From Fiction To Texts

This post is in response to the following article about the United States' intentions to withdraw fiction books from their school curriculum.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9729383/Catcher-in-the-Rye-dropped-from-US-school-curriculum.html

According to the article “Cather in the Rye dropped from US school curriculum”, posted to The Telegraph, 46 out of 50 states in the US are making it compulsory for their students to study non-fiction texts in order to make them better prepared for the higher levels of their education and their workplaces. In order to better accommodate this new rule, classic books such as To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and The Catcher In The Rye, by JD Salinger, were cut from the English class curriculum.

            When I think back to my English classes in Grades 9 and 10, the first few years of my high school experience, I vividly remember studying Lee and Salinger’s novels and interpreting their themes through discussions, assignments, and essays. I know that I would not have been able to acquire the same level of understanding of the novels by simply reading them myself. My English classes and teachers have helped me analyze the themes and the characters in the fiction novels, which also positively contributed to my overall understanding of the English language. Without these types of novels involving story and character development, students will be less willing to read new texts and their imaginations and understanding of fiction will deteriorate.

            It is certainly beneficial for students to read non-fiction texts in order to learn more about that subject and its importance in the world, but this knowledge should not be costing these students the chance to read classic fiction books in their English classes. I believe that mandating students in the United States to read non fiction books will have negative consequences because it will not only make them less eager to learn about various texts in their English classes, it will also make them more opposed to reading books outside of class.