re: In 10 years, what will grades 9-12 have to read?

quote:

---

I think it’s important that books about Slavery are part of American Lit, not sure about AP English. In college American Lit I read “Diary of a Slave Girl” and “Beloved” (along with short stories from Nathaniel Hawthorne and “the Postman Always Rings Twice”).

---

Diary of a Slave Girl, Beloved, and those short stories are books of historical fiction. Books of fiction are appropriate for English/Literature courses. The former is most appropriate in a history course.

An English course in high school should be reading books like The Great Gatsby, Great Expectations, Animal Farm, 1984, The Scarlett Letter, Catcher in the Rye, etc. If they want to read a novels that address slavery and/or oppression, they should be reading books like Uncle Tom's Cabin, To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Flynn, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Mandingo, Absalom! Absalom!, I, Dred Scott, etc.