If they let them use the Bible with rape, incest, and other pornography, then why not.

Please enlighten me the pornography that you find in the Bible? Since the religion of choice of the NEA has always been evolution. I'd love to find out what's changed since the Scope's monkey trial.

Well we've got the classics like The Great Gatsby and The Pearl that fill our English classes. Then the short stories like The Pedestrian and The Bet that are followed by endless days of discussion over simple to grasp themes. To add on to this criteria, a book like Nightmares and Dreamscapes would eat a lot of time. So would we replace this classic literature currently filling English classes?

Why? To learn the tricks of a genre writer. Setups, build-ups, surprises, turnarounds. Very useful. Very entertaining, too.

Why not? Awful style. But I suppose there are still enough great American novels in the curriculum to offset that.

I don't like his novels... I admit that they drag on a bit, but what's wrong with his style?

Boring as hell. It doesn't show so much in his short stories, of course. The best way to read his novels is to skip all the parts with "character development."

@Wyatt

Sure, adding the entire short story collection would, but you could easily add a single short story from that collection to any curriculum.

They might not be as thematically rich or as deep as other texts. But high schoolers are often dense and miss that stuff anyways. Books like Heart of Darkness, Hamlet, and Pride and Prejudice will go over the majority of high schooler's heads. Instead, I think high school teachers should aim for stories that are decent but also pretty readable, to get students interested in reading and hooked on the habit.

If the school has AP or accelerated English classes (mine did), then you can assign those kids Shakespeare or whatnot. But for the average high school class, I think King would be just fine, and might even get some students interested in reading that otherwise wouldn't be.

@bobarctor

"Instead, I think high school teachers should aim for stories that are decent but also pretty readable, to get students interested in reading and hooked on the habit."

Shouldn't that be the strategy for elementary schools?

Because English curriculum needs to include more white guys.

Separation of church and state

@Zmaj

Absolutely. I think reading should be strongly encouraged throughout all of grade school. And in a perfect world, everyone would read for leisure by the time they got to high school, but that's not the reality of it. I don't know where you're from or where you went to high school, but for me, there was a large portion of the student body that never read unless they had to.

I don't think my school was an outlier, either. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans simply don't read.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/07/the-long-steady-decline-of-literary-reading/?utm_term=.faabfaa77ec0

@bobarctor

It was the same in my high school, of course. But I'm wondering if choosing easier stuff is the right way. On one hand, yes, it might make students more interested in reading. On the other hand, school is there precisely to make people acquainted with high literature, things they'd never read on their own. It's there to instill culture. But in that case, it all depends on the abilities of the teacher.

@Flashy - Phinehas was displeased with the immorality with which the Moabites and Midianites had successfully tempted the Israelites (Numbers 25:1-9) to inter-marry and to worship Baal-peor, so he personally executed an Israelite man and a Midianite woman while they were together in the man's tent, running a javelin or spear through the man and the belly of the woman. His action brought an end to a plague said to have been sent by God to punish the Israelites for sexually intermingling with the Midianites.

The spearing was to prove that they were together so there was no chance of withdrawing. Biblical law required two witnesses.

My thinking on this is why not use better stories by better writers, eg Rudyard Kipling, or Jack London and Hemingway...or other authors.

Vonnegut, Dick, Asimov . . . lots of better choices than King, imo

Some of my favorite short stories are from King, which is why I just brought King up as an example... Philosophy and moral dilemma could be taught with Ender's Game, while still providing an amazing read

Forcibly making children reread mafia 15 will make them realize enders game is not that great

Kipling, London, Hemingway, Vonnegut, Dick, Asimov...

White guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy...

@Randomizer- That isn't pornography. You are correct their is rape and incest in the Bible. All part of a fallen world.

But, you need more than two witnesses to constitute pornography. With only two witnesses, Hugh Hefner's empire would just be a creepy perv living in a tent, thinking it is a mansion.

We read Fahrenheit 451 in 9th grade. I personally thought it was great (even if it is a little basic) but a lot of kids struggled with reading that alone...

@2ndwhiteline...OK, and your positive suggestions are...

Rage might not be appropriate in a curriculum post-Columbine. Why not the others?

In the age of Trump and his tweets etc...George Orwell's 1984

Trumptruth and truthspeak...

@Flashy - According to the Republicans prosecuting pornography nudity is enough grounds even without sexual intent. They go after teenagers sending each other nude selfies.

The two witnesses rule is for testimony in a Biblical legal case you need a minimum of two for any crime.