English is characterized by the scrutiny and analysis of universally renowned works of literature. The class in geared towards preparing students for the Advanced Placement course the following year, should it be taken. As such, students spend an enormous amount of time developing their writing skills, as wells as their critical reading skills. Starting with J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the course progresses to such works as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. According to the College Board, these works are designed to “provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers.” While most of the selections for the Sophomore Accelerated course fit these criteria, there is one glaring exception: E.M. Forster’s 1924 novel A Passage to India. An uninteresting and drawn out novel, it alienates is audience while confusing readers as it buries meaning in extended metaphors and dated social commentary. Failing to meet the standards set by the College Board, teachers should feel compelled to eliminate the instruction this ill-suited novel from the curriculum.
Since 1990, A Passage to India has appeared on four AP Literature exam free response questions, the most recent in 2009, according to a by-title list compiled by Norma J. Wilkerson. Other novels taught during the Sophomore Accelerated course exceed this number, including Jane Eyre (twelve times) and Macbeth (five times), and nearly paralleled by The Catcher in the Rye (three times, all since 2000). As the Sophomore Accelerated course is designed to prepare students for the following year’s AP course – and ultimately the AP Exam – the instruction should be inclined toward what is more likely to appear on the exam. W...
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...the overwhelming dissatisfaction that the novel elicits from those reading it – which is based in the deep, layered prose of an intricate and sophisticated mind, geared toward older audiences – provide the groundwork for the argument of the book’s removal from the Sophomore Accelerated curriculum. The animosity shown toward the teachers and the subsequent resentment by the teachers’ students should only act as additional incentive to recognize a truly great work of literature as one that has no place in the hands of a sophomore student in the confines of an analysis-based classroom.
Works Cited
http://www.brainyquote.com
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/APtitles.html
E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India"
Kelly Gallagher's "Readicide"
U.S. College Board
http://www.sparknotes.com
Glen O. Allen's "Structure, Symbol, and Theme in E.M. Forster's A Pasage to India"
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
For many years people have argued about the inclusion of The Cather in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger in the high school english curriculum. This is such due to the inappropriate and adult oriented themes within If considered, many times within the novel the main character will face situations in which that the negative and vulgar themes will blossom into something meaningful that the reader can benefit from as a person and as a student. While the vulgarity and adult themes in The Catcher in the Rye are indeed inappropriate for adolescent students, ultimately its underlying themes of self discovery and possessing moral values provides life and ethical lessons that can be applied in the classroom as well as on a daily basis and therefore, the novel should be included in the high school curriculum for students to learn.
In preparation for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam, high school students must read many kinds of literature during the year-long course to familiarize themselves with different time periods, movements, philosophies, and genres. Advanced Placement students must learn to think critically, and be ready to find, analyze, and express literary connections through written analysis. The biggest challenge of teaching and learning Advanced Placement English is the difficulty covering the entire scope of literature in two semesters. Twentieth century literature often gets neglected. The pace of the curriculum can also limit the creativity of lesson planning and evaluation. Many teachers rely heavily on lecture, discussion, and a traditional analysis paper.
Since its publication in 1951, The Catcher In the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger has served as a conflagration for debate and extreme controversy. Although the novel has been the target of scornful criticism, it has also been the topic of wide discussion. The novel portrays the life of sixteen year old, Holden Caufield. Currently in psychiatric care, Holden recalls what happened to him last Christmas. At the beginning of his story, Holden is a student at Pencey Prep School. Having been expelled for failing four out of his five classes, Holden leaves school and spends 72-hours in New York City before returning home. There, Holden encounters new ideas, people, and experiences. Holden's psychological battle within himself serves as the tool that uncovers the coming-of-age novel's underlying themes of teen angst, depression, and the disingenuous nature of society. The novel tackles issues of blatant profanity, teenage sex, and other erratic behavior. Such issues have supplemented the controversial nature of the book and in turn, have sparked the question of whether or not this book should be banned. The novel, The Catcher In the Rye, should not be banned from inclusion in the literature courses taught at the high school level.
Updike, John. "A&P." Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw, 2002. 27-31.
Francine Prose is a mother, a writer, a book reviewer, and most importantly, a massive critic of the type of literature that is demanded of children to read in American high schools. In a very defensive essay, Prose discusses a variety of books that she believes are a wast of actual literature. She uses a variety of rhetoric to attract the reader’s attention, and uses it to also persuade her readers to see things the way she does. Throughout the essay it becomes more apparent that the author makes multiple inferences of what she believes will happen to the generations that will entire a corrupt educational system. In the essay that Prose writes, she explains that the lack of eloquent literature is causing a demise to the education of teenagers
...Literature. Vol.1. Ed. Rossi, Patricia. Addison Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. New York: Copyright 1999. 2655-57.
High school students in many American schools first read this book in an English class, which has been a staple for many schools. A required reading assignment exposes many more people to the book. Even though the book is considered to be a children’s book by many, it is still enjoyed by people of all ages.
Meyer, M. (2013). Bedford introduction to literature: Reading, thinking, writing. Boston: Bedford Bks St Martin’s.
After carefully analyzing the piece written by Alfred Lubrano entitled “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts”, the author makes a compelling attempt to inform students seeking higher education the cutoff between close connections with friends, and the newfound individuals that he or she encounters upon entering college. Lubrano places heavy emphasis on how college education takes away any common ground shared between longtime acquaintances. Although little information about the author is highlighted, Lubrano brings up the fact that children living in working-class families grew up differently from those living in middle-class families. The rules and expectations of the two social classes are widely divergent. According to Alfred Lubrano,
Updike, John. "A&P." Thinking and Writing About Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 981-86. Print.
...n American Literature. By Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 387-452. Print.
The first type of text is the aforementioned classic novel. For this unit, two texts in particular will be utilized. One is J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher In the Rye. This novel focuses on the experiences of a cyn...
The majority of frank people concur that we do not read many first-rate books in school; it is infrequent that the thirty students in a class like the book they are analyzing. Erudite teachers ponder whether or not Divergent is an appropriate read for Community Unit School District 200 high school students. It is important to keep the book as a part of the Sophomore English curriculum, in order to further the students’ education.
Disliking Books By Gerald Graff is about the authors own aversions, starting as a young boy, who grew up simply disliking reading books, for both academic and leisure purposes. Growing up in his neighborhood, it was highly disregarded for a boy to enjoy reading; they were looked at as “sissies” and had the potential to have been beaten up. He maintained this ideology all the way into his college career, where ironically, he majored in English. Although by this point he replaced his fear of being beaten up with the fear of failing his college courses, he was able to squeak by with doing his homework at the mare minimum. He felt as though he wasn’t able to quite relate, much less, enjoy the text. It wasn’t until his junior year he was finally able to find the spark he had been lacking all these years. It was over the controversial ending of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Some of the critics believe the story really ended when the boys basically stole Jim away and other believed it was actually when they learned that Jim had already been freed. Finally realizing that “reading and intellectual discussion might actually have something to do with my real life, I became less embarrassed about using the intellectual formulas” (Graff, Para 12). He then turned to more and more literary works to understand further of what reading critically can help you appreciate, even turning his lesson into his future profession as an English Professor.