Which Books Should Be Required Reading in Schools?

[Clyde Frog]

If you were a high school literature teacher, with free reign on your curriculum (within reason), which books would you make your students read and why?

Also

Which books that you were made to read in school would you explicitly not make your students read?

............................................................................................................................................

WOULD READ:
"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. A classic war novel that depicts how war can destroy a man. The book shows how the modern idea of nationalism and the wars that result from it leave the idealistic as disillusioned and numb.

"The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan. The book explains to laypeople just what science is, and how researchers use the process of scientific inquiry to understand the universe around us. There's a lot of debunking in this book- of alien encounters, channeling and other paranormal experiences- and the author even provides readers a "baloney detection kit" to help them navigate a confusing and chaotic world.

"The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene. A good book to read if you plan on living life on your terms, climbing as high as you'd like to go, and avoid being controlled by others. This book is full of advice and wisdom that I think people about to leave high school and enter the world should have.

WOULD NOT:
I understand that the books I am going to list are all very important and teach or highlight important lessons or ideas but I just think that there are other books that teach the same things and in a more enjoyable way for 14-18 year olds. The majority of the people in my senior year english class just really didn't have a good time reading these books and you can't expect kids to take something from a book if they don't enjoy it.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.

"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

[tippy2k2]

I think that classes really should have some more popular reading materials. I know they are not the highest level or anything but you'll hopefully see why once I explain my books.

Enders Game; I never really cared for reading one way or the other until about...ninth grade let's call it (not 100% when I read this book). My school allowed you to choose from a few different reading classes so I chose the Sci-Fi classes because...well...Sci-Fi is awesome! Anyway, I hit Enders Game and I absolutely loved it. Ever since then, I have now read a book every two weeks or so all thanks to how much I liked Game.

Ultimately, you need a book that will spark a want to read in your students. For myself, it was Enders Game but for others, you might want to try...

Harry Potter; Personally, I've never read the book series but this seems like a great jumping off point for a younger crowd. See Game, Enders above for the why.

 

[Saetha]

None. I would get rid of the idea of required reading entirely, and simply put in place required reading times. Kids would be allowed to read what they choose. Harry Potter? Sure. Vampire Academy? Why not. The Bible? Whatever lights your fire. It's not about handfeeding them philosophy. It's about establishing a general love of literacy to begin with. You'll never manage to teach kids through reading if they hate reading.

For instance, I remember when I was in seventh grade, the entire school had a class-wide "Reading Race," where for two weeks we got no homework in English class, we'd sit down and be allowed to read for the entire class period (Or be forced to sit there doing nothing, for those who didn't want to) Didn't matter what we read, so long as we did it, and the teacher would write down how many pages the entire class read at the end of every day, and compare to other classes' scores - and it worked. Page counts soared into the thousands. I'd put something like that in place, just to remind kids that books exist and are a valid story-telling medium.

I don't think the point of mandatory reading should be to teach kids ideas and philosophy. They have other classes for that, and frankly, they'll learn their lessons a lot better from a teacher than they will from a book. Most kids despise mandatory reading in general, and will do whatever they can to wiggle out of it, and teachers themselves may not really be up to truly dissecting the material, because they're underpaid public school teachers and educational standards in America are kind of shit. Trying to use reading to teach them, for instance, general life-skills will only teach them how to game the system and get of doing homework (Which I maintain is something of a skill in itself, but not one many schools are proud of teaching). Putting a class on, say, war stories in place, and letting kids choose to take it might be a good idea, but then, I think school should be more elective in general. People learn a lot better when they think they're choosing to.

 

[FPLOON]

I still love The Great Gatsby... Too bad there's only one good movie adaptation...

OT: Outside of both Catch-22 and Sense and Sensibility, all my other choices were already required reading all the way back to my elementary school years especially in the realm of poetry... I mean, I already find it hard to argue about not having students read a particular classic than it is to have students read a particular classic outside of personal bias, I think...

Other than that, the option of having student choose between the classics that they want to read could work, I guess...

 

[Draken Steel]

I will say that I personally loved Enders Game and Speak. When I was in 10th grade they were experimenting a bit with reading more contemporary books instead of really old classics, to hopefully appeal to the students more. Unfortunately, when the teacher handed out some papers and explained that they were polling students if they liked the idea, no one knew what contemporary meant, and she explained it as "like Johnny Tremain" a book that no one had liked, so everyone said it was a terrible idea. I....know I really should have probably spoken up an explained things but at that point it just didn't seem like it was worth the effort.


Also, I just looked it up, and Johnny Tremain was published in 1943......what? How is that contemporary?

 

[Queen Michael]

If we're talking America, I'd say the constitution.

But regardless of place, I'd say the New Testament and the Quran. They're kind of influential.

 

[Trunkage]

The only book I was forced to read that I ended up liking was Brave New World.

I even remember Pendulum doing a cover of the soma song

 

[Xerosch]

I'd say 'The Visit'. It's a very good piece about manipulation and being consumed by hate and revenge (and kinda always relevant).
If you haven't read it, you should without researching anything else about the story. The way the noose tightens is really well portrayed.

Here's a short summary from wikipedia:
An enormously wealthy older woman returns to her former hometown with a dreadful bargain: She wants the townspeople to kill the man who jilted her in exchange for enough money to revitalize the town.

 

[Cryselle]

I don't think there's a good list of books that should be required to read, because it's super dependent on the teacher in question. If you're going to make your students read a book, you should be enthusiastic about the book itself and be able to discuss it and actually be able to have a conversation about the different messages that the students get out of it. The reason that required reading fails so often is because you have a bored teacher making you read a book because it's 'on the list' and all they're looking for is to have the students parrot back all the pre-defined answers on what the book means that they find on their teaching manual. That really doesn't teach the students anything other than reading is work and it sucks.

 

[bdeamon]

I'd say How to Fight Presidents should be in there because it makes history fun. Also writing classes should check out Mogworld because it is a good lesson on how not to write cliche characters and to make the story about what you know.

 

[Mister K]

Since it is not in my country's school program: The lord of the flies. Kids must read it at the very least to u derstand that collective conciousness and other forms of hive mind are harmful.

I don't know which ones to not recommend.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Books that makes thin skinned people uncomfortable. Maybe if they read more such things during their early days, they wouldn't be the biggest crybabies on the internet 10 years later.
I've read a bit about the bullshit that's happening in the US universities (by chance) and holy shit, you guys need to step it up and take back control. Just because someone got offended by a regular, medieval book doesn't mean that freaking book should be "banned". The land of the free is getting less and less free. More "banned" books on universities than censored games in Germany.

In my country we go through the books by time periods and go through most important literature pieces. 1 smaller book per week, 1 big book per month. So around 40 books a school year. Ancient Greece, Russian, German, Britain, local, US literature and many more. War, peace, sex, corruption, poverty, drama, tragedy, comedy... normal authors, weird authors, authors that were obviously on drugs while writing that shit that I still don't understand...

You obviously could do well in class even if you skipped most books if you read the short version and understood my professor and knew what she would ask to test you, but honestly, I think all the reading was enjoyable. Like less than an hour per day and you've done it. Especially if it's and interesting book. I disliked most of the Russian literature, but thinking back, I understand them. I still don't like them, but I'm glad I read them. Russians have such heavy literature, dark, depressing with all the detailed description of the humans, their problems and everything else. It was actually painful to read. And I was happy when Anna Karenina died. Fuck that shit.

 

[Opanak]

CRIME AND PUNISMENT by Dostoevsky
WHITE FANG by Jack London
DEATH AND THE DERVISH by Me?a Selimović
THE USE OF MAN by Aleksandar Ti?ma
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS by Ernest Hemingway
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway
NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR by George Orwell

A bit heavy I know, but each one of these is a masterpiece. I choose these (there are many more authors and books I could have included) because I think they provide very important lessons about nature, war, morality and overall struggle for freedom and humanity.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I second more Dostoyevsky. Too much Americana in schools if I'll be honest(or where I went, english texts).

Also I second the removal of Gatsby. Fitzgerald's relevance is long gone, and the book feels like it condemns socialite bourgeois lifestyles whilst at the same time celebrating the virtues of the American Elite. Really janky imo.

 

[FalloutJack]

I'd say bring in books like Catch-22, The Disappearing Spoon, and My Tank Is Fight.

And I'd say out with Moby Dick and Paradise Lost.

 

[Yopaz]

None. I would get rid of the idea of required reading entirely, and simply put in place required reading times. Kids would be allowed to read what they choose. Harry Potter? Sure. Vampire Academy? Why not. The Bible? Whatever lights your fire. It's not about handfeeding them philosophy. It's about establishing a general love of literacy to begin with. You'll never manage to teach kids through reading if they hate reading.

Me and my sister have discussed this so many times (we're both on the same side as you and we're both very engaged in the topic). It might sound good on paper to let kids read the books that are supposed to be great examples of literature, but honestly, the texts extracts from my books and the books we were forced to read were downright boring. I learned to read mainly from comic books, then I went to some lighter books, then young adult books and in 7th grade I started reading adult books. In 9th grade I got sick of waiting for translations so I started reading English books which was really tough at the time, but it has meant so much to me. The motivation to learn to read is more important than simply reading because you're told to do so or "this book is important".

That said in high school I think we should be introduced to some of the classics. Personally I would say George Orwell should be included in that and Fahrenheit 451 is becoming increasingly relevant these days.

 

[MiskWisk]

At this point I'd be happy with Dr. Seuss if British schools (or at least the ones my family went too) would stop banging on about bloody Bill Shakespeare. I don't care if he is one of the most influential playwrights in history, his stuff just hasn't aged well. If we want to learn about him, make a new course for universities, historical literature or whatever they want to call it so they can over-pay 8 out of 10 lecturers but for the love of god give me something to read that is from the last two hundred years!

 

[Shiftygiant]

At this point I'd be happy with Dr. Seuss if British schools (or at least the ones my family went too) would stop banging on about bloody Bill Shakespeare. I don't care if he is one of the most influential playwrights in history, his stuff just hasn't aged well. If we want to learn about him, make a new course for universities, historical literature or whatever they want to call it so they can over-pay 8 out of 10 lecturers but for the love of god give me something to read that is from the last two hundred years!

I always find the inclusion of William Shakespeare to be a confusing one. Not because I don't like him, I'm firmly in the camp of 'he's still a damn genius', but the simple fact that you aren't meant to read plays. Your meant to watch them. Because you aren't the actor. Seriously, so many people are turned off by reading Shakespeare and call him boring and outdated, and the education system is shocked by this? Prose! Just have prose. If you want influential English Prose read the Canterbury Tales, not a script.

But yes, I put forward that we should replace Shakespeare with The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. Because we shouldn't read scripts like books. Because it's stupid.

 

[soren7550]

Books that makes thin skinned people uncomfortable. Maybe if they read more such things during their early days, they wouldn't be the biggest crybabies on the internet 10 years later.
I've read a bit about the bullshit that's happening in the US universities (by chance) and holy shit, you guys need to step it up and take back control. Just because someone got offended by a regular, medieval book doesn't mean that freaking book should be "banned". The land of the free is getting less and less free. More "banned" books on universities than censored games in Germany.

This is a pretty huge misconception about the U.S.; thanks to the constitution, we can't ban books, but a place can decide to not carry it. Sure, there's many a book that people demand be banned from schools and the like, but they legally can't. Hell, I've even had several books be part of the curriculum that usually end up on 'banned book' lists (I think the proper term for such lists is Frequently Challenged Books or some such).

As for books that I'd make students read, I think that I'd have them read something objectively bad, so that we could do a project wherein we'd discuss what it did wrong, what it did right (if anything), what it could have done to be better, what it did/contains to make it popular (if it was), etc.

As for actual titles that there'd be an actual chance of being able to do (sorry Perfect Dark: Initial Vector), one I'd probably have to do is The Diary of Anne Frank. Should be obvious, the detailed accounts of a teenager having to hide from the Nazis, and having to grow up while confined in a small space with people not very sympathetic to her internal struggles, etc.

One thing that'd be a no-no in my class is having to read plays. Having to read plays in class was always the worst thing.

I'm sure to think of more later.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

CRIME AND PUNISMENT by Dostoevsky
WHITE FANG by Jack London
DEATH AND THE DERVISH by Me?a Selimović
THE USE OF MAN by Aleksandar Ti?ma
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS by Ernest Hemingway
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway
NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR by George Orwell

A bit heavy I know, but each one of these is a masterpiece. I choose these (there are many more authors and books I could have included) because I think they provide very important lessons about nature, war, morality and overall struggle for freedom and humanity.

Second all of these. I'd throw in some Cheever, Carver, Vonnegut and Stevenson/Poe (always good).