Canoerebel
Posts: 9164
Joined: 12/14/2002
From: Northwestern Georgia, USA
Status: offline
|
JW, your post is very intersting. Some questions for you (and other eductators or folks with insight into such things):
1. What is the future of the printed word in schools and among school-aged children (textbooks, reading assignments, libraries, etc.)?
2. Do electronic devices make an adequate replacement for the printed word, are they even better, or are they worse?
3. What is your opinion of distance learning? How does it compare in quality to the "old-fashioned" method where students were in a classroom with an instructor?
I'm interested in your thoughts because I edit and publish an old-fashioned print magazine. Because we fit a niche market, I am optimistic about our future. I've also had interesting discussions with college professors who deplore distance learning, and I agree with their critiques. But the world is changing for better or for worse.
quote:
ORIGINAL: JW
Speaking of Huck Finn, I teach American Literature among other things in a US high school. This is taught to students in grade 11 (high school goes through grade 12, and grade 11 is roughly age 17) in Louisiana, and American Lit is taught in grade 11 in many states in the US. Huck Finn is on the approved reading list for the state and for my school district, so I could teach it, but I don't, mainly because the American Lit students I teach are average to below average, and half of them just would not read it -- it would be a wasted exercise -- though I have taught it in other class situations. I know that might dismay some people, but I would rather teach things my students will actually read -- shorter selections -- than something most of them just won't read because they won't read a book. And I have to do most of our reading in class, because out of class many simply will not read, even a short selection, no matter what it costs them in the way of grades. We have higher level classes at my school where students do read the novel and other full novels, including dual enrollment classes (high school classes that also count for university credit).
Thus I see the point of creating a special "censored" version of the book. It cannot be taught in many places because of the tyranny of the perpetually offended, who are too stupid to realize what Mark Twain was actually writing about, and who object to use of the n-word in a classroom for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is simply so they can stick it to the man, so to speak. You don't see those same people protesting against use of the n-word in rap music and in the popular culture and in the black community itself. It is often simply a power struggle, with a few people willing to fight an issue simply so they can win the fight, with no regard for what they are actually fighting about. And some school districts just don't have the resources to fight the perpetually offended. It is easier to do something else.
The "censored" version of Huck Finn would allow teachers in many districts to approach the book and study it again, while avoiding the kneejerk reaction from the perpetually offended. Of course the students should be told what they are reading, and they will immediately make the connection themselves whenever they see the word "slave." Thus the "censored" Huck Finn would have basically the same effect as the uncensored version. Teachers use many altered or updated or excerpted versions of literary works already.
Right now I am teaching a condensed and simplified verison of The Scarlet Letter to my students. Several of the chapters are condensed, and the language has been slightly modified to simplify the vocabulary and update some of the archaic terms. I also summarize some of the text myself, and we end up reading about 50% of the actual text. I have no problem with this. It makes the story accessible to many of my students who would simply not read the original text. I know this may horrify some people, but I would rather give them something, again, that they will read, than something they will not read. I consider what I'm using to be a textbook study of the novel, btw, rather than the novel itself, and I explain this to my students. They also have the option of checking out the original version and reading it, and some have done so, my avid readers, the ones who always have a book with them already.
In addition, in American lit and every lit class, we make great use of excerpts from longer works. In my British Lit class (grade 12) we just read an excerpt from Milton's Paradise Lost . I don't expect these students to read the entire work, but we did work our way through the first few hundred lines, the introduction and the fall of Satan. And then there is Chaucer. We read a modern English translation. We don't try to struggle through the original language.
So teachers make compromises all the time in what they give kids to read for many reasons. If a "censored" version of Huck Finn can get into a classroom where the perpetually offended would object to the original version, then I see that as a good thing, almost a subversive thing, as long as the students are clearly told how the text has been changed.
None of this is perfect, and all of it can be questioned by well-meaning people, but as long as we are honest with the kids, I see nothing wrong with using excerpts, condensed and updated editions, altered Huck Finn, etc., if it will get more kids to read. Fewer and fewer kids in American schools are reading. It is imo a really dangerous thing. And it is not unique to America. It is a problem even in the much-touted Asian school systems.
On a side note, I saw my first Kindles in class after Christmas. Two students. They pulled them out and were reading during some down time, after they had finished an assignment. I had a talk with them and explained I will treat the Kindles just like an outside book. They can read them as long as they have finished their work or we are not working on something as a class. I expect this to cause problems in the future though, and have already talked to my boss about it, and he has decided the common sense approach is good for now, but we are dubious about the future. Technically use of electronic devices like cell phones and ipods and such is banned in the classroom. And I can expect eventually I will have a student complain, "Why can't I go on line with my iphone and read something if she can use her Kindle?" Or, "Yeah, I had my phone out, but I was just reading with it." And then things will go downhill from there. Cell phones are a terrible problem in class, btw. I just won't get into that any further.
Okay, this is too long, but there are some of my thoughts as an English teacher.
|
Printable Version
RE: Dire Straits censored? - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread