The City of Berkeley is widely known for being progressive, and there’s no doubt that this political leaning reaches Berkeley High School literature classes. A dedicated African American Studies department, a queer literature class, an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) literature class, and more are all reflective of BHS’ efforts for inclusion and diversity within their classrooms. Although literature materials are generally diverse in classes at BHS, school-wide materials should include broader perspectives.
Classes like AAPI Literature, African American Literature, and Queer Literature all take up elective slots for students who may be already taking general literature classes. “I was more limited for my junior year class and which courses I could take, because I had to meet the (International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma) qualifications. I was really between taking Queer Lit and Law and Social Justice, and I ended up taking Law and Social Justice,” Delphine Wadlund, a junior in Berkeley International High School (BIHS), said.
“(Varying literature resources in different departments) means that some students are exposed to some things that others are not,” Kate Purnell, a tenth and eleventh grade BIHS English teacher said. To ensure that all students are exposed to diverse materials, general English literature classes should prioritize providing numerous different perspectives in written works. This year in IB Language and Literature, all eleventh grade classes were presented with a eight week unit on poet Gwendolyn Brooks. “Gwendolyn Brooks is amazing and a legend, however I think it would have been nice for students to experience other Black poets of that time, maybe other modern poets,” Purnell said.
This poetry unit focused only on one poet and one perspective from the 1950s. Although valuable, there was a clear absence of modern Black perspectives. “In a lot of curricula, students are presented with poetry that is minimum 40 years old … I would have liked to see a mix of modern and older poetry, styles of poems,” Purnell said, “My concern is that a lot of the joy, the positivity, the upward mobility that Black arts and literature has, is missed. I don't want our stories to be solely about struggle and suffering all the time, right?” In IB general literature classes, units usually focus on one author or collection without allowing for more authors of the same genre.
Moreover, these outdated materials don’t just come from IB; Adonai Nikodimos, a junior in Academic Choice said, “Some of the texts that we go over from the AP (English Language and Composition) exam use excerpts from a while ago (that are) really old.”
When making a curriculum for a general literature class, it can be difficult to squeeze in multiple authors of differing historical relevance, when so many stories need to be told. To remedy this issue, a curriculum with multiple perspectives spanning multiple time periods should be implemented into general literature classes, regardless of small school departments. More authors must be covered in literature classes at BHS to ensure both relevance and modern perspectives.