More high school reading

Watched Field of Dreams with the kids on Friday. They were bored at the beginning - only the older 2 care anything about baseball - but once the ghost players appeared, their interest picked up. The subtext about the reclusive author Terence Mann started a conversation after the show. When Kevin Costner's wife stands up at the school board meeting and makes an impassioned defense of Mann's book, I was worried a minute – wait, who is this author? How did I miss this guy? Kids asked about him, so we hit up trusty Google and found he doesn’t exist. Phew. I thought I had missed something.

But what I missed the first and only time I saw this movie was the implications of the wife’s speech. When I saw this movie in high school, I probably cheered the wife on. But now as a parent, I pause. I wouldn't support government censorship, but mostly because I think the government will censor the wrong things. On the other hand, I don’t think school kids should be handed every book that is praised as a coming of age manifesto. Mann apparently is based loosely on J. D  Salinger. Catcher in the Rye is a book for adults who have already lost their innocence, not kids who are still trying to figure things out. Why not feed them more challenging books with rich vocabulary, more complex characters, and longlasting value? Make them read the classics they won’t have time or desire to read on their own. They’ll find Catcher in the Rye on their own; it doesn’t need to be assigned in class.

Then again, I can see an argument for knowing what books are being talked about, what books people are interested in,what books have influence.  But how many high school students have critical skills to discern good writing from popular writing?

I suppose I should add Catcher in the Rye to my to reread list, because all I can remember of it is Holden's self-absorption and visit to a prostitute.