CanLit Can-Do
By Amanda Nicole on December 13, 2007 - 12:41pm
Here's a fantastic message I just received, please read and send in your email of support by December 21 for Canadian Literature to be included in our school curriculum.
REQUEST FOR SUPPORT FOR A CHANGE TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS CURRICULUM IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Reply requested by December 21, 2007
Over the past few years several national research studies have documented the lack of attention paid to Canadian literature in Canadian schools. Currently our classrooms are dominated by some British but predominately American novels.
A report for The Writers’ Trust of Canada that was commissioned by the Canada Council made a series of recommendations about what could be done to improve the situation.
Through ArtStarts for Schools, a project is being developed and a group of stakeholders has been identified and has met to address these recommendations.
Part of the work has included a survey to BC teachers of English Language Arts. In that survey completed at the end of October 2007, 97.8% of responding teachers indicated that they think it is important to teach Canadian literature in secondary schools. 88.9% indicated that they think more Canadian literature needs to be taught.
Both the teachers and the stakeholders noted that a key to achieving a higher presence for CanLit in the classroom is clear direction from the provincial curriculum. Currently only Saskatchewan has a mandated CanLit course, the grade 12 course. Elsewhere in the country it is possible, and often probable, that a student can graduate having never studied a Canadian novel during high school.
The BC Ministry of Education has posted a draft of the new English Language Arts Curriculum for grades 8 to 12. We will be taking the opportunity to respond to the new curriculum and have suggested that in each year from grade 8 to 12 each student should “read, both collaboratively and independently, to comprehend a variety of literary texts, including one or more significant works of Canadian literature.” The proposed amendment allows for the study of a play, several short stories, a collection of poetry or poetry by three or four different poets, one or two novels, or work by Canadian literary critics.
We believe the Ministry needs to know that the publishing and writing community, parents, and educators are concerned about the decline of Canadian literature in our schools. This is your chance to voice that opinion by replying with your support.
Please respond indicating your support (to Jean Baird, jeanbaird@shaw.ca) with the following information:
Name
Contact information
Position (i.e., writer, publisher, educator, parent)
A formal response to the draft with the above recommendation will be sent to the Ministry of Education and also to Premier Campbell and Shirley Bond, Minister of Education.
Please forward this email to anyone who may be interested in supporting this curriculum change
Thanks
Jean Baird
Consultant, ArtStarts in Schools
CanLit in BC Schools Project
"Will this noble venture get lost in the shuffle over Christmas/Winter Solstice/New Year
celebrations and the annual "burn-out" therefrom ???" I hope not. I deplore the ever increasing Americanization of Canadian culture - and "Yes, Virginia, we have some."
American simulation resonates in our Canadian Literature only because our Canadian Educational "Lords" have always displayed a surreal perfunctory attitude consummated in the belief that made in the USA literature is the preface for great Canadian literature.
An axiom our literature institutions will not hand over lightly. You're stepping on the very backbone of Canadian literature dogma daring and challenging their intelligence. The trick here is not to coerce by force rather "educate" these "lords of writ" of their ill-fated prose.
Not sure which side of the fence you're on in that last paragraph, artboomer. Are you saying that Canadian Literature is inherently linked with American Literature, and therefore we shouldn't ruffle some feathers?
Sorry for not being lucid...when you have in your family 2 ongoing principals, 6 teachers and one school district superintendent - you get caught up in the words.
Will these added Canadian authored literature books live up to the existing high standards already established by notable Canadian and American authors? To lessen exposure or shrink the number of great non-Canadian literature artists to our English Arts students could have an adverse effect in offering at the end of the day less as opposed to more foundation in penning the next great Canadian literature work.
I didn't mean to single out just American literature authors - there are seemingly just more of them. But there is irony in the CanLit proposal. Are not outside European, British and Asian literary authors directly or indirectly inherent to our multi-cultural Canadian heritage? To replace these literary giants with homogeneous less familiar authors is where I am on the fence. But since most BC teachers are in unison I can only hope these less familiar Canadian writers can continue raising the literary bar. No doubt they can?
I think by "Canadian" literature, any author of Canadian citizenship would be considered. Elementary and secondary schooling is all about building blocks, in my opinion, and I think having a good grasp of where one comes from is an excellent place to start. I have a lot of problems with the school curriculum, it's not just in the language arts department, and I either way I will be home schooling my child when the time comes because I don't think the proper building blocks are there.
The proposal is not saying to only teach Canadian Literature. It's saying that it is about time SOME Canadian Literature was taught. Which I'm sure you can agree with.
According to my many teacher sources...Canadian literature is ALREADY part of the curriculum. So I really don't understand what all the hoopla is about. But I do think it is always a good idea to include indigenous authors over other countries literary product...And I think that is all our BC teachers are really saying...they just want our students to be exposed to more Canadiana than what is presently in our school systems.
Again what is discerning to me is this can only lead to less time or the outright omission teaching classical worldly recognized literary works.
As far as home schooling goes or doesn't. Having control over your children's learning curriculum is one thing but at the expense of your child not being able to daily compete and socialize (extroverting) with other children in a classroom environment...could affect their social growth...Teachers will also tell you parents are not always the best communicators. Just remember "children do learn from other children" and I am not talking just about bad habits - which is going to happen. Some of my earliest "life" learning experiences came at the hands of other children's tragedies, successes and having at least one outside school friend to communicate with, exchange ideas, dreams or just someone to lean on who isn't a sibling, parent or adult. Learning multicultural indifferences in the schoolyard could be detrimental later in life while maintaining a successful career.
In the end it is your education creed that is important not mine - go for it!
I think you misused the word "discerning."
This is what can easily happen to me when downing to much cough syrup!
Enjoy your day.
Haha, I don't go near the stuff.
Amongst all these moving boxes and whilst running between work and my computer, I will attempt to have a good day. Thanks artboomer, and you have a good one as well.
As a poet, fiction writer, and creative writing instructor I tried to expose my students to Canadian writers. As long as the material is tame and makes absolutely no offense to anyone, it's fine. But the instant you introduce, say, the poetry of Patrick Lane, or Milton Acorn, or Alden Nowlan, the shit really does hit the fan. I nearly lost my position for reciting a Patrick Lane poem to a classroom of adults; what would happen in a classroom of teenagers I wonder?
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