In my most recent article at Intellectual Takeout, I discuss the fate of literature in many schools today:

Schools seem to be placing less and less emphasis on humanities in general and literature in particular. Quality literature seems to be increasingly restricted to classes for gifted and talented students, the imaginations of the rest of the student body being relegated to a lower priority.

I discuss several factors that are at the root of this problem:

  1. The fact that literature is simply being neglected or relegated to programs for gifted students.
  2. The literature that is taught is of poorer quality, sometimes focused on “YA” (Young Adult) literature rather than classic literature

And then there is the issue of Common Core:

Common Core has had to shoulder much of the blame for this situation. Critics have pointed out the that the Common Core English Standards limit the percentage of imaginative fiction school are to teach in favor of “informational texts.” While this certainly doesn’t help the problem, it should be pointed out that the recommended reading lists in Common Core are largely made up of classic literature.

The bigger problem is that those lists are being ignored by publishers.

Read the whole thing here.

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