(Pytash) Literature, Knowledge, and the High School Graduate

 

“A high school diploma should represent not just time spent at a desk but a body of knowledge and set of skills that students have mastered” (Jago 148).

What does a diploma mean in the world? It is one way to get into college or acquire a job. It tells others that you had the patience and at least minimal effort to get through (at least) twelve years of education thus far.

But what does it really mean? For those who took their education seriously, it can mean a vast wealth of knowledge that can be used in future circumstances in which that knowledge could be the key element. For others, it means that barely passing was the name of the game. Those students likely ignored everything except for drama surrounding their friends and what the Friday night plans are going to be this week.

A diploma can say a lot about a student, but most of the time it gets a blanket view.

You have completed high school. Now what are you going to do?

 

“The American Diploma Project benchmark for writing about literature reads: ‘A high school graduate should be able to analyze the complexity of moral dilemmas in historically significant works of literature, as revealed by characters’ motivation and behavior’” (Jago 149).

What are the key words here? Moral, historically significant, motivation and behavior. According to that Project group, writing about literature only involves moral dilemmas. What else could it possibly involve? Can this encompass all aspects of writing about literature? In my opinion, yes and no. Specifying moral dilemmas as the primary goal for writing about literature changes how students and/or educators would view writing assignments.

If that standard was nationally recognized, then I would worry about the morals of every aspect of a text. How can I ask about this situation’s morals? What about the morals of character x? Is this a moral dilemma or just common courtesy? How do you deal with moral dilemmas beyond the scope of high school when students are facing moral dilemmas every day?

Texts should help students work to develop their moral compass. Through every situation a character encounters, they make a decision: would I or wouldn’t I? In saying that, I am effectually admitting that most work about literature can be about morals. What types of writing won’t involve morals at all? A new critical reading of a text may be able to pull it off, but we do utilize our morals quite a bit.

 

“Some argue that only students bent on pursuing careers in university English departments—a small subset indeed—need to develop the ability to analyze literature. But, surely this is important training for every mind” (Jago 150).

What does literature analysis do for students? It cultivates critical thinking processes which in turn allow students to evaluate and make decisions about text. Everything we encounter is a text. While we do not physically stop to analyze every text we see, hear, touch, taste, or smell, we do make smaller decisions.

Think about it. You see this image:

What decisions did you make?

• This is a mammal
• This is a horse
• The horse is sort of white
• The horse is facing right
• It is a pretty horse
• The horse is tall

If you had the background knowledge to evaluate the horse more closely, you may decide that:

• The horse is a draft cross of some sort
• The horse is a red roan tobiano, greying out
• The horse has strong, short pasterns
• The horse has a neck that is attached low but set acceptably
• The horse has a typey head but is not super feminine
• The horse’s shoulder is slightly larger than the horse’s engine
• The horse has a long, somewhat weak back
• The horse is in good weight

Look at the difference between the depth of observation you can make if you have the knowledge of how to evaluate the horse. The same goes for literature.

 

“Clearly the ability to write well allows some students to articulate their understanding more effectively, but such an assessment allows students with emerging writing skills, for example English language learners, to earn a high grade for comprehension without sophisticated writing skills” (Jago 158).

What is this referring to? Simple tests which ask comprehension-based questions rather than those which may ask for a well-written, superfluous answer. What is the point of assessing students? We want to know what they know. As a teacher, I want my students to develop their writing skills and bring forth their ideas onto paper in a sophisticated manner, but I realize that this isn’t always possible. Sometimes, we need to step back and allow students to “show what they know.”