In an article I just read, there is controversy in England over proposals recently made by Education Secretary Alan Johnson. In attempts to reform the school curriculum, Johnson wants to force 11-14 year olds to read classic literature from such authors as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and George Eliot. Though I am a strong supporter of using classic literature in the classroom, I also believe that certain texts are appropriate for certain age- and ability-levels. Forcing an 11-year old to read Dickens is analogous to forcing him to do calculus. It is just not suited to the talents and abilities of children at this age. In my Brit Lit class I am taking this semester, we have been studying Austen and Dickens. I find it hard to believe that texts that are challenging for college students to read and comprehend fully are sufficient to be taught in early adolescent classrooms.
In response to these proposals, Ian McNeilly, director of the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE), said,
“It is a complete fallacy. Forcing children and teachers to study texts that are inappropriate is deeply counter-productive. It puts students off the text, the author and the subject and it doesn’t do anything for their self-esteem.”
Though children need to be exposed to excellent, classic literature, they need to experience it when they are ready to tackle the difficult language. More than likey students will learn nothing, and will leave school feeling frustrated and lacking confidence in themselves. A move such as this could even cause students to despise literature, and will thus ruin the possibility for a deep love for and interest in great works in their later lives.
Ian Brinton, who is quoted in the article, comments as to whether or not these politicians read the texts before prescribing them to children. It seems highly improbable for anyone who has read Great Expectations to finish the book and decide that it is completely plausible for an 11-year old to read it and understand everything. In instances such as these, politicians need to leave literature choice up to the teachers, as they are the ones who are in close contact with students. It is the teachers, not the people making government policies, who know what students can and can not handle. Politicians need to let them do their jobs, and they need to stick to their own jobs. This is not to say that the government should not have a say in education, for I believe that they play a vital role. However, if they want to be effective they need to understand the limits of children and play according to those limits.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills says,
“…it’s vital that teachers instill a love of literature in young people and engage them with the best-loved writers from our history.”
There is no doubt that this is a true statement, yet we also have to consider how teachers are going to instill this love. It is not enough to hand a child Pride and Prejudice and expect him to read the book, understand it, and love it. Just as an Olympic athlete has to start small to get to such a high level, so too do students in the English classroom. Young students can still read classic literature without being too weighted down. For example, why not give an 11-year old a work by C.S. Lewis as a starting point to learn how to analyze literature and what to look for. Only after he can fully understand this, then he can read more challenging works, and eventually progress to reading Dickens or Austen.
Another plausible option that we have discussed in class is using young adult literature as a segue into the classics. Even though I still disagree with introducing such challenging material at such a young age, going this route may make the jump easier. For example, students could read the YA novel Jake, Reinvented as a segue into The Great Gatsby or Special as a segue into The Lord of the Flies. Teachers could draw on the thematic connections between the two, and use the YA text to help students better understand the classic one.
“‘Dickens and Austen too complicated,’ say teachers”
The Evening Standard: 16 February 2007
