Each new day brings news of a new and harmful education fad.
On Saturday, the New York Times reported on the latest one: letting students pick the books they read during school.
The eighth grade class that leads the story ditched To Kill a Mockingbird in favor of James Patterson and “plenty of young-adult chick-lit novels.” The Times breathlessly declares that the class represents “a movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in America’s schools” that is “catching on.” Thankfully, school districts in Massachusetts are bucking the trend and adopting reading lists.
Take another look at the numbers in Still at Risk. We found that our nation’s 17-year-olds know next to nothing about some of the most important works ever written, including The Canterbury Tales, Invisible Man, and 1984. How will the reading workshop approach affect those numbers? We know where we’re placing our bets.
James Elias
Check out the National Book Foundation’s BookUp NYC After-school program. This is a program where the students select the books they want to read with guidance from published authors who are the students literary mentors. You’ll be surprised at the reading list. www.http://www.nationalbook.org/bookupnyc.html.