Evers 1

Noah Evers

Mrs. Cramer

Composition 1

11/3/17

Should We Continue to Read "Classics"?

The need for students to know the “American Classic” style of literature has grown over

the years because of how well they are written and how they portray ideals. The story of Romeo

and Juliet is an American classic because it shows love and compassion to the point of death.

Schools and universities expect students to know this story as prior knowledge because of its

popularity and references in many other stories. The themes in these books can help students in

their classes and in life as well. The truth is, most students now do not obtain these ideals from

classics because they are encouraged to learn the stories in new and different ways than the

original books. When students learn these ideals more clearly and comprehensively, then the

student will become a well-rounded pupil. American classics need to be taught and learned in

their original form to understand the principles in the best way possible.

Some people have tried new ways to help people learn these classics. Kieron Monks for

CNN in 2015 interviewed Jon Ingold on Superbooks, a new way to understand classics, but with

a twist. “The heart of the concept is that we put player choices into the book.”(Ingold) The idea

is to put the reader into a virtual reality world where they can interact with the characters. This is

like a “choose your own adventure” style book where the reader's choices affect the result of the

story. With superbooks, the participant's choice happens in real time. American Classics are

being adapted to this new style of book for new readers to appreciate the stories. This allows the
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stories and ideas to become more interesting and applicable to more people. On the other hand,

this comes with a downside. The superbooks have a capability to change the story. In Romeo and

Juliet again, the story ends in a tragedy of death and sadness. In the superbooks, the power to

change Romeo’s choice to drink the poison if given to the participant. No principles of loss have

been taught in this scenario. In the original format of the play, Romeo drinks the poison without

knowing that Juliet is still alive. This ideal shows the power of assumption and loss that can only

be understood in full by reading the original text. The new and adapted versions of these classics

are being changed for new generations of readers and sometimes can lose their original ideas and

themes.

Also, having the book read aloud doesn’t help much either to understand the text. A

recent study from 2014 suggests that students who read physical books comprehend more than

what they would if they listened to it. “Big Book reading, is a technique to enable the teacher to

interact with the class so that they pay more attention to text print as well as attending to

illustrations and enjoying the story” (Tse and Nicholson). Big Book reading is a technique used

mostly with younger students but this style of storytelling allows the students to become engaged

with the books and to gain an interest in book reading. Reading at an early age can additionally

improve imagination skills and vocabulary. Studies have also shown that reading more books can

improve focus and concentration. The fact that the student comprehends the passages more while

using the physical books is yet another reason why students should read the original text when

learning a text for class or project. According to an article by NY Times, some teachers are

trying to encourage students to read more texts by assigning vacation. The New York State

Department of Education required all students ranging from grades 7-12 to read a minimum of

25 books a year. The books chosen must be approved by the parents and select books are then
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discussed in class. The teachers, one being Ms. Donahue, a media specialist at Bethpage High

School, says “we didn’t want to make reading a penalty, we wanted reading to be its own

reward.” The students who read and comprehend what they are reading, are academically and

practically enriched.

The reason why classics are still so important, classics can teach us lessons unlike most

modern-day stories because of how the world was viewed at the time. The Canterbury Tales is a

collection of 24 stories told by a group of devout English pilgrims on a trip to see the holy

shrines in Canterbury. This was written only 40 years after the black plague devastated most of

Europe. This is a time when some people would risk anything for religion with the hope of being

saved. Today, almost 23 percent of the U.S. population is non-religious. (Pew Religious

Landscape) This difference in the number of Christians shows that the lessons of religious

adventures for forgiveness can only be taught by a story written during a time when the only

safety is God. Romeo and Juliet is a wonderful example because of the tragedy at the end.

Romeo and Juliet die because they love each other indefatigably. This love cannot be expressed

in modern times because love stories today consist of teenagers and small love affairs. These

love stories appeal to teens today because they can relate to the characters in the story, but they

do not teach the reader about how love can be a powerful force. In the classic story, this power

creates a passion that cannot be represented by anything more than death. These can only be

shown in their purest form, the original book.

In conclusion, there are many ways to learn life lessons and there are even more ways to

apply those lessons to what students do in schools and universities. Most teachers in high school

will make students read American classics such as Great Expectations, “a book that has been

plaguing high school students as opposed to more modern and applicable works like, Cracking
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India, by Bapsi Sidhwa.” (Kurt). Many students read these books in school because reading them

will help the student with understanding the concepts and ideals more than any other format. The

American classics become what they are because the ideas and lessons taught from the book

outlive the writer’s generations and can teach people without them having to read the book.

These lessons are taught best by the original texts and should be learned from the original books,

plays, or stories, in order to fully understand the author’s true intent.

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Works Cited

Hubel, Joy Alter. “Tempting Students Away From Screens.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22
June 2002, www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/nyregion/tempting-students-away-from-screens.html.

(John Ingold) Monks, Kieron. “Superbooks: High-Tech Reading Puts You inside the Story.” CNN, Cable
News Network, 12 Oct. 2014, www.cnn.com/2014/09/10/tech/innovation/superbooks-high-tech-reading-
ebooks/index.html.

Tse, Laura, and Tom Nicholson. “Effects of Phonic Enhanced Reading.” Frontiers in
Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4230049/.

West, Woody. "In defense of 'American Classics'." Washington Times [Washington, DC], 28
September 1997, pg. 7 Opposing Viewpoints in Context

“Why Is Popular Contemporary Literature Valued Less than Classic Literature?” Why Is Popular
Contemporary Literature Valued Less than Classic Literature? | YoExpert Q&A, contemporary-
literature.yoexpert.com/contemporary-literature-general/why-is-popular-contemporary-literature-
valued-less-32790.html.(Kurt)