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The Washington Post has just published a piece by my good friend and exceptional colleague, Dana Dusbiber. It’s titled Teacher: Why I don’t want to assign Shakespeare anymore (even though he’s in the Common Core).
Here’s an excerpt:
“I am sad that so many of my colleagues teach a canon that some white people decided upon so long ago and do it without question.”
Many thanks to Dana. Up until her, no one had ever questioned teaching Shakespeare.
“So I ask, why not teach the oral tradition out of Africa, which includes an equally relevant commentary on human behavior? Why not teach translations of early writings or oral storytelling from Latin America or Southeast Asia other parts of the world? Many, many of our students come from these languages and traditions. Why do our students not deserve to study these “other” literatures with equal time and value? And if time is the issue in our classrooms, perhaps we no longer have the time to study the Western canon that so many of us know and hold dear.”
Dana states she was an English Major, and then a teacher of English for 25 years. I am not Dana, so I don’t know what courses she took as an English Major, but when she says that Africa has an equally relevant commentary, I wonder if she knows that as a scholar of Africa (Latin America or Southeast Asia), or if it’s just something she has been told. What are her credentials to tell us that Shakespeare is just one of many?
“Here then, is my argument: If we only teach students of color, as I have been fortunate to do my entire career, then it is far past the time for us to dispense with our Eurocentric presentation of the literary world. Conversely, if we only teach white students, it is our imperative duty to open them up to a world of diversity through literature that they may never encounter anywhere else in their lives.”
I come from a culture that many regard as smart, intelligent, even at times wise, and yet my culture did not invent the zero, nor did it invent Algebra. I am glad I learned about zero, and learned about Algebra, and didn’t learn what some white punk *ssed politically correct teacher thought was math relevant to my culture. VII.
“I admit that this proposal, that we leave Shakespeare out of the English curriculum entirely, will offend many.”
It is not not teaching Shakespeare I find offensive. It’s the smug and shallow notion that if she believe she offends people she must be insightful I find obnoxious. And probably wrong.