At the last School Board meeting, I was so entrenched in the AP
weighted grades issue that I was totally unprepared for the
presentation regarding the required reading list at Gilroy High
School.
At the last School Board meeting, I was so entrenched in the AP weighted grades issue that I was totally unprepared for the presentation regarding the required reading list at Gilroy High School. In order to accommodate a large contingent of students who were prepared to speak, the AP issue got moved back on the agenda so that the students could be home before midnight.
Last year, there was quite a controversy over the selection of “Beloved” by Toni Morrison on the required reading list. Because of the strong adult nature of the book, an alternative was offered to those students who chose not to read “Beloved.” Apparently, only six students opted to read the alternative book. Once again, “Beloved” appears on the list, so a new controversy is sure to follow. However, there is a bit of a twist to the uproar this year, because Trustee Tom Bundros very correctly asked for clarification on how the books are chosen for the required reading list.
I read “Beloved” years ago. I have no problem with it being on a reading list for capable readers. My only complaint is that it is not even Toni Morrison‚s best book. I don’t see why it is put in the same category as American classics such as “Huck Finn” or “Catcher in the Rye.”
The teacher from the English Department who spoke at the meeting made the now obligatory reference to having a “diverse” selection of books.
At this point in time, it is totally unnecessary to state this factoid year after year. We all know that books written by “dead white men” are allotted a decreasingly smaller amount of space each year on required reading lists, even if a disproportionately larger number of actual classics of great literature are written by men. More of the greatest books are written by men because often women were either not allowed or not encouraged to write. Many books which are standouts were written more than 50 years ago, hence those writers for the most part are dead.
A great proportion of these dead men writers were white. So what? I think of some writers I admire; they are quite diverse. Vaclav Havel is different from Roddy Doyle, who is different from Franz Kafka, who is different from Joseph Heller, who is different from J.R. Ackerley, who is different from Michael Chabon. They are all white, but they are not the same.
The literate person can discern this upon reading their work. I am all for including a diversity of thought and perspective, but I believe that cultural perspective can not be achieved through some arbitrary list. It is quite possible that the greatest work by a Peruvian lesbian is not a tenth as good as something written by Oscar Wilde. When the work of that Peruvian lesbian gets the nod over the “dead white male” what have we accomplished? Shouldn’t a required reading list pay homage to the best books?
The 11th grade AP students who spoke up at the school board meeting were uniformly unanimous in their support for books which have been controversial. They all spoke against banning books. I agree with them, as a matter of fact I would have been shocked had one of the students spoken in favor of banning books. I believe that all of the best books are in and of themselves “dangerous.” Great books open our eyes, bring us to places we never imagined, and expose us to different ideas.
At the board meeting, Mark Zappa read aloud the single most objectionable passage from the book “Beloved.”
I am happy to report that no one in the room needed resuscitation. Does “Beloved” need to be included on the required reading list? Probably not. But I am sure that there are plenty of selections on that list which I would not choose to make “required reading.”
In fact, the availability of alternative books really makes the “required” classification redundant. I don’t really care if “Beloved” stays or goes from the required reading list at Gilroy High. I know that “Beloved” is shocking and brutal and violent; how could a book about slavery not be? Books, like life, can be scary. We must all learn to accept the truth about books. The simple truth is that exploring great literature is not for the faint of heart.
