English classes often approach class texts with an assumption of literary value, without much discussion of students’ opinions of the works. Because something is being read for an English class, there can be an assumption of quality that often goes unchallenged. English classes should encourage students to critically discuss the texts they read, allowing them to form their own opinions while addressing outdated or harmful ideas in older works.
To start, allowing students to criticize class texts in an analytical setting would promote critical thinking skills. Instead of being told whether something is good or bad, students could discuss as a class what they did and didn’t like about a text, where it succeeds and fails, and if any elements concerned or bothered them. Making space for criticism of class texts would teach students that just because a work is well-respected doesn’t mean it’s infallible. Allowing for criticism of class texts would also open the door to more nuanced views of works and their quality. By fostering discussions that support different opinions, classes would teach students to understand how a work can be valuable while also acknowledging that it can have issues that deserve recognition.
The lack of critical discussion of class texts also allows problematic aspects of works to go unacknowledged. Many English classes still read texts with little or no representation of women.
For example, some tenth-grade classes read the short story “Shamengwa,” by Louise Erdrich, which features a single female character whose significance comes almost entirely from her relationships with men. The lack of female characters upholds the idea that men — specifically straight men — are some default everyman who everyone can relate to, while women, queer people, and other minorities aren’t relatable to people outside of those demographics.
More diversity across texts is crucial, but this does not have to mean abandoning every work that lacks that diversity. Teachers can still teach these works while being more forthcoming about their problems and allowing students to contribute to the discussion.
Students, and English classes as a whole, would benefit from teachers allotting time to criticize class texts. This would teach students critical thinking skills, promote more nuanced views of literature, and prevent harmful ideas in works from going unchallenged. Students’ perspectives matter, and schools should be teaching them how to hone and voice those opinions.