Page 29 - The Gonzaga Record 1990
P. 29
will have the opportunity to make use of the knowledge you will
accumulate. and you will be surprised to find that you know much
more than those who have had a more formal education.'
That is precisely the point: literature deals with those areas of the person
and of life th at ·formal education' often leaves untouched. It has been
variou sly described. but it is as an encyclopaedia of varied human
experience that it is a rich re source for growth. Many children tap into
thi s resource long before they reach secondary school; early emotional
and imaginative growth is promoted by story and poem used as recreation.
The trick is to continue the process throughout the secondary sc hool.
Literature 'humanises' because it enables or assists development; of
the imagination. of the emotional and moral being. By extending
experience vicariously it extends the faculty of human sympathy and
understanding - by imaginative leaps one is led to assimilate the
experience of others. It also reveal s humanity , from the (now dated) comic
fears of a boy before hi s First Confession to the great constructive and
destructive energies of the human heart. It also helps us to think (a nd
thinking, Or John so n assures us, advances our dignity as human beings),
in that our thoughts are shaped by the fine hearts and minds of artists
and writers, our ass umptions, challenged, our certainties shaken.
One could continue such a defence indefinitely, but I will conclude with
a quotation from a book on the teaching of poetry: 'Literature celebrates
the world by making us look at it more closely '. What more sati sfactory
goal could we have for the teaching of literature than that it should enhance
our quality of looking?
Literature, then, has value. How do you teach it? Ah! I wasn't asked
that! I also have to presume that there may be some pupils reading thi s,
and that the Record offers right of reply. So I will only offer thi s: the
teacher can at best only act as mediator between the text and the taught ,
but that is a vital and stimulating role. His task may ultimately be to help
hi s pupils distinguish between which reading humanises and which does
not. He will certainly encourage them to 'read widely '. And he will proj ect
hi s own immense 'enjoyment'.
Michael Bevan is Senior English Teacher in
Gonzaga College
27
accumulate. and you will be surprised to find that you know much
more than those who have had a more formal education.'
That is precisely the point: literature deals with those areas of the person
and of life th at ·formal education' often leaves untouched. It has been
variou sly described. but it is as an encyclopaedia of varied human
experience that it is a rich re source for growth. Many children tap into
thi s resource long before they reach secondary school; early emotional
and imaginative growth is promoted by story and poem used as recreation.
The trick is to continue the process throughout the secondary sc hool.
Literature 'humanises' because it enables or assists development; of
the imagination. of the emotional and moral being. By extending
experience vicariously it extends the faculty of human sympathy and
understanding - by imaginative leaps one is led to assimilate the
experience of others. It also reveal s humanity , from the (now dated) comic
fears of a boy before hi s First Confession to the great constructive and
destructive energies of the human heart. It also helps us to think (a nd
thinking, Or John so n assures us, advances our dignity as human beings),
in that our thoughts are shaped by the fine hearts and minds of artists
and writers, our ass umptions, challenged, our certainties shaken.
One could continue such a defence indefinitely, but I will conclude with
a quotation from a book on the teaching of poetry: 'Literature celebrates
the world by making us look at it more closely '. What more sati sfactory
goal could we have for the teaching of literature than that it should enhance
our quality of looking?
Literature, then, has value. How do you teach it? Ah! I wasn't asked
that! I also have to presume that there may be some pupils reading thi s,
and that the Record offers right of reply. So I will only offer thi s: the
teacher can at best only act as mediator between the text and the taught ,
but that is a vital and stimulating role. His task may ultimately be to help
hi s pupils distinguish between which reading humanises and which does
not. He will certainly encourage them to 'read widely '. And he will proj ect
hi s own immense 'enjoyment'.
Michael Bevan is Senior English Teacher in
Gonzaga College
27
