So much has been said about the decline of Literature that there would be nothing new in whatever I have to say. So why am I writing this post?
I just have to join in with the pro-Literature crowd to say – what a pity that Literature is on a decline! I love Literature! It was the only subject that brought me joy when I was in school. I took it at O Levels, A Levels and University. This is not to say that I was a great Literature student. Far from it.
Doing Literature is not just about reading. It is so much more. If nothing else, having Literature as a subject forced me to read books that I would never have on my own picked up. Who would seriously want to pick up say, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart or Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness at 18 years old??? Not me for sure! I would rather read my detective novels or romance novels. But because they were required texts, I did and they opened up my mind.
To be able to analyse and articulate the essays required forced my mind to think coherently and logically. To churn out those required essays also taught me to write better. I had always loved reading, thanks to my dad who was himself an avid reader but to read as a Literature student allowed me to read differently and I am glad to have had that opportunity.
My love of Literature is why I was and still am so enamoured with the Sonlight curriculum! Sadly, due to family dynamics, we have never been able to implement it. We almost used it when I bought Sonlight’s Core 200 for my oldest, post PSLE. However a change of plan to proceed to use Abeka meant that we couldn’t use it. But since we already have the books and the Teacher’s Manual, we decided to let our oldest daughter do as much as she could before starting on her Abeka Grade 8 programme. If nothing else, she would also have had to pick up books she would never have dreamt of picking up on her own 😉
Anyway, this is just me adding my voice to the pro-Literature group 🙂 Literature should be put back into the school’s curriculum and taught more passionately instead of as a half subject 😛 The exposure of a child’s mind to good books is invaluable. Reading and analysing good books teach us how to write well and think well, important skills in this day and age. And for us Christians, it is a great opportunity to use it as a springboard to teach how our worldview colours everything in life.