Thursday, January 26, 2012

Which writers (of our generation) will be in the high school textbooks of the future?

There are a lot of writers out there who make the New York Times best sellers list and are read widely, but will Stephen King and Toni Morrison be recognized and studied as a part of high school curriculum? It's a strange picture when writers of our generation deal explicitly with more topics like the three well-known "dirtys": sex, drugs and violence; the topics a hefty-load of people enjoy.

The times are changing and so must our curriculum, shouldn't it? How far is high school- the base of an 'education'- going to go in terms of content? Which of 'our' writers would Prentice Hall accept?



Will literature in school continue to be "something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read" for future students?Which writers (of our generation) will be in the high school textbooks of the future?
Unfortunately, most schools have their students read "classics." Books like Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. Some schools do have their students read more modern literature but you can't shy away from the classics. Classics can often be more difficult reads because of language variation. Honestly, this generation doesn't generally enjoy classics, although I have to say I did like To Kill a Mockingbird. But all books schools uses are the things that "everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." Why? It'ts been proven that when students are forced to read books, they don't want to read them, and they also don't want to read other books for pleasure. I honestly don't enjoy reading older literature as much as more modern literature, and I think it's seriously time to say goodbye to Mark Twain and William Shakespeare and start reading more enjoyable books written in this time period, but that's just me and many will argue against that.Which writers (of our generation) will be in the high school textbooks of the future?
I studied Morrisson in high school, so it's a safe bet that she'll be popping up even more in the classrooms of the future. Other than that, I'm not really sure which modern writers will end up being studied.



Honestly, I'm a fan of the classics. I love Dead White European Men, and I feel no shame about it.

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