So far I have been looking at the debate between young adult and classic literature from the perspective of the teacher. In her article “Dark Themes in Books Get Students Reading,” Kathleen Kennedy Manzo offers the other side of the debate from the perspective of the student. She interviews students who have experienced both YA and classic literature in the classroom, and most say that they prefer the YA literature. It is more accessible to them, not only the language but also the issues and themes. They find they can relate to a lot of the content, whereas in older novels they have a hard time doing so. The themes are modern and edgy, and although some may be rather dark, they reflect many of the issues that young people today must deal with.
Although many teachers applaud this decision to incorporate new literature into the English curriculum, there are still a great deal of teachers and parents who are against it.
Nevertheless, the use of popular literature has run up against traditionalists, who fear it will dumb down the curriculum, and parents who object to the controversial themes that characterize many of the selections.
Many of these newer novels that students are reading explore such topics as eating disorders, self-inflicted pain, and sexual assault. Parents are opposed to their children reading them, and some even believe that these themes will put ideas into their children’s heads. Certainly, such topics may be challenging and difficult for students to read because they are not pretty themes. However, they are very real issues that young people experience everyday. Students will be able to connect with them better, and perhaps reading this dark, edgy YA literature will help foster their desire for reading.
In addition, many of the pieces of classic literature that are studied in the classroom explore controversial topics. “Romeo and Juliet” explores the lives of two young people who kill themselves out of love. To Kill a Mockingbird discusses racial issues and a young woman being raped. “Oedipus” talks about a man who kills his father and marries his mother, then gouges his own eyes out when he learns the truth. Therefore, one cannot point a finger at modern literature for having inappropriate content when classic literature is just as bad.
This article has changed my views a bit on teaching YA literature versus classic literature. It seems to me that if students hate reading the classics so much and it turns them off to literature forever, why continue doing so? Perhaps pieces of classics can be offset with pieces of YA. Students can receive a better mix of books and themes. From personal experience, the books my literature circle group read this semester would’ve been ones I would’ve enjoyed reading in high school. I would have probably even read them on my own, because they were more applicable to what was going on in my life.
Therefore, teachers should begin to listen to their students about what they want to read. If it’ll be the difference between a student loving to read and hating to read, then there is no reason why YA literature should not be taught.
“Dark Themes in Books Get Students Reading”
Kathleen Kennedy Manzo: 30 March 2007, Education Week
trishcabobb Said:
on April 17, 2007 at 9:19 pm
It seems like it should be obvious that students would prefer texts written with them in mind. And I am very glad you point out that the dark themes do not limit themselves to YA literature because classic literature is also “plagued” with dark themes of sexual assault, murder, and racism. I like the idea of incorporating both types of texts into the classroom, but I think one has to be careful not to “damage” classic literature by assuming that students automatically perform better when reading YA texts. One of the speakers at the Bright Ideas conference made an awesome point. The students are not stupid. They do not need everything explained to them and they are capable, for the most part, of generally understanding a work of literature. There is no need to present students with another YA version of Romeo and Juliet in order for students to understand Shakespeare’s tragedy. I would much rather see students read a text that seems at first completely unrelated and try to make connections between the text. That does not necessarily require a compare and contrast essay. Sometimes I just feel that teachers do not give their students enough credit and that students don’t give themselves enough credit.