“Be like Odysseus and embrace the long haul to liberation (and then take the Odyssey out of your curriculum because it’s trash),” tweeted Shea Martin in June. “Hahaha,” replied Heather Levine, an English teacher at Lawrence (Mass.) High School. “Very proud to say we got the Odyssey removed from the curriculum this year!”
I think this is a poorly thought out decision, for most people the only exposure outside of movies, video games and T.V that they will ever get to 'authors' such a Homer occurs in school. A minuscule proportion of the population actually reads more than a few books a year, by not exposing children and students to literature at an early age, you're not democratising education instead you're robbing them of one of the few chances they will have to engage with these works and turning the classics into an elitist white marble tomb.
I think this is an elitist move, there is an assumption that all of these children will be able to engage with these in University ( or manana) but if only 50% of people ever attend University then you're effectively cutting off half of the population in one fell swoop and the irony is that this will probably hit minorities and the poor the hardest.
This is very well-considered. Maybe best is your careful explanation about the difference between "banning" a book and leaving it out of a curriculum. It's important for all of us who see value in ancient texts to consider a both/and way of looking at things rather than thinking of curriculum as a place of scarcity, competition, and absolutism. Thanks!
People who are afraid to read controversial books, are the ones easily conquered.
“Be like Odysseus and embrace the long haul to liberation (and then take the Odyssey out of your curriculum because it’s trash),” tweeted Shea Martin in June. “Hahaha,” replied Heather Levine, an English teacher at Lawrence (Mass.) High School. “Very proud to say we got the Odyssey removed from the curriculum this year!”
I think this is a poorly thought out decision, for most people the only exposure outside of movies, video games and T.V that they will ever get to 'authors' such a Homer occurs in school. A minuscule proportion of the population actually reads more than a few books a year, by not exposing children and students to literature at an early age, you're not democratising education instead you're robbing them of one of the few chances they will have to engage with these works and turning the classics into an elitist white marble tomb.
I think this is an elitist move, there is an assumption that all of these children will be able to engage with these in University ( or manana) but if only 50% of people ever attend University then you're effectively cutting off half of the population in one fell swoop and the irony is that this will probably hit minorities and the poor the hardest.
“ One of the units we decided not to use moving forward included Homer’s Odyssey”. Did I read something wrong???
How about: ..."Delay the study of ...The Bible... (classics) until readers are mature enough to question, debate, and defy subtle assertions."
??
This is very well-considered. Maybe best is your careful explanation about the difference between "banning" a book and leaving it out of a curriculum. It's important for all of us who see value in ancient texts to consider a both/and way of looking at things rather than thinking of curriculum as a place of scarcity, competition, and absolutism. Thanks!