Book Burnings and Such...

“Damn all expurgated books; the dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.”

—Walt Whitman

My juniors and I are studying The Catcher in the Rye. I want them to read. I told them that “the man” doesn’t want them reading this book and they did a WebQuest to research all of the “conspiracy theories” related to the novel. They have heard that Catcher is the favorite book of 9 out of 10 serial killers. Some of them still aren’t reading. If there’s one book I want this class to read, Catcher is it.

A few of them are getting it. I have had three students tell me that this book is different. One even said, “I actually enjoy reading this book unlike the other stupid books we read.” Another student said, “Why don’t they want us reading this? It’s actually good.” Joe (who has probably never read a page of any book he has been assigned) is reading. He answered a question in class (a question that he could not have answered had he not been reading) and I’m surprised that my smile didn’t cause me to pull a muscle in my cheek. Joe is reading! I’d hoped he would read this book.

I want my students to understand that reading is a right. Freedom of speech is beautiful and not to be taken for granted. They don’t get it. My Sophomores and I just finished reading an autobiography of a Holocaust survivor. Most students were changed. One student thinks it’s lame that we’re studying the Holocaust. He suggests that it happened so long ago and that it doesn’t really affect us. I almost got tears in my eyes. Don’t worry, I told him about Sudan. He still doesn’t care. Studying the girl next to him is much more appealing than studying genocide. One of my students asked me if I’m Jewish. She doesn’t understand why I care so much.

I believe, from the core of my being, that knowledge is power. I’m not sure how to pass that on to my students. I want them to want to know.