No, her recommendations are period pieces, not fit for scholastic interests

Lol you're welcome.

Embarassing. Obviously written by a female english major.

Comments section seriously made me think.

i don't think people should be made to read moby dick, i think they should be allowed to experience it when they want to so they can enjoy it and share in melville's enthusiasm rather than having it ruined at an early age for them because most kids resent whatever long book their teacher makes them read

I've never heard of Moby Dick being assigned in high school. I agree that Faulkner and Joyce probably should not be taught until college, but the rest are fine.

lol this desu

You know, I actually enjoyed The Scarlet Letter in highschool. Back then I wasn't even much of a book reader and I thought the classics were kind of boring, but I still appreciated The Scarlet Letter.

While I sort of agree with the idea of more contemporary works; foregoing Moby Dick for something as genre fiction as The Martian just hurts.

If I were to have my own syllabus it would just be Borges. Varied and accessible enough for a group of unruly youths

I dropped out because of this.

>she
What do you think?

This. Her introduction states that she's is suggesting we use modern books or books with a modern setting that have similar themes to the classics. None of her replacements have the same theme as the classic they are supposed to be replacing. It's more like here is a list of YA fiction.

Thanks, now I have a list of books to avoid. That's what I like about these.

I thought Hitchhiker's series was decent. But then again I read it as a freshman in high school. I guess you guys hate it because it has "Reddit" tier humour.

> Hemingway can be notoriously tough to digest

What

>If I were to have my own syllabus it would just be Borges.
A couple of my teachers actually did this in college. It was awesome.

>Obviously written by a female english major.
They really are thick, aren't they? Even the ones that seem smart at first and get A's all the time are tumblrina idiots up close. It's as if they only got into the field in order to find academic justifications for their shit taste.

Not all of them, but, like, a good 95%.

I agree that The Scarlet Letter should not be read in high school, but her alternate is a piece of shit and I couldn't think of a replacement off the top of my head that would be at a high school reading level.

When people say there are no wrong answers in English their eyes light up

I hated Old Man and the Sea when I was 12 and so did every child my mother tought Hemmingway to. It's incredibly dull when you are 12.

kek I just realized that she thinks Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is relatable to high schoolers because it's about "a young boy".

But the boy is fucking 8 years old or something.

Anyway, this list a shit, even though The Handmaid's Tale is good and the Oscar Wao thing is ok too, though Junot Diaz is a little bitch.

>mostly classic lit
>LOL LET'S THROWN IN SOME LOLSORANDUM SCIFI AND A JOHHNY GREENE AND HOW ABOUT WE SHOVE THE IDEA OF MORE SHITSKINS IN OUR WORLD WITH THE AMAZING MALALALALALLALALALALALALAL YUSFI AND A KITTEN RUNNER!!!!!! LOLLLL

doesn't the kite runner have male on male rape in it

pretty problematic for high schoolers

That doesnt mean its hard to digest. It just means its mature nuances are not accessible to kids

yes, like a lot of it, I was assigned to read it in 10th or 11th grade but skipped it

Malala should have got plugged on that bus

And child rape.

She should be shot for her poetry. It's sin against God.

She already did get shot, it just didnt work since she's a saint

She writes poetry?

why...does this lady act like the Handmaiden's Tale isn't already assigned
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for As I Lay Dying must be a joke
subbing Wharton for...loser dude John Green...(not even for some ya written by a lady)
this is surely a troll

also the idea of not giving kids classics and instead ya, if anyone seriously thinks this, is what's wrong with a lot of people allegedly in favor of reading/literature

wow, I am now redpilled, I will never read clickbait again
this changes everything

Why should any of those be taught in schools in the first place? They're a waste of time.

kite runner isnt actually that bad. not a replacement for actual classics but by no means YA-tier

>replacing Moby-Dick with The Martian
>replacing Ethan Frome with Looking for Alaska

FUCK YOU

What's wrong with the usage of 'curate' here?

There is nothing wrong with changing what students read. Things should be cycled so the teachers don't go insane, or get too bored with it.

That being said, her recommendations are mostly terrible substitutes and are almost all objectively easier to read. We shouldn't be lowering the bar when it comes to literary education.

The problem is no one reads enough, and as a result no one can read very well. So these classics are becoming more and more obscure. I was considered a "reader" as a child, but I hardly read anything but Narnina, some spider man novels, and similar crap like that. People read so little, that some turd who reads a 2-3 books a year is considered a "reader". Maybe it's just my pleb town. But the standards are low, and we don't need people lowering them even more. Education is supposed to ELEVATE you. WHATE THE FUCK DON"T THESE PEOPLE UNDERSNTAND REEEE

If you really wanna be diverse and shit, there's plenty of good authors in the rest of the world, why fucking stick to shit like Malala instead of reading Borges or García Marquez?

I agree that High Schoolers shouldn't be made to read these. They should be educated in the basics -- reading skills, functional mathematics, personal economics and current events -- and then have to take 3 to 5 elective courses every year, on a variety of subjects at their own choice. That way students are allowed to pursue their own interests and find out what they like and don't like. If they are interested in literature they will sign up for the class and read the books, and if not they'll take psychology or chemistry or history or something. Forcing someone to read something, I think, only motivates them to read it to pass, not for the inherent value.

But seriously?
Martian over Moby Dick? An amusing piece of sci-fi for engineering students over the greatest American novel?

I can agree with dumping Ethan Frome or Dickens or Gatsby, but Moby Dick?

I would recommend novellas -- Catcher in the Rye, Siddhartha, The Stranger, Notes From the Underground, etc, because they're more shallow in content matter and are thus more accessible to students first learning about literature, as well as serving as segues to more serious literature.

Do Americans really read Moby-Dick in highschool? It's like 900 pages or so wtf?

No its only about 660, but yeah still a lot

That's it, I'm a /Nazi/ now

In my high school we read the first page, the chapter where Ahab first appears, and talked about the ending. Then we watched a number of excerpts from two different movies.

I got nothing from it. I actually read it a few months ago and loved it.

I wasn't mad until I saw her list of alternatives.

Now I'm angry.

Thanks for posting this, OP.

I mean, I know the average high schooler is a retard and will get nothing out of reading most of these books (if they even read them), but let's not give up on the average American so much that we assume they can't even "digest" Hemingway.

1.moby dick
nope. saying that its hard for students to relate to is no argument against it. hell they need books they have hard time connecting with, it helps their empathy and keeps them from only reading books that have protagonists and settings that reflect them
2.The Scarlet Letter
The Handmaid’s Tale is too long. imho they should dump both.
3.The Sun Also Rises
again the argument is that its too hard. The Book Thief I think people get enough of "muh halo cost" as it is
4.As I Lay Dying
Its complex so lets swap it with "a young boy on an adventure around New York City in the aftermath of September 11" fucking retard.
>Beowulf
dump for comedy, really?. "Before there was Game of Thrones" sign of someone who has not read much in their life.
>Ethan Frome
"but it can be hard for students to relate to" die in a fire. this is internalization
>The Catcher in the Rye
"its old so its sux" " The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is perfect for modern-day reading lists, helping students feel a special kinship with a misunderstood protagonist."
>The Red Badge of Courage
"too many white men, how about a book about Navajo code-talkers"
>A Tale of Two Cities
dumped for memoir of twitter revolutionary. that at least 5700 people agree is shit with many parts made up or one sided.
>The Great Gatsby
string up them up. all she does is suggest inferior shit aimed at infantilizing the youth end pushing her agenda

never.They will retcon her into sainthood because the west eats that shit up.

>Beowulf
>substituted with Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy
Nice joke.

this
she replaces Beowulf with the hitchhikers guide lmfao. in what world could those possibly considered substitutes?

In a world were kids are too stupid and sensitive so need lighter and softer books

I did my AS level on it

Thanks for the blog my guy.