For many students, reading classic books inside or outside school is about as much fun as sledding during the summer. A person can’t very well sled down a dirt hill; they would get stuck. And for some students forced to read classic books, that is exactly how they feel. Stuck.
But is it better to have young adult students read classic books in the classroom or should teachers open up to YA literature? Some teachers look at it this way: “The THAT of teenagers reading is more important than the WHAT.”–Hippie. When deciding if it is better to have young adults read classics rather than YA literature, it is important to consider that 71 percent of eighth graders and 65 percent of twelfth graders read below grade average. That’s a shocking statistic. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves if the content of what we have our students and children read is more important than the fact that they are reading at all. “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a flame.” –Yeates.
Many English teachers, however, believe “YAL should not occupy a prominent position in the curriculum, . . . that YAL may be useful as an option for struggling upper elementary and middle school students or as out-of-school leisure reading. Teachers . . . believe that [it] is not “deep enough” to include in the regular curriculum.” (Gibbons). YA literature is written especially for young adults and, believe it or not, there are many YA novels out there that are “interesting, appropriate, and challenging.” Not all YA novels are written simply for entertainment. Many are written to relate to young adults and help them consider the kind of person they may or may not want to be.
It comes down to the fact that if a person wants to read better, they need to read as much as they can. This applies with most everything. If you want to write, sing, dance, and do math better, you must do it as much as you can. If all a young adult knows is classics and they don’t like classics, that young adult isn’t going to want to read anymore because they have not had any positive experiences with reading.
“YAL should be integrated into the middle school and high school classroom becuase such literature can (a) help improve students’ reading skills; (b) encourage young adults to read more books, thereby improving their abilities to read; (c) facilitate teachers’ abilities to incorporate more books of interest to adolescents into the curriculum, thereby avoiding the non-reading curriculum or workbooks and lectures; and (d) support the development of an inclusive curriculum.” (Reed).
When looked at from this perspective, YA literature should be used in classrooms as teaching tools. Does this mean that there should not be any classics in the classroom? Of course not! For many young adults, classics such as “Mobey Dick,” by Herman Melville and “Romeo and Juliet,” by William Shakespeare appeal to them. But for other students, it is a struggle. It is important not to neglect these students especially when they pretend to be doing fine in the classroom. The classic books and YA books can both be used in the classroom.
There are still many informative as well as entertaining YA novels out there just waiting to be read. Such books as “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card, “Crispin: The Cross of Lead” by Avi, and “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton are all informative and entertaining books dealing with social issues, history, and war. There are hundreds of books written for young adults that interest and inform them.
If teachers and parents are worried about their students and children not getting enough education if they allow young adult books into the classrooms, they shouldn’t be. The whole point of learning to read better is actually reading. A student can read a book that is boring or unappealing to them and they will not learn a single thing from that book because it did not grab them and hold their interest. It did not get them excited about what they are reading. I am not saying classics should be banned, but I am saying that young adult books should not immediately be discarded either.
Teachers, do your homework. Parents, do your homework. Read some books off of recommended lists for young adults such as YALSA quick picks for reluctant young readers and see for yourselves if the books cannot teach young adults something. All too often, the question many young adults ask is, “Why do I have to read this?” The goal is to make sure young adults are wanting read so this question does not even become applicable to them.
The more a young adult, or anyone, reads the more they understand what they are reading. And soon, young adults can find themselves reading more and more difficult books. Soon, young adults are challenging themselves to read. This is possible, but there has to be an attraction first. Therefore, classic books should not be neglected, but then neither should YA books. It should not matter how much a child reads, but how much they want to read. Remember, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a flame.”–Yeates. Who will light that flame in a student’s heart? Our students need to love to read now because they might not later.
Works Cited
Gibbons, Louel C, Dail, Jennifer S, Stallworth, B Joyce. Young Adult Literature in the English Curriculum Today: Classroom Teachers Speak Out. Arts Publications. CBS Interactive Inc. 2009
Reed, Arthea J.S. Reaching Adolescents: The Young Adult Book and the School. New York: Merrill, 1994.
