Poverty of the Imagination
#DisruptTexts and the problem with teaching literature for social justice
“Even Homer Gets Mobbed.” This was the title of a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece that set in motion a social media kerfuffle about the literary canon and censorship — specifically, whether a group of educators associated with #DisruptTexts really do want to ban books such as The Odyssey, The Scarlet Letter, and The Great Gatsby.
In response, a cascade of tweets characterized these educators as “book burners” hell bent on trashing the classics. But the educators also had their defenders: some contested the book-banning allegations, and championed the work of #DisruptTexts for challenging the white, Eurocentric canon.
The online frenzy fit neatly into familiar culture war battle-lines, with defenders of “great books” pitted against proponents of a more expansive, multicultural literary canon. And while the question of what books are taught is clearly important, the question that should really draw our attention is how books are taught.
Disrupt Texts is representative of a broader, growing movement in K-12 education to teach…
