reading an essay
i can honestly say that i have failed to fully appreciate the fact that we get the new york times. mostly because i would rather watch what not to wear, read other people's blogs, or whatever novel i am engaged with.
but this morning, after my run outside.... i sat on the floor to stretch with the book review section. the essay this week was about allan bloom's book and the debate that has continued to ensue regarding the famous love of mine.... the literary canon. his book (published in 1988) claims "that abandoning the Western canon had dumbed down universities, while the 'relativism' that had replaced it had 'extinguished the real motive of education, the search for a good life....that many earlier contributions were just watered-down versions of Heidegger, Nietzsche, Weber, Freud, and other Continental thinkers.'"
what is interesting is to know that this debate continues. as an english teacher by trade (yes, one that fails to use capital letters) have we done a disservice to growing brains by failing to teach more chaucer and milton where as now we read chinua achebe's things fall apart but "few people have read the yeats poem that the title comes from."
interesting.
i think we are only richer because we read zora neale hurston, toni morrison (even though i still struggle through beloved), alice walker, ralph ellison.....but it is hard to work an adequate discussion of faulkner, eliot, wordsworth, shakespeare and still hit the diversity that was lacking.
one last thought.... there is a portion of the essay the discusses the loss of "liberal studies" at most universities. only 1.6% of undergraduates majored in english, 1.3% in history...compared to the 20% in business or 16% in health. sad!
i am only richer because i have studied literature......i hope to pass that onto my children no matter what they major in.
but this morning, after my run outside.... i sat on the floor to stretch with the book review section. the essay this week was about allan bloom's book and the debate that has continued to ensue regarding the famous love of mine.... the literary canon. his book (published in 1988) claims "that abandoning the Western canon had dumbed down universities, while the 'relativism' that had replaced it had 'extinguished the real motive of education, the search for a good life....that many earlier contributions were just watered-down versions of Heidegger, Nietzsche, Weber, Freud, and other Continental thinkers.'"
what is interesting is to know that this debate continues. as an english teacher by trade (yes, one that fails to use capital letters) have we done a disservice to growing brains by failing to teach more chaucer and milton where as now we read chinua achebe's things fall apart but "few people have read the yeats poem that the title comes from."
interesting.
i think we are only richer because we read zora neale hurston, toni morrison (even though i still struggle through beloved), alice walker, ralph ellison.....but it is hard to work an adequate discussion of faulkner, eliot, wordsworth, shakespeare and still hit the diversity that was lacking.
one last thought.... there is a portion of the essay the discusses the loss of "liberal studies" at most universities. only 1.6% of undergraduates majored in english, 1.3% in history...compared to the 20% in business or 16% in health. sad!
i am only richer because i have studied literature......i hope to pass that onto my children no matter what they major in.
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