Anonymous
03/10/2026 12:30
Subject: Is your high schooler reading classic novels in school?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP- what do you mean by “classic” books? Do you mean books written by white authors about white society only?
Yep. These classic books, meaning old, from another time, all have the same viewpoint, are all about living in a white community. This past century saw novels written by more of a variety of authors that deserve recognition.
In middle school they usually read one Steinbeck. No need to read another. Limit English authors to one Dickens or someone similar. Let Shakespeare go except a short study of his works. There are plenty of quality current novels with the same themes.
Shakespeare is unreadable for most. I know posters here see their kids as brilliant but the language used makes the reading unpleasant and so difficult that you can’t enjoy it. Some people say the themes of his plays are timeless, about love, jealousy, death, ambition, power, fate, freedom. These themes are done better in dozens of contemporary novels that are readable.
Time to move on to better quality, relevant novels for today’s society.
What is wrong with reading about white society? If someone says they don’t want to read about black society that isn’t ok but it is ok to say you don’t want to read about white society?
I don't think anyone is saying that. What they're saying is that by reading only the classics, you're almost exclusively reading about white society, and missing out on all others.
Don't people now consider Toni Morrison's books to be classics? She won a Nobel prize...
Anonymous
03/10/2026 12:02
Subject: Is your high schooler reading classic novels in school?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP- what do you mean by “classic” books? Do you mean books written by white authors about white society only?
Yep. These classic books, meaning old, from another time, all have the same viewpoint, are all about living in a white community. This past century saw novels written by more of a variety of authors that deserve recognition.
In middle school they usually read one Steinbeck. No need to read another. Limit English authors to one Dickens or someone similar. Let Shakespeare go except a short study of his works. There are plenty of quality current novels with the same themes.
Shakespeare is unreadable for most. I know posters here see their kids as brilliant but the language used makes the reading unpleasant and so difficult that you can’t enjoy it. Some people say the themes of his plays are timeless, about love, jealousy, death, ambition, power, fate, freedom. These themes are done better in dozens of contemporary novels that are readable.
Time to move on to better quality, relevant novels for today’s society.
What is wrong with reading about white society? If someone says they don’t want to read about black society that isn’t ok but it is ok to say you don’t want to read about white society?
I don't think anyone is saying that. What they're saying is that by reading only the classics, you're almost exclusively reading about white society, and missing out on all others.
Anonymous
03/10/2026 06:41
Subject: Is your high schooler reading classic novels in school?
DD has read many classics
Anonymous
03/10/2026 00:05
Subject: Is your high schooler reading classic novels in school?
Anonymous wrote:War is war. The graphic stories of any war are describing someone's lived experience.
Those stories are not talking about the history behind the war. The history of any war belongs in history class not literature class.
If you read all the posts you would have seen the post that said maybe they should read these books in history class along with factual textbooks. And all wars are not the same.
The point was it’s lazy of teachers to have them read three Shakespeare and two other English writers from 1850 because they’ve done it for 20 years and have lesson plans already. . Their stories aren’t all that original and have since been written dozens of times with many authors doing a better job.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 22:17
Subject: Is your high schooler reading classic novels in school?
War is war. The graphic stories of any war are describing someone's lived experience.
Those stories are not talking about the history behind the war. The history of any war belongs in history class not literature class.
Those stories are not talking about the history behind the war. The history of any war belongs in history class not literature class.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 21:48
Subject: Is your high schooler reading classic novels in school?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My freshman has read animal farm, romeo and juliet and now jurassic park. Hates them all.
Is this a joke? A typo?
+1, I laughed out loud when I saw Jurassic Park on PP's list. It's a fun read for sure, though, but to study it in school?
Why not? This is the description of the book …
Jurassic Park is a 1990 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton about a theme park on a remote island where genetically engineered dinosaurs are brought to life, which ultimately fails due to scientific hubris and chaos theory, leading to a fight for survival. The book, a bestseller that blends science fiction with action-adventure, explores themes of genetic engineering, the dangers of unchecked science, and the unpredictability of complex systems.
Genetic engineering and unchecked science if relevant right now. Reading more than one Shakespeare is wasting valuable time that could be used reading more current novels that actually mean something.
I have read it. Yes, it is very fun, light airplane reading. Humans characters are profoundly stupid in it and dinos run amok. That's about the extend of the depth here. Sure, you can argue that it's relevant because it's about the dangers of genetic engineering. But you can also make the case that X-men comics are relevant because they highlight how we treat people who are different in society. Who knows, maybe next year comic books about mutants could replace Jurassic park on the classics list.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 21:42
Subject: Is your high schooler reading classic novels in school?
She is, and she is also weirdly obsessed with reading the unabridged versions of really old novels. Like there is this massive version of the Count of Monte Cristo sitting on my coffee table right now. She's an odd kid.