Alas, poor Yorick! Who the hell is Yorick, Yo? August 22, 2007

Who decides that Shakespeare is a required and desirable part of the curriculum in high school and college?  A lot of universities have realized they were far too centered on western culture and history but I think the self examination needs to go much deeper.  There is a large influential block of people who think if you have not read certain western classics you are somewhat of a barbarian not fit for decent dinner party conversation.   So generation after generation marches along and it goes like this.  Here, read this because it will make you a well rounded individual of more value to society and yourself.  Sure it was written hundreds of years ago and is filled with words no longer in use and cultural reverences that make perfect sense only to people who were alive when it was written.  I had to read it and every generation before me had to read it so guess what, you have to read it.  Since you had no say in choosing to read it and you can’t relate to it what so ever, you won’t get much out of it but here is a test to see if you did read it.  No cliff notes please.  Congratulations you now fit the definition of what some people consider well read and cultured.  This kind of education is like the math I talked about previously and is more about regurgitative gymnastics than anything else.  I have an alternative method of teaching literature which would have dramatically superior results but first I would like to recount an experience of mine.      Right in the middle of a typical literature class in college we were asked to write something that could be about anything we wanted and it would not be graded and marked up with a red pen.  I sat down and wrote twelve typed pages in two hours of non-stop fun.  I wrote a fictional story of people who thought nuclear Armageddon was imminent and all the silly things they did in reaction.  I flew through it because the spelling and grammar were not going to be graded.  I turned it in and the associate professor was surprised at the number of pages I turned in.  In the big auditorium my story was selected as one of the stories the professor read out loud to the class.  He later came to see me and thanked me for writing the story and asked if he could use it in a book he was writing about student writing.  I had used some of the writing techniques used by some of our assigned authors he had pointed out in his lecture.   Even though I was a business major, this experience in literature class was the most rewarding of my college classes.  What I took away from that experience is that school should not be just about memorization or even getting a grade.     If I had my say on how reading and writhing were taught in school I would let the students have a far greater say in what it is they read and write about.  I would offer a long list of recommended books which would include Shakespeare for the older grades.  Students would be allowed to choose to read works not on the list as long as they weren’t offensive etc.  They could recommend works to each other to read and discuss what they read in class.  Students would be empowered and using the natural learning abilities we all have. Instead of pushing students, teachers would be more of a guide rail and a helping hand as their charges zoom forward on their own power.  On the writing side I would not make the process so arduous and stifling but one of gradual improvement through encouragement.  I would have the students read hundreds of books and write volumes in between Kindergarten and twelve grades.  I think reading and writing can best be learned by doing a lot of both.   As far as grades go I would give credit for each book read and each written paper along with points for class discussion on what you read.  No this approach won’t weed out and crush the enthusiasm of students who dangle a participle.  School should not be obsessed with ranking people.  Use more resources on kids that lag behind but don’t stigmatize them which only compound their issues. The fact is all kids can’t be above average and it is normal and expected that there would be a range of skill and enthusiasm in a large and varied population.  Everyone must be able to read and write as that is the basis for most learning in other subjects.  After that we should lighten up and let kids discover and enjoy reading and writing.  Reading builds vocabulary etc. but it can also be a great way for young people to discover the world, form opinions and even help build self identity.