I absolutely disagree with the statement that genre fiction is ‘unworthy’ to be taught as compared to literary fiction. Genre fiction definitely deserves a spot in the school curriculum. If anything, I actually think that there should be more genre fiction taught in the school curriculum, because then people will like reading much more. If you think about it, what are you training the students to think if the only things they are ‘forced’ to read are boring, old literary books? Granted, not all literary fiction is boring, I get that. But can you give me an example of a literary fiction that ISN’T boring? … That’s what I thought. From giving students literary fiction books they just automatically labeling reading as ‘boring,’ and therefore something they would never do in their free time, whether the book be interesting of boring.
I think that literary fiction gives books a bad name. Disagree with me all you want, but when a person is forced to read a boring book the last thing they’d ever want to do are read something out of the necessary amount. People who are raised to dislike books won’t gain the creative knowledge or life lessons that they would from a book, and literary fiction turns them away almost instantaneously.
Genre fiction should be added to the curriculum, YES. Although I don’t want to swap out Of Mice and Men with Twilight, per say, I think it could be swapped out with something else, such as the hunger games, where students can relate to and ENJOY relating to the characters and their emotions. Quite frankly I find it difficult to the characters and time period of the literary fiction, so there goes the connection between the book and the reader. This connection could be reestablished very quickly with the introduction of genre fiction into the school curriculum.
Reflecting on my response, this quote summarizes a lot of what I believe on the subject.
‘The problem with fantasy literature is that it has a certain stigma attached to it. This stigma has been identified and debunked by literary critics for quite a while now, yet the genre itself continues to be dismissed as escapist fluff-full of scantily clad sorceresses and wizards with long staffs. What seems lacking in acknowledgment are two facts about fantasy that make it perfect classroom fodder:
1. Students like it.
2. It is a metaphor for the human condition ripe with mythic structures, heroic cycles, and social and religious commentary.’
(Teaching Fantasy: Overcoming the Stigma of Fluff’ by Melissa Thomas)
STUDENTS LIKE IT. Isn’t’ that one of the most important things? The student’s actually enjoy the book they’re reading, they engage in the plot, they get stuck on the cliffhangers.
Relating to the book, establishing that Connection—isn’t that what reading’s all about?
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