Dateline October 21, In the Year of our Lord 2022Thanks for reading Classical Christian Times! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Guest Author: Ty Fischer As an advocate for reading the Great Books, I am asked how we can make our reading list more “diverse” or “less Western.” I get this request from two groups: the Hammerers and the Hammered. The Hammered are people being beaten up in their communities because they have a reading list judged to be insensitive, narrow, or even bigoted. The Hammers ask this same question with that “you know” look, and slight nodding that insinuates that if we don’t balance our reading list by race, gender, or even sexual preference, we are at best failing to prepare our students for the world that is and at worst, perpetuating hateful xenophobia, homophobia, and other “yet-to-be-named-o-phobias.”
Very good! While I think there IS absolutely quality literature written by people who are considered diverse, demographics are not a qualification in themselves. I’ve unfortunately been the victim of such diversity for its own sake reading…I was assigned The Color Purple in the 11th grade and I still regret that the school did not notify parents of the horrible sexual material in it that children should not be exposed to. I hate that I was introduced to those concepts too early.
That was Fairfax County, VA in the early 2000s where, despite that, there were still other quality books assigned, and US history was still taught in a manner where you were exposed to material from both sides and encouraged to genuinely debate and if you could defend your opinion with facts, then that was fine. Fairfax County Public Schools now? A cesspit I am ashamed to have associated with my name.
If we are going to read “diverse” literature, better to select the sort that actually teaches good Christian values and good sense. It DOES exist out there.
I’d love a more detailed definition of Good Folk Literature. We do have our students in Africa read the Great Books and content from their culture but a clear definition of what makes it good would be helpful for the global audience.
In addition we are working toward unearthing Great Books or stories from Africa to add to the Great Books list.
Very good! While I think there IS absolutely quality literature written by people who are considered diverse, demographics are not a qualification in themselves. I’ve unfortunately been the victim of such diversity for its own sake reading…I was assigned The Color Purple in the 11th grade and I still regret that the school did not notify parents of the horrible sexual material in it that children should not be exposed to. I hate that I was introduced to those concepts too early.
That was Fairfax County, VA in the early 2000s where, despite that, there were still other quality books assigned, and US history was still taught in a manner where you were exposed to material from both sides and encouraged to genuinely debate and if you could defend your opinion with facts, then that was fine. Fairfax County Public Schools now? A cesspit I am ashamed to have associated with my name.
If we are going to read “diverse” literature, better to select the sort that actually teaches good Christian values and good sense. It DOES exist out there.
C. S. Lewis’ essay On Reading Old Books is another great prompt regarding this topic. Thanks Ty!
Great article Ty.
I’d love a more detailed definition of Good Folk Literature. We do have our students in Africa read the Great Books and content from their culture but a clear definition of what makes it good would be helpful for the global audience.
In addition we are working toward unearthing Great Books or stories from Africa to add to the Great Books list.