Sean Munroe4/1/15

Period 3Meeting in the middle:

Centralized Vs. Decentralized

In high schools across America, it is necessary for students to read a canon of

masterpieces from all different viewpoints and topics in order to be introduced to the vast culture

that is America today. However, a major problem that many have with the required texts is that it

takes away the creative lessons that teachers are able to give without a strict curriculum. To

ensure that class is still a creative and exciting place to learn, the required curriculum should be

limited to only the masterpieces, thus allowing teachers to take control as well.

The limited curriculum would allow the requirements to be met, while still giving control

to teachers. Greer quotes Clayton Eshleman, a professor at Eastern Michigan University, in

writing“ Teachers have to make their own decisions.” Greer then goes on to write of Eshleman’s

experiences as a teacher. Eshleman “[taught] anthologies alongside other poems.” In this source,

Eshleman presents to his class the required passage of Walt Whitman, and then another,

unrequired piece of Whitman, completely different from the other. In fact, the unrequired piece

was highly charged with homoerotic and sexual imagery. Editors decided that this piece was not

“appropriate” for the canon. However, society in the world today is “highly charged with

homoerotic energy and sexual imagery. These deletions of work limit the students understanding

of both the author, and the culture of today’s world. Thus presenting the need for teachers to be

able to be creative in the classroom(Source C). Landow argues in source A that “To appear in the

Norton or Oxford anthology is to have achieved, not exactly greatness but what is more

important,certainly-- status and accessibility to a reading public.” He writes later that a meager

amount of women are granted the privilege of being presented in a canon--which The American

Heritage Dictionary defines as “an authoritative list, as of the works of an author.” In today’s

society, women rights are becoming more and more prevalent each and everyday. So how is it

that most women are not represented in anthologies? How does this prepare a student for the

outside world? It doesn’t, and this is why there is a need for teachers to have control(Source A).

It is for these two conflicting views that a small canon, made up of masterpieces of an author, is

perfect for the decentralized educational system of today that is shown in Source B. Those that

are against the small canon for any reason at all should view Eshleman’s testing of this system.

His “experiment”, if you will, shows that a small canon promotes a different perspective on

learning and that in the end, it is beneficial for both teachers and students(Source C).

There are those that are adamantly against a national curriculum. Of these people is

Fowler who in source F, argues that with the up and coming culture that has shifted books from

print to online transforms the need for a stable canon of works and authors to meaningless.

Fowler paraphrases Writing Space, in writing “In the world of electronic writing, there will be no

texts that everyone must read. There will only be texts that more or fewer readers choose to

examine”(Source F). This is exactly why there is a need for a list of required texts in high

schools. There are texts necessary for students to read to be able to adapt to the vast society in

the U.S today. The reading of this literature can only be ensured to be read through a canon that

contains texts of this kind. Pirofski supports this by presenting the research of Florez-Tighe. “Her

research indicated that culturally authentic children’s literature enhances language development

and thought processes of African-American children.” Here it is proven through science that

multicultural literature and different topics of texts is beneficial in the classroom(Source E).

It is necessary to have a limited curriculum to allow to teachers to have control in the

classroom. With control, teachers are able to present texts that would ensure that students are

prepared and introduced to society in the real world. They can present all parts of society

including, but not limited to, the sexual imagery, women’s rights, and the multicultural world

that is society today.