Much Ado About Standardized Literature In the world of modern day education, school boards across the nation often refer to lists of “standard literature” when assigning reading materials to students. Among these novels are the classics: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, just to name a few. But what are students truly gaining from reading these well-known works? What are the school boards across America hoping to teach students by enforcing “standard literature” in the curriculum? While many teachers, parents, and students may hope it is for the analysis of the author’s use of words or the thought-provoking studies about the distinct complexities of the English language,
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According to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the strong correlation between reading and writing serves as proof of the necessity of teaching students various types of writing. Before a writer can employ a certain style of language, he or she first needs to be introduced to that language through reading ("NCTE”). Without this initial encounter of a particular technique or genre of writing, students will remain unequipped and lack the extensive palette that is essential to colorful writing. Therefore, English curriculums should reflect an emphasis on the importance of diverse styles of writing over the diverse backgrounds of the writers. Thoroughly studying different types of texts will benefit students tremendously in the long run, as they will be able to master an assortment of styles and expand the techniques utilized in their writing, simply by reading a multitude of works written by skilled …show more content…
One of the most influential books that I read in my AP Literature and Composition course was William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying. While our class studied the author’s background and circumstances briefly in this unit, the history of the writer never took the place of the deep study of language we experienced with this novel. For weeks, we analyzed the author’s distinct style and his creative use of a stream of consciousness narrative style. Over the course of reading this book, we had countless classroom discussions that evolved around the significance of the characters falling into a river and the deeper meaning behind their individual actions in this crucial scene. Although I did learn a bit about the time period by briefly learning about the author, it was the extensive analysis of literature that left a lasting impact on my writing style and education. I had never seen an author use a stream of consciousness narrative style in the past, and learning about this style of narration encouraged me to apply creative methods to my own writing. I also felt as though I gained a greater appreciation for literature and was in awe of the writer not for his circumstance, but for his writing. The study of the actual writing contained within As I
According to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the strong correlation between reading and writing serves as proof of the necessity of teaching students various types of writing. Before a writer can employ a certain style of language, he or she first needs to be introduced to that language through reading ("NCTE”). Without this initial encounter of a particular technique or genre of writing, students will remain unequipped and lack the extensive palette that is essential to colorful writing. Therefore, English curriculums should reflect an emphasis on the importance of diverse styles of writing over the diverse backgrounds of the writers. Thoroughly studying different types of texts will benefit students tremendously in the long run, as they will be able to master an assortment of styles and expand the techniques utilized in their writing, simply by reading a multitude of works written by skilled …show more content…
One of the most influential books that I read in my AP Literature and Composition course was William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying. While our class studied the author’s background and circumstances briefly in this unit, the history of the writer never took the place of the deep study of language we experienced with this novel. For weeks, we analyzed the author’s distinct style and his creative use of a stream of consciousness narrative style. Over the course of reading this book, we had countless classroom discussions that evolved around the significance of the characters falling into a river and the deeper meaning behind their individual actions in this crucial scene. Although I did learn a bit about the time period by briefly learning about the author, it was the extensive analysis of literature that left a lasting impact on my writing style and education. I had never seen an author use a stream of consciousness narrative style in the past, and learning about this style of narration encouraged me to apply creative methods to my own writing. I also felt as though I gained a greater appreciation for literature and was in awe of the writer not for his circumstance, but for his writing. The study of the actual writing contained within As I