APS - 10th Grade English

[Anonymous]

Did anyone go to Back To School Night last night at APS? My child's 10th-grade English class back-to-school night was a little surprising. Yes, it is an English class, but all lessons are focused on global communities, absolute power, and reading options based on POC struggles, etc... There was a BLM fist in the presentation. I had to reconfirm that the class was actually English, and not an elective or sociology. A parent asked if this was the same for all Arlington 10th-grade English classes, and the response was yes.

Am I the only one concerned that English classes are now being hijacked to push social justice? Not complaining about social justice per se, but seems like this really distracts from what most people think a student should learn in a traditional English class. I am not a Younkin supporter, but I do feel this is over the top.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t see any of that. My child is in intensified but I think the curriculum is the same. They told us first quarter novels are I know why the caged bird sings and Persepolis (focus on personal narratives). They also have a new book they’ll use and it has nonfiction selections like a Supreme Court decision.

[Anonymous]

Purple Hibiscus is our 1st book, based in postcolonial Nigeria.

[Anonymous]

Interesting, there is a similar thread in the private school discussion: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1083389.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t see any of that. My child is in intensified but I think the curriculum is the same. They told us first quarter novels are I know why the caged bird sings and Persepolis (focus on personal narratives). They also have a new book they’ll use and it has nonfiction selections like a Supreme Court decision.

Same. In addition to the two books above (the second of which is a "graphic novel"), my kid's teacher said they'll be reading 1984 and something Shakespeare, probably Julius Caesar.

[Anonymous]

Definitely did not have any political symbols or speak in our brief presentation at WHS and the syllabus does not reflect what you describe, either. Thank goodness. I would pushback on that teacher's perception that it's the same across classes/APS. Our experience has already shown that the curriculum isn't even consistent within a school. For example, our senior is slated to read "Frankenstein" this year; while others read it their sophomore year. Likewise, our oldest read "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a freshman; but our second child did not.

We attended two English class presentations (10th and 12th grades) last night. Clearly the teachers have a good amount of flexibility in how they structure their class, including the literary pieces they choose to focus on, because they were very different in their approaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely did not have any political symbols or speak in our brief presentation at WHS and the syllabus does not reflect what you describe, either. Thank goodness. I would pushback on that teacher's perception that it's the same across classes/APS. Our experience has already shown that the curriculum isn't even consistent within a school. For example, our senior is slated to read "Frankenstein" this year; while others read it their sophomore year. Likewise, our oldest read "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a freshman; but our second child did not.

We attended two English class presentations (10th and 12th grades) last night. Clearly the teachers have a good amount of flexibility in how they structure their class, including the literary pieces they choose to focus on, because they were very different in their approaches.

Thanks for sharing, this is what I was wondering. Seems to be this specific teacher's spin on Intensified English and how to teach it through "enlightened" narratives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t see any of that. My child is in intensified but I think the curriculum is the same. They told us first quarter novels are I know why the caged bird sings and Persepolis (focus on personal narratives). They also have a new book they’ll use and it has nonfiction selections like a Supreme Court decision.

Same. In addition to the two books above (the second of which is a "graphic novel"), my kid's teacher said they'll be reading 1984 and something Shakespeare, probably Julius Caesar.

My DD's Intensified English 10 was the same as this. Mr. Klein at YHS.

[Anonymous]

To be devil's advocate- why do you think themes like that make it like an elective? Because things written by white people is normal and things written from different points are view are elective? If the materials are age/grade appropriate, then it really doesn't matter. The point is vocabulary building, reading comprehension building, writing practice, etc. So to my original question- why do you think books written about POC viewpoints have an agenda and not just English 10 material??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to Back To School Night last night at APS? My child's 10th-grade English class back-to-school night was a little surprising. Yes, it is an English class, but all lessons are focused on global communities, absolute power, and reading options based on POC struggles, etc... There was a BLM fist in the presentation. I had to reconfirm that the class was actually English, and not an elective or sociology. A parent asked if this was the same for all Arlington 10th-grade English classes, and the response was yes.

Am I the only one concerned that English classes are now being hijacked to push social justice? Not complaining about social justice per se, but seems like this really distracts from what most people think a student should learn in a traditional English class. I am not a Younkin supporter, but I do feel this is over the top.

What should a student learn in a traditional English class? I went to a terrible, underfunded, majority white (rural New England) public school in the 1980s, but we still read To Kill A Mockingbird, A Raisin In The Sun, The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and the Great Gatsby. Seems like kids today are just reading about the same themes with more modern/diverse characters and new authors, but many of the books I see on these lists are still award-winning, best-selling books that will be classics the The Kite Runner, Never Let Me Go, and The Color Purple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to Back To School Night last night at APS? My child's 10th-grade English class back-to-school night was a little surprising. Yes, it is an English class, but all lessons are focused on global communities, absolute power, and reading options based on POC struggles, etc... There was a BLM fist in the presentation. I had to reconfirm that the class was actually English, and not an elective or sociology. A parent asked if this was the same for all Arlington 10th-grade English classes, and the response was yes.

Am I the only one concerned that English classes are now being hijacked to push social justice? Not complaining about social justice per se, but seems like this really distracts from what most people think a student should learn in a traditional English class. I am not a Younkin supporter, but I do feel this is over the top.

What should a student learn in a traditional English class? I went to a terrible, underfunded, majority white (rural New England) public school in the 1980s, but we still read To Kill A Mockingbird, A Raisin In The Sun, The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and the Great Gatsby. Seems like kids today are just reading about the same themes with more modern/diverse characters and new authors, but many of the books I see on these lists are still award-winning, best-selling books that will be classics the The Kite Runner, Never Let Me Go, and The Color Purple.

Quite frankly, I'd like my kid, and any other kid in the classroom, to be able to have an open discussion without fear that one wrong statement/misstatement that is not politically correct is going to get them labled by a teacher that appears to have a more active agenda than most English teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to Back To School Night last night at APS? My child's 10th-grade English class back-to-school night was a little surprising. Yes, it is an English class, but all lessons are focused on global communities, absolute power, and reading options based on POC struggles, etc... There was a BLM fist in the presentation. I had to reconfirm that the class was actually English, and not an elective or sociology. A parent asked if this was the same for all Arlington 10th-grade English classes, and the response was yes.

Am I the only one concerned that English classes are now being hijacked to push social justice? Not complaining about social justice per se, but seems like this really distracts from what most people think a student should learn in a traditional English class. I am not a Younkin supporter, but I do feel this is over the top.

What should a student learn in a traditional English class? I went to a terrible, underfunded, majority white (rural New England) public school in the 1980s, but we still read To Kill A Mockingbird, A Raisin In The Sun, The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and the Great Gatsby. Seems like kids today are just reading about the same themes with more modern/diverse characters and new authors, but many of the books I see on these lists are still award-winning, best-selling books that will be classics the The Kite Runner, Never Let Me Go, and The Color Purple.

Quite frankly, I'd like my kid, and any other kid in the classroom, to be able to have an open discussion without fear that one wrong statement/misstatement that is not politically correct is going to get them labled by a teacher that appears to have a more active agenda than most English teachers.

My guess is that someone who teaches English in a public high school and chooses books like this does so because they expect to be helping young teenagers learn how to understand complex themes and formulate and articulate responses to the material. You wouldn't last long in a 10th grade classroom if you punished kids who said dumb things. At the same time, students need to learn the difference between having and stating an opinion about class material and being offensive, and a high school classroom is a safer place to learn that than, say, the workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to Back To School Night last night at APS? My child's 10th-grade English class back-to-school night was a little surprising. Yes, it is an English class, but all lessons are focused on global communities, absolute power, and reading options based on POC struggles, etc... There was a BLM fist in the presentation. I had to reconfirm that the class was actually English, and not an elective or sociology. A parent asked if this was the same for all Arlington 10th-grade English classes, and the response was yes.

Am I the only one concerned that English classes are now being hijacked to push social justice? Not complaining about social justice per se, but seems like this really distracts from what most people think a student should learn in a traditional English class. I am not a Younkin supporter, but I do feel this is over the top.

What should a student learn in a traditional English class? I went to a terrible, underfunded, majority white (rural New England) public school in the 1980s, but we still read To Kill A Mockingbird, A Raisin In The Sun, The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and the Great Gatsby. Seems like kids today are just reading about the same themes with more modern/diverse characters and new authors, but many of the books I see on these lists are still award-winning, best-selling books that will be classics the The Kite Runner, Never Let Me Go, and The Color Purple.

Quite frankly, I'd like my kid, and any other kid in the classroom, to be able to have an open discussion without fear that one wrong statement/misstatement that is not politically correct is going to get them labled by a teacher that appears to have a more active agenda than most English teachers.

+1
And that does happen - believe me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to Back To School Night last night at APS? My child's 10th-grade English class back-to-school night was a little surprising. Yes, it is an English class, but all lessons are focused on global communities, absolute power, and reading options based on POC struggles, etc... There was a BLM fist in the presentation. I had to reconfirm that the class was actually English, and not an elective or sociology. A parent asked if this was the same for all Arlington 10th-grade English classes, and the response was yes.

Am I the only one concerned that English classes are now being hijacked to push social justice? Not complaining about social justice per se, but seems like this really distracts from what most people think a student should learn in a traditional English class. I am not a Younkin supporter, but I do feel this is over the top.

What should a student learn in a traditional English class? I went to a terrible, underfunded, majority white (rural New England) public school in the 1980s, but we still read To Kill A Mockingbird, A Raisin In The Sun, The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and the Great Gatsby. Seems like kids today are just reading about the same themes with more modern/diverse characters and new authors, but many of the books I see on these lists are still award-winning, best-selling books that will be classics the The Kite Runner, Never Let Me Go, and The Color Purple.

Quite frankly, I'd like my kid, and any other kid in the classroom, to be able to have an open discussion without fear that one wrong statement/misstatement that is not politically correct is going to get them labled by a teacher that appears to have a more active agenda than most English teachers.

I don't think they let straw men attend public school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to Back To School Night last night at APS? My child's 10th-grade English class back-to-school night was a little surprising. Yes, it is an English class, but all lessons are focused on global communities, absolute power, and reading options based on POC struggles, etc... There was a BLM fist in the presentation. I had to reconfirm that the class was actually English, and not an elective or sociology. A parent asked if this was the same for all Arlington 10th-grade English classes, and the response was yes.

Am I the only one concerned that English classes are now being hijacked to push social justice? Not complaining about social justice per se, but seems like this really distracts from what most people think a student should learn in a traditional English class. I am not a Younkin supporter, but I do feel this is over the top.

What should a student learn in a traditional English class? I went to a terrible, underfunded, majority white (rural New England) public school in the 1980s, but we still read To Kill A Mockingbird, A Raisin In The Sun, The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and the Great Gatsby. Seems like kids today are just reading about the same themes with more modern/diverse characters and new authors, but many of the books I see on these lists are still award-winning, best-selling books that will be classics the The Kite Runner, Never Let Me Go, and The Color Purple.

I, for one, don't mind the literature lists being updated to incorporate more modern and culturally diverse authors. I DO mind doing this at the expense of traditional, "classic" literature. I DO mind kids reading Shakespeare or Beowulf, etc. in modern vernacular rather than the old language. Why do I mind these things? Because I believe strongly that learning literature from the past - even if they have similar themes to today's modern literary works - greatly enhances the learning and understanding of history, the development of language and vocabulary, the evolution of social thought and customs, etc. I also find it very disappointing that students are only required to read selected parts of these traditional works. Why? Because it limits the education. It takes away from the full context and understanding of the author's message, technique, style, place in literature to only study parts of works and not the full context. It shortchanges our students' education. Ignorance of history lends itself to repeating of history; whereas knowledge and understanding increases the likelihood of not repeating and of continuing to evolve.
I don't expect everyone to read Cyrano de Bergerac in its original French; but when you translate things like Shakespeare and epic poems from English to updated English, you lose a great deal in the way of word use, euphemisms, references, poetic rhythm, rhyme, etc.