Our standard school program contains a lot
of information which is not especially necessary for a person in real life. For example,
all of us learnt the law of the conservation of energy, but who has used this knowledge in
practice (except for people engaged in scholarly spheres)? All pedagogical studies have
already recognised that pupils are overloaded, that programs should be reconsidered,
reduced, in other words, changed.
There is a school subject that cannot be withdrawn, but I would like to
remove it: literature.
To the question: “What do we study literature at school for?” –
no one answers you unequivocally. Nor the questions “What is a literarily educated
person?” and “What kind of criteria do we use to estimate a pupil’s literary
development?”
Today’s 11th form pupils leaving school do not feel any positive
emotions about literature. During their school years they were stuffed with a lot of
knowledge that did not develop them personally. To the question: “What does school mean
for you?” the graduate says: “School is a place where we received answers to questions
which we did not have”. A surprisingly exact answer!
The literature lesson has begun. There are students in front of the
teacher. And everyone has his/her own looks, mood, ideas and problems. One of them has
problems with his/her parents; another one is thinking about a tour to Turkey; someone
else thinks about the last Spartak match.
And the teacher tries to unite these kids with a sympathetic impulse
toward someone “humiliated and offended”. Do you believe that some of these pupils
follow this impulse?
Some students fight for an individual approach, in which it is not
necessary to work with the whole class, but with each person. But we should be fair: under
the classrom conditions of a school lesson, even a GENIUS teacher is not capable of
capturing the personal attention of every pupil. And not every pupil wants to be
controlled by the teacher. But, at the same time, every pupil, do not forget, must bring a
good mark home.
Somebody says that the teacher is guilty of everything. He/she did not
manage to interest his/her pupils during the literature class, and did not develop in them
the habit of reading and so on.
Any psychologist will tell you that habits and needs are formed before
the 7th year of life, i.e. at preschool age. If the family does not impart a positive
relation to books, the school teacher can do nothing but beat his head against the wall.
So, the logical question arises – what subject can replace
literature? Not gymnastics, certainly. Maybe, for example, rhetoric. It is useful for
teenagers to learn to formulate their opinions, to express them in precise, logical forms,
to support them with arguments, to assert their positions in discussion, closely listening
to their opponents and so on. To teach the young man think and speak is a hard task.
But “developing the best human qualities in children”, imposing on
them “emotional” tears over the pages of a book or “literary analysis” in school
– all this is not necessary and should be excluded from educational practice.
By Kirill Mikhailov |
Have you ever thought that things that
happen to you have never happened to anyone before and that your case is unique? Do you
sometimes have the impression that there is no exit from complicated situations you get
involved in at times? If your answer is “yes”, you should carefully read classic books
at school. I am not going to analyze the works of English, American or French writers,
but, being Russian by nationality, I will dwell on Russian literature and its renowned
representatives.
It is true that at the present time there are lots of debates about the
necessity of studying serious books at school. I remember my classmates who suffered
reading works by Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and so on. They exclaimed: “Oh my God! Why
do I have to study all those complicated stories! They are so boring!” In my opinion,
the problem is not the students, but the teachers and parents, who very often fail to
explain why literature is worth learning and how it can help us in our life. They need to
show that everything we experience today has already been experienced many times by other
people centuries before.
Some examples. One of the hardest books to read at school is, no doubt,
War and Peace, by Tolstoy. Its four huge volumes terrify teenagers when they only
see them. Then, the many French words on the first pages, the endless battle scenes and
long descriptions, create a gloomy image of the book, and students finally opt for the
thin trashy books where, on a couple of pages, they find the retelling of the major works.
So, what can be interesting in War and Peace? I do agree there
are many philosophical passages that should probably not be deeply studied at school; but,
at the same time, there is some useful advice that is extremely helpful for our future
life. For example, the ability to forgive. Do you remember Andrey Bolkonsky, who abandoned
Natasha Rostova after she betrayed him? He is compared to an oak, which, during the
centuries, remains the same, without any change. Society does not need men like this, and
Andrey dies.
Natasha Rostova, on the other hand, is not afraid of making mistakes
because she may regret them later, and then make others. Even her physical appearance
changes at the end; she is not the same slim girl, but a fat woman with a husband who
adores her, and five children, a gift that Tolstoy does not offer to every female
character. The moral? Do not be afraid of change and only in this way will you achieve
your aims.
Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky is another cornerstone of the
school program. There is an alternative to the book: criminal articles in the newspaper or
detective stories on TV every evening. The only difference is that you will have to think
a bit while reading Crime and Punishment, while your brain will be completely
turned off when watching TV. What do you think this book is about? Try just to see your
own life in it, and you will see it is all about a thought. The thought that leads to the
event that completely changes the life of the main character. The same with our life: it
is necessary to pay attention to any idea expressed by our friends, relatives, children or
colleagues. If we do, we will avoid many problems in our personal and professional life.
These are just two examples, taken from two greatest books. If you try,
you will discover many more other worthy ideas there, and the books we study at school
won’t seem useless to you anymore. We just need to make some effort to see human nature
in those works, and, consequently, to find solutions to our problems in them.
By Alevtina Kozina |