Although this is a couple weeks after we finished reading The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, there is something that I would like to bring attention to. While reading the "Wife of Bath's Prologue," there were many more vulgar statements there that I had not read when I read this book in high school my senior year. I had no idea how much the Wife of Bath used sex or the withholding of sex to get what she wanted from her husbands (and the older ones in particular). That was not mentioned in the version of the tales that I read in high school whatsoever, but should it have been?
There are many reasons why editors make older pieces of literature more "kid-friendly." One reason would be so that children should be sheltered from the vulgarity of "adult living." Sex, drugs, and alcohol are too risqué of subjects to be discussed in classrooms. But isn't that the point of classes especially at a high school--to be exposed in a safe setting to temptations that will present later in life?
I am currently interning at a high school with a teacher that has both seniors and freshmen. There is an astounding difference between the two age groups with both physical as well as intellectual maturity. It is understandable that the freshmen are not reading to controversial of pieces, but my mentor challenges the seniors by giving them essays on controversial topics. The point of teaching English is not simply to give students a broader range of vocabulary and read some cool books, but to use pieces of literature to make them think, debate, and decide upon real life issues such as drugs, sex, and alcohol. Because of this, it is my opinion that when it comes to taking British Literature in one's senior year of high school, there should not be an edited version. If Chaucer wanted the tone of the piece to be less vulgar, he would have written it that way. What are your thoughts? Should the vulgarity of Chaucer's tales be saved until a college literature course or should it be exposed to one in high school?
It's an important question! I think, rather than censoring or redacting the naughty bits, is to choose from the tales that are OK to read as-is. For example, the one Shakespeare play that high schoolers in North Carolina all read is Julius Caesar. Why? Because there's no sex! So there's no controversy when you assign it in 9th grade. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThere are so many other options to assign from the CT that would be fine for younger readers. For example, "The Pardoner's Tale" is the key source material for Jo Rowling's "Tale of the Three Brothers" and is a great choice for younger students.
I still think that younger students are able to handle "controversial" material (and, for that matter, challenging language) better than they often get credit for, however.