"Why do we read the books that we do in English class?’’
Your answer to this question might be “the teachers say we have to” or it might be “I don’t care”, but this question has always fascinated me. I’ve loved English class for as long as I’ve taken it, and, in middle school, I was quite perplexed as to why my classmates didn’t seem to share my passion for Maniac Magee or From the Mixed-Up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankwiler. But then high school came around, and everyone’s passion for reading got even dimmer, including mine. In freshman and sophomore year, it was common to hear people complaining about last night’s reading or bragging about not completing it. And I understood them completely; even for me, there’s only so much Their Eyes Were Watching God I can endure before I just accept the fact that I will never understand Zora Neal Hurston.
But everything seemed to turn around after winter break, when my English 10 class began Sherman Alexie’s Flight. Suddenly, almost everyone was doing the nightly readings, and the Harkness discussions for that book were some of the best we’d ever had. But why? Flight wasn't an iconic book, and it certainly didn’t have the most robust themes to dig into, but it was still the favorite of almost everyone in my class due to the fact that they actually enjoyed it. Instead of being a book you had to pull yourself through, Flight’s simple prose and easy to understand themes made it something everyone could latch onto.
But not every book you read for class can be that easy. I spoke to Ms. Wrambel about how she balances educational value and ease of understanding when choosing books for her classes. She highlighted how she prioritized student engagement and skill development over simply reading the classics. In the last few years, the English department has removed books like The Catcher in the Rye and East of Eden in favor of more modern texts. Referencing the English 10 curriculum, Wrambel says “It’s important to represent the breadth of American history,” something that requires a constantly changing curriculum.
And elective courses allow for an even more experimental curriculum. Teachers are allowed almost free reign over their own syllabus, leading to the integration of short stories, films, and TV. “It teaches students to absorb media as a text, which is important for a world that is becoming less reliant on text,” Wrambel says. But while she believes that visual media can be a valuable thing to analyze, she doesn’t think books are going out the window any time soon. “Books ask you to engage in a kind of empathy that visual media doesn’t. When you’re reading a book, you are fully immersed in a world,” one that is as much your own creation as it is the author’s.
Which books are a part of any given course is something that is constantly changing based on a multitude of factors. Teachers weigh the thematic value of the book, the level of challenge, how engaging it is for students, and where it fits into the existing curriculum. But while this may seem out of your reach, student input is actually quite important. So as we enter a new semester, let your teachers know what books you enjoyed and what courses you want to take next year. You never know if your suggestions will pave the way for a new generation of English classes.
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