Sunday, January 2, 2005
Why read, indeed
Sometimes tv is derided for turning us into spongy idiots. But occasionally one happens upon moments like the 12/5/04 presentation by teacher and writer Mark Edmundson. The book he's touting is "Why Read" (Bloomsbury). He talked about his teaching methodology which is to teach students to get books to change them for the better rather than simply provide facts or be entertaining. He said he believes early reading should show students how things really are in the world. After one understands how the community is, what its values and principles are, reading can challenge how things are and/or show us what we want to do about things. I think that gives structured reasoning to my discomfort with my kids being assigned Sylvia Plath and King Lear in high school; aside from the plain emotional issue of age inappropriateness (to use an oh-so-au-courant term), it's putting the challenge before the mores.
He was impassioned and extraordinarily affirming. He sees literature as a guide to living and wants us to read books in such a way that they ask questions of us or, more accurately, get us to ask ourselves questions that perhaps we would otherwise not even notice. Great writing, he said, is at once controversial and inspiring. He seems provocative and challenging as well as uplifting. He seems oddly unwilling to shove students to his way of thinking. He SAYS the goal is to have them learn about the unique contribution and place THEY each occupy, through reading. Wow. Is that exciting or what?! (Hey, he also spoke highly of Jane Austen and Henry James, so how bad can he be?!) Do you suppose there really is a teacher out there who wants his students to think for themselves?? Can it be true?? I hope he doesn't just degenerate into "friendly teacher" and doesn't let students like me wind him around their clever little fingers. I would have been so thrilled (internally) at having a teacher who prodded me to think and work harder, to examine myself and ask hard questions.
He was impassioned and extraordinarily affirming. He sees literature as a guide to living and wants us to read books in such a way that they ask questions of us or, more accurately, get us to ask ourselves questions that perhaps we would otherwise not even notice. Great writing, he said, is at once controversial and inspiring. He seems provocative and challenging as well as uplifting. He seems oddly unwilling to shove students to his way of thinking. He SAYS the goal is to have them learn about the unique contribution and place THEY each occupy, through reading. Wow. Is that exciting or what?! (Hey, he also spoke highly of Jane Austen and Henry James, so how bad can he be?!) Do you suppose there really is a teacher out there who wants his students to think for themselves?? Can it be true?? I hope he doesn't just degenerate into "friendly teacher" and doesn't let students like me wind him around their clever little fingers. I would have been so thrilled (internally) at having a teacher who prodded me to think and work harder, to examine myself and ask hard questions.
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