Too Much Caffine...

"A school has the responsibility to help students learn and to make information available to them. Schools should educate and expose children to different topics in order to prepare them for life and to help them make informed decisions. Here lies the primary purpose of education, but censorship acts as more of an obstacle than an aid in achieving this goal".

This quote was taken from an article I found entitled "Opposing Censorship in the High School Curriculum". That quote gets to the heart of what I believe about censorship. The job of a school is to prepare students for life in the adult world. By ignoring or eliminating classroom discussion on 'sensitive' subjects such as sex, drugs, racism, and violence we are in no way protecting our students, we are harming them. I garauntee that even if your child doesn't read a book in my highschool class with the words shit, nigger, or joint in them they have used the word, or heard it in a movie or song, or seen it depicted on tv. Would you rather have your child experience those issues through the one-way medium of music, tv, or movies? Or experience them in an educational setting, with an adult present who can answer questions, explain dangers and consequences, and lead disucssions about the hurtful nature of those 'sensitive' issues?

"Any drug use content will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. In effect, the PG-13 cautions parents with more stringency than usual to give special attention to this film before they allow their 12-year-olds and younger to attend. If nudity is sexually oriented, the film will generally not be found in the PG-13 category. If violence is too rough or persistent, the film goes into the R (restricted) rating. A film’s single use of one of the harsher sexually derived words, though only as an expletive, shall initially require the Rating Board to issue that film at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive must lead the Rating Board to issue a film an R rating, as must even one of these words used in a sexual context. These films can be rated less severely, however, if by a special vote, the Rating Board feels that a lesser rating would more responsibly reflect the opinion of American parents."

That is the Motion Picture Association of America's view on what constitutes a PG13 movie. Basically, the way I read that is that one "fuck", some drug use, and a light beating are all ok in a PG13 movie. That's what your kids have seen by the time they are 13...And people want to ban Harry Potter from schools? The idea that our kids are so innocent and naive to not have already encountered these issues in their lives is absolutely ridiculous.

Reading about these subjects in the classroom will give students the facts. To ban books that deal with these issues is to do our students a great disservice. Like it or not, whether they learn about it in the classroom or on the street, no person will get through their lives without the knowledge of sex, drugs, violence, racism, or hatred.

The first image that pops into my head when I think of the term ‘literary reading’ is of struggling through Heart of Darkness in my highschool AP English class. I read that book with pen, pencil, and highlighter in hand so I could make a quick note of the foreshadowing, irony, and whatever other literary elements and insights I was supposed to be picking up from the story. All I remember about the book now, is that it was a pain-in-the-ass to read. I think that is the general image of literary reading that most students have. It’s reading that you do to find the right answers, or the right meaning, or to make sure you know exactly what the author meant by every word and phrase of the story.

It surprised me that I had such an immediate, negative reaction to that term because I’ve always loved to read. From the time I learned how to read, I’ve always preferred it to watching tv (except when the OC is on), or playing video games, or listening to music or any other solitary form of entertainment. There were, and still are, many nights that I stay up waaaaaay too late because I just want to finish what I’m reading. But throw the word ‘literary’ in there, and reading suddenly becomes work or study, not pleasure.

Our wonderful text book (that I was 'literarily' reading last night, highliter in hand) makes a distinction between efferent reading and aesthetic reading. Efferent reading being the practice of studying a text, finding the right answers, and learning the ‘correct’ interpretation of it - what I first thought of when I thought of literary reading. Aesthetic reading is more about relating to the text; finding your own meaning and discovering what and how a text makes you feel. That seems more like the “fun” reading that I enjoy. The point is made in the book that both are valid forms of reading and should both be taught and encouraged in the classroom as models of how to read.

However, I think that the majority of students, including myself, only encounter efferent reading in a school setting. It’s all about filling out that worksheet, or finishing the book report, or analyzing some character’s role in the development of blah blah blah...Nobody cares if you enjoy what you are reading in the classroom or if it relates to your life in any way, or if you learn any valuable lesson from it as long as you can complete an accurate story diagram.

Luckily for me, encountering the practice of classroom reading never diminished my love of reading, but it did make that huge distinction in my mind between the literary or ‘studying’ reading that I do, and the reading that I do for pleasure. I think an important question, one that alludes to a shift from strictly efferent reading in the classroom, is which has been more valuable in my life? I know that I got an A in that AP English class, but I don’t recall enjoying anything we read and probably couldn’t tell you what any of the books were about. However, in something I’ve read in an aesthetic manner I can tell you exactly what I’ve learned, what the text meant to me, what emotions, memories, aspirations I’ve experienced. I can recall the author’s name and usually know a little about their life. I can identify twists in the plot, each character’s role in the story, and usually have a pretty good idea of what message the author was trying to present to the reader. I usually finish the book with a desire to keep reading, instead of feeling relief that I’ve finished and panic that I didn’t get the ‘right’ answers from the story.

So, back to the question of what literary reading is...My best answer is that it's a combination of the two. Having an understanding of what the author is trying to communicate to the reader, but also freeing yourself enough to enjoy the book fits my definition of literary reading.