To Kill or Not to Kill…a Mockingbird
An article from The Washington Post discusses blowback from teaching (or not teaching) ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
Let’s take a step back and consider the broader question about The Western Canon and which books should be taught in K-12 nowadays.
What do you remember reading in school and, in hindsight, think could be skipped or should remain in the canon? What do you think should be added? (Again, K-12). College is another matter altogether.
The most memorable reads I had in “Humanities” class (later called “English Class”) included:
1. Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’ (senior year of high school in Honor’s English… notably the only honor’s class I was in throughout high school)
2. ‘A&P’ by John Updike, a short story read in 10th grade and, to my memory (which is almost certainly wrong), it was read to us by… the author himself as a guest…this seems impossible…where was John Updike in 2005 and was he going from school to school reading to high schoolers? Probably not.
3. ‘Catcher in the Rye’ (partly because I couldn’t finish it even though I liked the book). I was a teenage boy. This is a something I don’t think I’ve shared publicly before… but I had a childhood reading disorder (“tracking problem”) which persisted and makes reading a challenge. I suspect, in part, because it was difficult that I gravitated towards close reading over time… hence my direction(s) in college and after. But, anyways, moving along…
4. ‘Into the Wild’ by Jon Krakauer. In fact, I quoted the following in my high school yearbook as my personal statement. “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences.”
5. ‘Siddhartha’ by Hermann Hesse. A book that a friend encouraged me to read. I managed to get myself to do so and absolutely fell in love with the text.
I remember enjoying the little bit of Shakespeare that we read.
I do not recall reading any notable amounts of poetry.
I was taken with ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf’ by Ntozake Shange. It’s possible I read this in Creative Writing class (an elective).
In Creative Writing class, I mostly tried to write plays…They were very bad (and mostly ripped off The Simpsons). Go figure. I had limited life experience and lacked maturity.
I’m sure I’m leaving plenty off the list.
So, let me ask again— What do you remember reading in school and, in hindsight, think could be skipped or should remain in the canon? What should we add?
Do you think high school students would be able to appropriately engage with Claudia Rankine’s ‘Citizen’, for example?
I can think of many “good reads”, but that’s wholly different from sensible reads (based on age groups) as well as transformative reads that can compete with other mediums (television/internet/smartphones/TikTok).
Your thoughts??