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Upper School Curriculum

  • 400 Level
  • English
ENG 400 • English 12: Banned Books
Grades: 12 (Grade 11 with departmental approval)
Fall

This course explores the relationships between dominant and subcultures by investigating books that have been restricted or banned by different groups. In America, there is a growing movement to pull books considered “indecent” or “offensive” from classrooms and from school and county libraries. In this course, we seek to understand the growing disagreement about which books are “good” for young people. Part of this requires asking the question, “What are books good for, anyway?” We will consider which ideas are considered most dangerous or least desirable and how art serves as a resistant voice against groupthink (itself an idea derived from a frequently-banned book). After reading several books that have been widely challenged in our country, students will have daily discussions and write both analyses and personal-response papers that develop their own thoughts about the power and potential of ideas, including who should have access to them — or not. The texts in this course all contain sensitive and controversial material and require mature readers.

  • Grade 11
  • Grade 12