[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You've casually mentioned something that I've been waiting to address. I truly believe (and maybe not in your particular case, or all others participating in the thread) that the above sentiment(?) is often times the driving force behind adults looking back and discussing—or writing articles about—"how badly the books sucked that they made us read in school"—how it "almost made me hate reading."

It's not so much a matter of "I'm concerned for the education of our young people, who struggle mightily with these antiquated texts" as it is "why aren't the books I like ever elevated to "Classic" or "Literature" status?"

I never had any problem with the assigned reading, it was all easy for me. I simply make the observation that there are a lot of students who do struggle with the material, and that they may very well do better with some other book.

Many people (again, I'm making no direct accusations here) have a weird obsession with wanting the academic world to acknowledge the literary value of their favorite books. They seem to need the world to recognize their personal favorites as "Classics." As if their love for the book(s) is somehow slightly tainted and can only be made shiny and justified by having young people the world over use them in an academic setting.

It's the other way around. The obsession is with those who insist on a Dresden-level firebombing on the works that they view as "unclean". Who is insisting that young people the world over use these "unclean" books? What is being asserted is that there are many books that would be reasonable for students to use.

I count my blessings that I was never forced to study/analyze the kinds of books I would normally rush home and read for pleasure in my youth. I couldn't imagine a worse form of torture, actually.

I can. Being forced to study books that you don't enjoy reading. No comparison. When college students choose which literature class to take, they are more likely to select the class which features books they find interesting, rather than books that they find less interesting. Clearly, they don't consider is such a torture to study books they enjoy.