I'm sitting here laughing at all the "forced to read" comments; yes in school students are forced to read things they may not be interested in. As adults we have more choice, unless we are adult learners in college, then no we don't have a choice. Yes they are classics, they teach lessons to us. They were written when books had a reason to be written. They were written to be enjoyed, they were written to educate, they were written to express opinions, they were written to make you think,,, oops??? What's that she said??? They were written to make YOU think... Yes Twilight is a decent book, no it doesn't teach us much, but it's enjoyable; and that is fine. I read constantly, which is why I belong to a book club where I can swap for other books often.
If we left it up to students to just read what they like, a lot of Manga would get read, so would books like Twilight, or Bloodline, whatever happens to popular at the time. But do those book stretch the imagination? Do they make our kids think? Do they make them look for hidden meanings? Do they introduce them to the way life REALLY is or was? Fantasy is great, but it is not going to educate a student on very much except that genre. I use popular books in may classroom all the time; I spend my own money on them to make them available? Why do I do this? Because it makes the students read! I have half an hour every single day in my class for free-reading. Whatever they want to read they can read. But then yes, they are "forced" to read what I assign them. I think it's a fair trade if you ask me. I know from the sound of it a ton of you will disagree with me, and that is fine, it's a free country to say what we think. Although if you read the Constitution, it's free to say what you think as long as you are not harming or violating anyone else's rights.
Looking at The Scarlet Letter, can you imagine trying to make Hester wear that today? Good grief the lawsuits that would abound, the violation of privacy?? The profiling of someone living in sin? Look at her crime, ask yourself what would happen to her now, would she be branded with the A? What would happen to her lover? Her child? Would the differences be? After you look at that, maybe the book will have more meaning to you. Look at religions today, how the control their members, how they control the very aspects of their home life. Do a T-Chart with The Scarlet Letter on top, and the year it takes place on the left, and 2009 on the right, and compare them. It's very eye-opening.
