questions were given out to us, with typed words that suspiciously looked plagiarised – and which, unfortunately, sometimes were. We were systematically taught on how to analyse a character’s actions, and we were taught on how to find similarities from our tedious lives to their adventurous ones. Likewise, Prose mentions this in her article on page 96, “Are we to believe that the average eleventh grader has had an experience to that of Jay Gatsby – or F. Scott Fitzgerald?” As English students, we were taught on how to search for lessons of morality in books, and on how to unnecessarily scrutinize between the lines of meaningless words for an absurdly philosophical significance.
We were taught to know, but not how to understand. We were taught for the sake of being taught, but not for the sake of learning.
At times, what lie beneath the words in books inevitably seem controversial. Most of the books that are taught in schools vary from themes of racial prejudice to abuse, but as students, we are taught to simply skim over the debatable topics. Prose highlights the importance of this problem by stating on page 92, “To read a novel is, for most, an exercise in wish-fulfilment and self-congratulation, a chance to consider thorny issues of race and prejudice from a safe distance.”
As students, we should be taught to grow by understanding various perspectives on different subjects. As students, we should know that we cannot all unanimously agree on a topic. As students, we must confront controversy and prejudice. School is supposed to make us learn about what the world reveals, but in reality, school tries to hide it. They want to contain the arguments between students, they want to contain the inescapable disagreements because it’s uncontrollable. They want to enclose the world, but they should know that the world is infinite, it is a creation that cannot be controlled. The education system in terms of literature does not free us but restrains us from understanding that the world is full of unexplainable possibilities that allow us to
grow.
The novel covered so much that high school history textbooks never went into why America has never fully recovered from slavery and why systems of oppression still exists. After reading this novel, I understand why African Americans are still racially profiled and face prejudice that does not compare to any race living in America. The novel left a mixture of frustration and anger because it is difficult to comprehend how heartless people can be. This book has increased my interests in politics as well and increased my interest to care about what will affect my generation around the world. Even today, inmates in Texas prisons are still forced to work without compensation because peonage is only illegal for convicts. Blackmon successfully emerged the audience in the book by sharing what the book will be like in the introduction. It was a strange method since most would have expected for this novel to be a narrative, but nevertheless, the topic of post Civil War slavery has never been discussed before. The false façade of America being the land of the free and not confronting their errors is what leads to the American people to question their integrity of their own
In the article How Banning Books Marginalizes Children, the author, Paul Ringel, states that approximately fifty-two percent of the books banned in the last ten years illustrate “diverse content”, such as race, religion, gender identity, etc. Ringel believes that attitudes about which books are “appropriate” for kids to read have too often suppressed stories about different cultures and life experiences. He basis his argument around the pretext that when libraries stop the banning it will allow kids to learn how to navigate imaginary worlds filled with differences and apply those lessons to their own lives.
Education is one of the most widely debated issues of our country in this current day and age. Many people feel as though schooling is biased and unfair to certain students; meanwhile, others feel as though the schooling systems are not serious enough in order to properly educate students to prepare them for their futures. The three texts that will be discussed, are all well written controversial essays that use a great deal of rhetorical appeals which help readers relate to the topics being discussed. In the essay “School,” Mori manages to specify her views on how different modern education is in America as to Japan; meanwhile, in “A Talk to Teachers,” Baldwin presents his argument as to how all children, no matter
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.
...it but try to make a change. Through Chris Jaynes, Johnson expresses to his readers the importance of taking a stance on the issue of Whiteness by making it a very prominent ideal in his novel. Johnson furthers his agreement against Whiteness by expressing the fact that the issue not only needs to be identified but that there needs to be more of a push to change the issue. Sticking to the normal ways of trying to fix the issue of Whiteness, such as using a diversity committee, are no longer acceptable in the fight against Whiteness as it has proved to be unsuccessful. Instead Mat Johnson challenges the reader to notice the practices that keep American literature segregated and consider how effective the methods put in place truly are in advancing American literature.
For instance, if we take a look at the 2010 ABIA Book of the Year winner, Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey, there is an opportunity to gain insight into the views and opinions of people in Australia. The book is set in the 1960’s, during the Vietnam war, in a little Australian town of WA. It covers a multitude of topics, from racism to questioning what is right and wrong. However, one of the underlying topics of the book, is the theme of prejudice; to pre-judge. The quote said by Jasper, a 14-year-old boy, “You know what’ll happen. This town they think I’m a bloody animal. They think I belong in a cage, and this here is just an excuse to lock me up in one.” (p.26), highlights
“If we are thinking about effect of education – or the lack of it – on our nature, there is another comparison we can make”(The Allegory of the Cave by Plato 1). Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece; he was fighting for freedom and education. Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim who was fighting for human rights. They both had a vision of freedom and education. We have two stories; one is “The Allegory of the Cave” and “Learning to Read”. Education is a very useful thing that can open our eyes to many things, and we should know how we need to develop properly. Why do we have to compare these two stories? Can we conclude some very important things after reviewing? In this stories we can find two different ways how to study, even though stories have some same ideas, they are different. I have several reasons why they are different and how are they similar.
It’s no surprise that there are faults within our schools in today’s society. As both authors’ point out if our educational system is
When handling a controversial subject, it is important to recognize the opinion of everyone, not just of oneself. If an author does not recognize, at least to some degree, the opinion of everyone in their audience, they risk losing the interest of readers whose opinions are different. African American writers must consider how it feels to be an African American to their audience; they must understand that there is no such thing as one identity for an entire race.
Good morning/afternoon my fellow book club members, my name is Savannah Higgins and I’m here to address the concept of discrimination in ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak.
In Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, talks about the real point of view of textbooks in the classroom. Many textbooks create this idea of Heroification, were people from the past are perfect creatures without conflicts and pain. The idea is to influence the students to strive for great things and become like these people. However, by showing only the good side of people or events is misleading. We need to show both sides- the good and the bad in order to show a complete picture of the past. Another, thing textbooks do is hid events or makes them more simplistic. Many textbooks show the idea that racism is over, and hid the fact that society is still dealing with racism. The textbook companies do this because they want not to have students have the tough conversations. The la...
Stories can be dangerous for they can trap one’s thinking in a narrow mind, when the author’s biased opinion influences one. To Kill the Mockingbird by Harper Lee and “How Southern Socialites Rewrote Civil War History” by Vox both demonstrate the danger of the story through the author’s influence over the readers on topics.
In 1960, a novel was written to outline injustices and racism against those who were innocent, though unfairly judged because of social expectations and prejudiced beliefs. This novel not only presented these issues, but is also considered a revolutionary piece of literature, still being read by many people today, more than 50 years later. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has caused some controversy about the intents of the book and the way certain people or groups are presented. Whether To Kill a Mockingbird as a narrative outshines the issue it presents is a debatable argument. However, I believe that the narrative of the novel supports the concerns exhibited for numerous reasons. In what follows, some of these are presented: the historical
This allowed readers to experience horrible acts of white people and to empathize with the innocent victims. However, Rankine criticizes the people of the United States for their attitudes and behaviors towards African-Americans. Particularly, the author claimed that “as citizens, we are all involved in society’s indignities and injustices, whether as perpetrator or bystander consciously or unthinkingly” (Evaristo 1). Thus, the book challenges people’s perceptions and beliefs, compelling them to reevaluate their actions. The readers begin to understand that their tolerance of violence and lack of actions to prevent racism contributes to injustices in the United States. Rankine even implied that “freedom of expression, something which the accumulative stresses of racial violence would seem to attempt to limit” blocks and alters “his or her experience of citizenship” (Day 3). Therefore, the citizens need to get involved in supporting and protecting African-Americans’ lives, who are loyal residents of the nation as
Observe the list of required literary works assigned to any current or past high school student, and chances are you will see an abundance of similar titles appear in each syllabi. These lists of works typically include the iconic literary masterpieces brought forth by Ray Bradbury, Harper Lee, and Shakespeare, among others. Many a time one is quick to lash the whip of criticism on to these pieces, regarding them as the typical, dreary literature that is deemed mandatory time and time again. Although these reads may seem mundane and utterly inapplicable to not only those required to read them, but contemporary society as a whole, it is vital that one breaks down this ever-hardening wall of criticisms in an effort to understand their place