How does one encourage young minds to enjoy literature?

Students will study something they think is important like math and science. But with the possible exception of Shakespeare, many young people don’t see the point of, and do not enjoy, reading classic literature. In the immortal words of Flannery O’Connor, “If the student finds that this [good literature] is not to his taste? Well, that is regrettable. Most regrettable. His taste is not being consulted; it is being formed” (Flannery O’Connor, “Total Effect and the Eighth Grade,” Mystery and Manners).

It is indeed incumbent on the teacher to form students’ taste, to turn them on to good books. Taste is cultivated. A steady diet of French fries and hamburgers creates a desire for that type of food. If the teacher regularly assigns classic books for a class to study, that teacher discourages a need for pulp fiction and encourages a craving for more classic literature.

C. S. Lewis is another source of wisdom. In Experiment in Criticism, he states that “Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realize the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors.” Lewis continues, “[A] non-reader inhabits a tiny world…. My own eyes are not enough for me; I will see through those of others” (C. S Lewis, The Reading Life). This may be somewhat esoteric for teenagers, but an overriding concern of the lit teacher is surely to ensure that they agree with Lewis, that they realize books expand the mind. Books draw us into new parts of the world, new people and situations we’ve never known; they describe new desires, new ways of solving problems. It is axiomatic to add that literature raises more questions than it answers. That’s its appeal.

Teenagers respond well when they are reminded that great literature helps us all to mature into useful adults, to reflect on difficult situations, to grapple with unfamiliar ideas, to understand other people. Some of them will agree with Harper Lee: “Now…in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books” (Harper Lee in a letter for Oprah Winfrey’s magazine. Qtd. by Marja Mills, The Mockingbird Next Door).

Here are some ways to cultivate a love of literature:

• Talk enthusiastically about the books you are reading.
• Bring your books to class and pass them around for students to borrow.
• Schedule time for students to talk about a book they enjoyed.
• Schedule oral book reports. Younger students enjoy dressing up as the main character.
• Take reluctant readers to the school library to find a book they may enjoy.
• Get the class to talk about literature they are studying. Be sure to commend them when they find  relevant ideas you have not noticed in a literary work.

Here’s another idea:

• Lure them into an assigned book.

You’ve assigned Dickens’s Great Expectations. It sounds daunting—500 pages. Read aloud the first few paragraphs and stop at a dramatic moment in the narrative. Young Pip is visiting his parents’ graves. The atmosphere is cold and desolate. Pip begins to cry. Then “‘Hold your noise!’ cried a terrible voice as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. ‘Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!’” The class is hooked. Pass around the novel and assign the week’s reading.

I have read and reread Gilbert Highet’s book The Art of Teaching. Highet points out that students are going to oppose the teacher and it’s natural for them to do so. Isn’t that insight reassuring? Obviously, young people aren’t going to love literature like their teacher, but one doesn’t want a class of robots who gaze unblinkingly at one and simply regurgitate facts. The teacher creates a classroom atmosphere in which students talk and polite disagreement is encouraged—disagreement, that is, that can be supported from the text. Any teacher’s main task is to equip young people to learn for themselves. Highet talks about the value of humor. He says that a good laugh connects students to their teacher. So have a good laugh with your class regularly. Laughter tears down barriers between teenagers and the adult. There’s nothing in life more enjoyable than shared amusement. I used to read humorous passages from Austen and Dickens to the class. Often, they laughed not at the text but at me laughing. That was just fine by me.

What aspect of the English curriculum would you like to discuss? Send your comments to eamarlow0103@gmail.com.