I have developed a serious beef with the Ed department at Slippery Rock. For the most part, I find our required classes extremely useful. Of course, it's important for us to learn and discuss the canon, because we will eventually teach it in a few short years. These classic authors definitely have value, whether it be Shakespeare, Hawthorne, etc. This week in class, we had a discussion about education of the canon. In "Comics, the Canon, and the Classroom", Carter explains the need for a variety of literature in schools. "Rather than being an exclusive sphere encompassing for the most part only white, European males, it became more a plane for multiple voices and experiences.." (57).
This past week, I registered for my spring classes. After meeting with my adviser, I learned that the English section titled "Diverse Literature" is not required for our major. This section includes African-American Literature, Literature of the Women's Movement, Native American Literature, Latino Literature of the US, and Eastern Literature. Honestly, this pisses me off. In our education classes, we learn about the necessity of inclusion. Yet, our program does not practice this. I'm tired of seeing people labeled as a superfluous "special interest" groups, whether it be through literature or even politics. Women, African-Americans, the LGBTQ community, etc. represent millions of people who deserve their place in literature. For years, these groups have been severely underrepresented. How are we as future teachers expected to teach diverse material when even our college deems it less important than the canon? I think it's vital that students read literature from a variety of different cultures. Exposing students to diverse literature is an important step towards eliminating ignorance. I want my students to be able to personally identify with novels I choose. In an article written by Ellen Oh, she explains the necessity to fix the problem with YA literature. She writes, "We need to teach our youth the beauty of diversity. Beauty does not come in only one color. It does not come in only one size and one shape. And maybe when our teens grow up exposed to diversity, then they will grow into adults who embrace it."
I was excited when my adviser informed me that I was required to take a "diverse literature" block but equally as heartbroken when I discovered that he was wrong and it did not fit in my schedule. I believe that our course load is heavy on the canon and leaves little to no room to explore variations of diverse literature. And with America's public schools growing increasingly diverse, I believe teachers should adapt their curriculum to match the growing needs of our students. How are we supposed to do that when we are spending our time in classes devoted to Shakespeare and the historical development of the English language? (By the way, the amount of ELLs have tripled in the past 30 years, so why does it matter how the language even formed??)
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very important issue! I never realized as a student why I connected to certain novels and not others. While reading for Young Adult Lit last spring, I realized that I had never selected a novel for leisure reading that had a male protagonist. I was attracted to novels with strong female characters with less than perfect lives because this was how I related to what I was reading. I wanted to see myself in the book. As a white woman I'm sure that was easier for me than others. I know the world of disability literature and LGBT novels are increasingly common, but I know very little about them. It's a shame that in our program I've had to read about floppy disks and how to create a Power Point, but I have to take it in myself to read diverse literature.
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