On Classic Literature
I hate Shakespeare.
I mean I really, really hate Shakespeare.
In high school I read like mad. The lit teacher had given us a list of classic books, and I did my level best to make it through each and every single one, checking them off as I went. It’s how I found Elmer Gantry, my favorite book of all time. It’s how I discovered Evelyn Waugh, who I would easily put up as one of the best authors I’ve ever encountered.
The books that never got checked off, though, were the works of Willy the Shake. The language threw me, the stories didn’t interest me, the themes were so prevalent in popular culture that exposure to the source material didn’t seem as authentic....I’ve got a ton of excuses, but I never did grow to like Shakespeare.
I bring this up because of a front-page article in the April 4th edition of Education Week on how teenage readers today are being drawn to “dark” works with mature themes. Many schools are updating their reading lists to reflect the trend, often with blowback from the community when books like Laurie Anderson’s Speak make the list. I say bully for the teachers, and I commend them for exposing their kids to books that they actually want to read. If the themes are tough, so be it—it’s not as if Shakespeare was vanilla, after all.
You could even extend the argument to first grade. Frog and Toad are classics, Dick and Jane are classics, but very few kids are willing to read them. Put Captain Underpants in front of them, though, and you get triple the effort. Even the read alouds follow this pattern; Junie B. Jones has it all over Ramona Quimby nowadays.
If the end goal is reading, does it really matter what the pathway is?
I mean I really, really hate Shakespeare.
In high school I read like mad. The lit teacher had given us a list of classic books, and I did my level best to make it through each and every single one, checking them off as I went. It’s how I found Elmer Gantry, my favorite book of all time. It’s how I discovered Evelyn Waugh, who I would easily put up as one of the best authors I’ve ever encountered.
The books that never got checked off, though, were the works of Willy the Shake. The language threw me, the stories didn’t interest me, the themes were so prevalent in popular culture that exposure to the source material didn’t seem as authentic....I’ve got a ton of excuses, but I never did grow to like Shakespeare.
I bring this up because of a front-page article in the April 4th edition of Education Week on how teenage readers today are being drawn to “dark” works with mature themes. Many schools are updating their reading lists to reflect the trend, often with blowback from the community when books like Laurie Anderson’s Speak make the list. I say bully for the teachers, and I commend them for exposing their kids to books that they actually want to read. If the themes are tough, so be it—it’s not as if Shakespeare was vanilla, after all.
You could even extend the argument to first grade. Frog and Toad are classics, Dick and Jane are classics, but very few kids are willing to read them. Put Captain Underpants in front of them, though, and you get triple the effort. Even the read alouds follow this pattern; Junie B. Jones has it all over Ramona Quimby nowadays.
If the end goal is reading, does it really matter what the pathway is?
posted by Ryan at 10:45 PM
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