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Just a few thoughts of my own to throw out--I'm an English teacher, so I thought I'd weigh in on the subject. To preface this further, I teach at an alternative school (a therapeutic boarding school) with at-risk teens who have been sent away from their families to live here for up to 2 years. So, my students are not necessarily the norm. Many of the families that send them are wealthy as well, as the school is a private organization. There are more things to consider than what has been mentioned so far. For instance, many English classes (World Lit, American Lit, Brit Lit) are survey courses and deal with a particular period in time. By their very nature, many YA titles do not fit here. Obviously, we can supplement other texts with YA titles that are set in that time period, but as far as giving an example of typical lit from a particular period, in many cases, no such titles exist. There is something to be said for literary history, just as in history in general, and what we read today comes from a long line of changes, developments, and authors. To further complicate matters, English teachers are often working to just get works from marginalized female and minority writers to be accepted into the canon, let alone YA titles--sometimes you have to pick your battles. For me, I would rather get some of the minority and feminist literature in there than do battle for YA titles that may be out of favor in 10 years. The other concern is that, even though I am at an alternative school, there is a huge college prep focus. Many parents express concern that their children will not be able keep up with the demands of college. Some of these "classic" works will be assumed at the collegiate level, and students missing these can sometimes find it hard to catch up or to be on the same page as their professor or peers. I love YA lit, personally, and find it to be full of pertinent, complex, and fascinating ideas, but let's face it--much of it is written at a lower reading level than some of the "classic" lit. Arguably, there are exceptions, but by and large, that has been my own personal observation. Even more complex is the choice you have to make with your literature. It's one thing to have something in a library that is available for perusal--it's quite another to select something to teach that students are expected to read, participate in discussion about, and write on, something to make a focus for a large group of people. Although many YA titles may be "cheerier" in the end, if you will, many also contain controversial issues in the telling. Many classic novels do as well, but somehow it seems easier to defend a work if you have time on your side. Perhaps you consider this to be a cop-out, but I see it as a rather unpleasant reality. Many parents are more willing to accept something that they also had to read in school. Although a book's "depression" factor should not decide whether or not it is a viable choice for an English class, many books that have proved themselves to be appealing, or at least a source of fascination, for years, tend to be in this category. Perhaps that says something more about human nature than it does about schools and classes. I have just finisehd teaching The Great Gatsby in my American Lit classes, and the students really engaged with it. It's one of those "depressing" books in which the main character dies and all the people you hate end up ok. But it's amazing, lyric prose that exemplifies in a profound way what people were thinking and feeling in the period following World War I. It has sparkling descriptions of characters and startlingly good dialogue. It talks about hopes and dreams for the future, the futility of depending on false realities for your happiness, and how things in life don't always work out the way you want them to. Certainly, there are cheery works out there, too--I've taught The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream in my Shakespeare class this semester, and the exuberance of the Romantic writers in American lit spills out without even trying. Teachers also teach what they love--maybe we're all a bunch of moody poets, but I love things like Poe, Faulkner, Joyce, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and, yes, even The Lord of the Flies. Some of the most influential books are those that reveal a nasty part of life, that cause us to step back and recognize the injustice or the tyranny or the profound ugliness that we see before us and make us want to do something to change that. Well, I'll get off my soapbox now (sorry about the length)--just some thoughts on a sunny Wednesday in Montana after watching Romeo and Juliet and reading The Great Gatsby. Sarah ===== Sarah Milligan, Librarian/English teacher Summit Preparatory School Kalispell, MT hermia_mnd@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. 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