Monday, April 6, 1998
Reading initiative step in right direction
CURRICULUM: Selecting texts by underrepresented authors will
help; strategy shouldn’t be taken too far
School officials in San Francisco had the right idea in mind
when they proposed that teachers set aside a portion of their
curriculum for books authored by members of underrepresented
communities. Students currently lack adequate exposure to good
literature written from non-traditional literary perspectives, and
administrators are finally taking the initiative to add more
minority voices to classroom reading lists. However, they may be
taking their measure a bit too far.
Of every 10 books teachers assign to students, officials are
pushing for seven to be works written by underrepresented authors,
while only three could be those written by European/ white authors.
In the San Francisco school district where the measure is being
proposed, Asian Americans, Latinos, African Americans and other
non-white groups constitute nearly 90 percent of the population.
School board members pushing for a change in reading lists say the
idea is to allow students to understand and relate to the ideas and
experiences being presented in the books.
Adjusting the curriculum to emphasize multicultural literature
would help students by allowing them to identify with
underrepresented experiences in America and around the world. This
would be beneficial not only to underrepresented students but
others as well, because reading about different cultures provides
perspective, an invaluable asset. And students may enjoy reading
more if they are able to understand and relate to the unique
perspectives and stories offered by authors of underrepresented
groups.
Despite the positive aspects of the proposal, school officials
should be cautious about making too many changes. The premise of
the proposal is certainly valid. However, in order to ensure
students don’t miss out on important literary works by such authors
as Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton, students and teachers would be
better suited if roughly half the curriculum was devoted to books
traditionally taught in school, while the other half exposed
students to the underrepresented works that will offer unique,
non-mainstream perspectives.
Changing the curriculum and allowing students to learn from both
classic and underrepresented literature will help maximize the
educational benefits students reap from reading. It is important
for all students to be exposed to the diverse cultures and
traditions afforded by underrepresented literature, but it is
equally important for students to study the literature that has
long graced school reading lists. While minority-authored reading
lists are long overdue, allowing only 30 percent of the curriculum
to white authors may cause students to miss out on the many
excellent, traditional works they would otherwise be exposed
to.
Students need to be taught with a diverse mix of literature that
represents various perspectives and cultural backgrounds. The
school officials behind the push to include underrepresented
authors are taking positive steps to provide their students with a
more well-rounded curriculum that examines the minority experience
in addition to the mainstream literary figures students normally
are taught.
However, devoting only 30 percent of the curriculum for teaching
traditional literature may be too little. Requiring that about half
the curriculum be devoted to each will give students the best of
both worlds.