While books like “Gender Queer” and “Flamer” are roiling public school districts, another heated debate is unfolding in the small niche of classical education – focusing on whether writers such as medieval French nun Héloïse d’Argenteuil and Ralph Ellison are worthy enough to belong in the Western canon.
While the content of the works at issue may be very different, both controversies center on questions of inclusivity and diversity and the relative importance of having children read books by people with whom they might identify.
The question of who belongs in the canon has stirred a long-simmering feud within academia that Jessica Hooten Wilson has rekindled in the world of classical K-12 education. In an article last year, the Great Books scholar at Pepperdine University argued that for classical education to thrive, it must add more women authors and writers of color to the canon that’s now dominated by white men. She told RealClear that such changes will help teach white students that great thinkers can be found in every culture and race, and nonwhite students will find inspiration by seeing themselves in these works.
Conservative leaders of the classical movement were quick to criticize Hooten Wilson, arguing the merit of the book must be the guiding principle for inclusion in the canon, not the identity of the author. “It’s the beginning of the end of classical education if we start playing the diversity card,” said David Goodwin, head of the Association for Classical Christian Schools.
The deeper issue is who decides what books are the most meritorious. Goodwin says that in the 1950s the renowned scholar Mortimer Adler created the worthiest list of hundreds of Great Books that was later revised. But Hooten Wilson points out that such efforts overlooked great women authors like Julian Norwich, a medieval Christian mystic considered the first female author of a book in English. Norwich is unknown today because she had little status in society and opportunity for influence when she published centuries ago.
Hooten Wilson’s campaign is gaining some traction. She joined a group of scholars that revised the list of canonical authors used to create the classical learning test, an assessment that some colleges accept as an alternative to the SAT. And last month, Hooten Wilson was invited to address classical education leaders at an event hosted by Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school that supports a network of classical charter schools.
Professor Josh Herring, a Hillsdale alum and critic of Hooten Wilson, said he expected that she would face a grilling. Instead, she says, Hillsdale leaders seemed very amenable to diversifying the list of classics used in classrooms.
“I was very impressed with what Hillsdale is doing, and how they are open to canon expansion,” Hooten Wilson said.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.