[The Great RJ]

Instead of this crap students should be reading Orwell's 1984, Hemmingway's A Movable Feast, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Melville's classic Moby Dick.

[ladylib]

Yeah, they don't actually offer a Great Books curriculum do they?

Here's a follow up on that F-word controversy in VA a week or so ago:

http://www.pabbis.com/news.htm

[Savage Beast]

Post #15: Yes, or what about The Scarlet Letter. I don't think there's anything offensive in that.

You have to be careful. You never know what's hidden in the text--that you overlooked...and that horrified somebody!

[Snidely Whiplash]

Instead of this crap students should be reading Orwell's 1984, Hemmingway's A Movable Feast, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Melville's classic Moby Dick.

All great titles, though Huck Finn is a bit below the reading level of a senior in high school. And Ellison's The Invisible Man isn't exactly avant-garde or anything...

Snidely

[Poser]

Moby Dick... Ugh.
And Silas Marner... Ugh!
And Catch 22... Ugh!!
And Lord of the Flies... Ugh!!!

With so many good, INTERESTING, books out there, one would think teachers could choose better reading assignments. I had to go to the library to get my hands on Asimov. Most school reading is unnecessarily dreary and boring.

[Pedantic_Lady]

Instead of this crap students should be reading Orwell's 1984, Hemmingway's A Movable Feast, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Melville's classic Moby Dick.

Interestingly, all of the above were required reading at my high school or junior high school. I still have the copies of all four that I purchased as a schoolgirl.

[ishabibble]

Indeed! Last fall, THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD was banned for being "gender specific". As a 2nd grade girl in a very poor Catholic school, I cannot tell you how much that story, that spirit, that resolve, inspired me. Truthfully, I never even saw the "gender". That story was used by the nuns to teach the lesson of achievement; it is simply a child's version of "Act as if.." which, of course was extended into polite society, being a good citizen, etc.
The good Sisters didn't give a thought to my "self-esteem issues" or any other buzz word BS, it was about teaching and learning.

THE LITTLE ENGINE...All-American Kid!

[carpio]

Instead of this crap students should be reading Orwell's 1984, Hemmingway's A Movable Feast, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Melville's classic Moby Dick.

Undoubtably much better choices on purely literary grounds. However I recently heard a somewhat female high school educator commenting on the political incorrectness of teaching only the writings of dead white men.

[Timmy]

Instead of this crap students should be reading Orwell's 1984, Hemmingway's A Movable Feast, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Melville's classic Moby Dick.

Hah! No one should be forced to read the overrated, interminable, waste of paper that is Moby Dick. In fact, I have to question whether you have actually read it, as those who call it a great work usually have not themselves read it. The other two books you list are, indeed, classics.