Letter to the Editor: Literature classes not a waste of taxpayer dollars

I politely disagree with Mr. Clay Conover’s assessment in the April 6 issue of The Volante that “high school literature classes are a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

One of my undergraduate majors is in English and after 10 years in the banking industry, I decided to pursue my dream of teaching high school English — you might say I’m a bit passionate about reading and writing.

The short list of benefits that one gets from studying English literature with a good teacher is as follows: increased vocabulary, increased reading comprehension, increased recognition of cultural references in other works (including popular culture), increased empathy for the human condition throughout time and place and overall better writing skills. These skills are increasingly called for in the workplace as well as in colleges and universities.

Mr. Conover questions why he had to write a play in high school and then a few paragraphs later, argues that “English classes should be used to teach students how to communicate effectively in the written language.” I would imagine that by writing a play, he was in fact practicing his writing skills.

He also argues that students “could be learning about something useful like civics or history” instead of about Shakespeare. Perhaps Mr. Conover is unaware that at least 10 of Shakespeare’s plays are based on actual historical events. I do agree that more time should be dedicated to teaching civics to high school students, but I do not believe that cutting literature classes is the way to do so.

Regards,

Bridget Hively

Graduate Student, USD, Secondary Education with Teaching Certificate

BA USD ’08: English and Spanish with a minor in Creative Writing