To Kill a Mockingbird Response

 

I thought that the way the Author criticized some of the classic books that we are required to read was very interesting. We read To Kill a Mockingbird last year in Language Arts, so I could relate to some of the things that the Author referred to. Long before last year I had heard about To Kill a Mockingbird and how it was a book that “I just had to read”.  

In my Language Arts class we had a whole unit about all of the racial discrimination and prejudices explained in the book. It felt like we were in a history class for most of the time. I agree with the author that schools need to focus less on things like that because students will get most of that information from their history classes.  I do think that it is a big part of the book and there should be some emphasis on it but we should be focusing on how the book was written. It is a lot easier to teach and discuss racial discrimination verses literary development; I think that is why some teachers decide to do just that. During the TKAM unit we wasted time discussing other racial things happening in the time period such as the Scottsburro Boys, we spent at least two class periods watching a movie about it.

Following the unit about To Kill a Mockingbird we had a unit about the Holocaust. This proves the Authors point; Language Arts classes are focusing on the wrong things. I get that the Holocaust was a big event that every student should know about but it would be more beneficial to be working on analyzing pieces of writing for literary points. Last year I was also in World History Class, So on some days we would spend two hours discussing the same topic in two different classes.

I disagree with the fact that the Author thinks that we should change some of the book lists in schools. They should be kept the same because I think that there is a reason that those books have been on lists like that for so many years. If students don’t read some of the classic books I think that they would be missing out. Books on these “must read lists” need to stay the same but the way that they are taught needs to be different.

Overall, I agree with a lot of the Authors points in her essay with the exception of a few things. Language Arts classes should be spending time learning things that will help them in the future and save history topics for history class. Book lists should stay the same but the way that they are being taught needs some serious reform.

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