(Untitled)

[mcjulie]

What is this I see? Yet more lit snobbery to wrestle with? Some Books Are More Equal Than Others by By Clare Needell Hollander.

I read this courtesy jaylake and knew I had many objections, but I felt like taking the time to break them down somewhat carefully. The snobbery in evidence here is not merely a narrative of the essayist’s superior literary

Comments

[mcjulie]

Yeah, she really seems to cross the line here from "suggested reading list, for extra credit and stuff" into "make sure that kids do not enjoy summer vacation at all."

Her language is so dictatorial -- must, need, should, have, require.

Maybe middle school is a lot different nowadays, but I don't recall any method by which I could have been forced to read anything in particular over the summer -- I wouldn't have the same teacher from one year to the next. So a summer reading list would have been nothing but helpful suggestions anyway.

[anonymous]

Yeah, the only time I ever remember having Summer Reading is in high school, when my AP US History teacher told us to prepare for AP European History (which he also taught) by reading Sophie's World. (Which I did, and it was awesome, and a fine use of fantasy and narrative to teach non-fiction, in this case, the history of philosophy.)

[criada]

Yeah, the only time I ever remember having Summer Reading is in high school, when my AP US History teacher told us to prepare for AP European History (which he also taught) by reading Sophie's World. (Which I did, and it was awesome, and a fine use of fantasy and narrative to teach non-fiction, in this case, the history of philosophy.)

[frabjouslinz]

I had a similar reaction to this essay. I think the author fails as an essayist, as well as a middle school teacher. She does not seem to understand the art of following a narrative at all, either fiction or non, nor does she understand the average 12-14 year old in any way. I would give the article a D- and ask her to try again, after taking a logic class. (And I would be snarky about it, too.)

[mcjulie]

Heh. So many essayists could benefit from such a logic class...

[links] Link salad times its rhymes

[livejournal]

User jaylake referenced to your post from [links] Link salad times its rhymes saying: [...] with an epic rant on literary snobbery [...]

[joycemocha]

Oh yes. This article? It's a veiled justification for the new Common Core standards being rolled out nationwide to be followed by....a Common Core-based test!

I bet if you poked around you'd find the teacher has connections to Pearson (one of the for-profit education companies that writes curriculum, tests and software for schools). Essentially, the Common Core strongly emphasizes the reading of nonfiction over fiction, especially in the middle school years. Pearson is heavily invested in rolling out Common Core.

This article is nothing more than propaganda in the education reform wars.

[mcjulie]

Well, it certainly seems like it's pushing a pre-existing agenda -- it would explain the leaps in logic.

I think more narrative/popular nonfiction would be a great addition to history/social studies, and science classes, as a supplement to textbooks -- which are often dry and hard to connect with. In that case, it's an *improvement* over the default. But for English Lit to crowd out fiction with nonfiction? All I can imagine is that you end up with a bunch of kids who never learn to like reading at all.

[elfs]

I am tragically reminded of a list of "students are expected to..." that came from my daughter's sixth grade reading assignment. It had all the usual elements of an English class: "describe the plot," "identify metaphor," "identify point of view," etc. etc.

Nowhere in the list did it say "Enjoy reading."

[mcjulie]

Sigh. They clearly don't expect you to enjoy it.