WhyisLiteratureImportanttoDevelopingCriticalThinkers1.pdf

Why is Literature Important to Developing Critical Thinkers?

Literature in the Classroom

In today’s fact-obsessed culture, why is literature important and why do teachers put such an emphasis

on this subject? Why bother having kids read stories, spend their time with books about things and

events that aren’t even real? Why not just teach them what they need to know and send them on their

way?

Of course, to most educators these questions seem ludicrous. Of course literature is important—why

would it have such a central place in the curriculum if it wasn’t? But you may not realize in just how

many ways literature really does contribute to a child’s education. Because education is and should be

about more than passing on dry information; it’s also about fostering critical thinking skills and an

understanding of the world around us.

Cultural Value

Stories have been of central importance to the human race ever since it began, as far as we can tell.

Cultures are built on stories—histories, myths and legends, fables, religions, and so on. If students are to

understand and participate in the culture to which they belong, they must first learn about the stories

that culture has been built around. And while books aren’t the only kinds of stories out there, they are

one of the most important. Take the Bible, for instance. Despite concerns about religion in schools, it is

commonly taught in some form or another because it has so heavily influenced our culture. References

and allusions to biblical stories are all around us, so not knowing those stories puts you at a

disadvantage. The same goes for Shakespeare’s dramas, and for the novels of early American writers.

Current books and movies, among other works, often reference older texts. Without a working

knowledge of those older texts, you can’t understand the new ones as fully as possible.

Expanding Horizons

Everyone has a tendency to get so caught up in their own lives that they forget what’s going on in the

world around them. And children and teens are particularly prone to this. It’s a goal of education to

expose them to ideas from other cultures, to teach them about the histories and peoples of other times

and places. Literature is an ideal way to do this. Huckleberry Finn, for example, puts students into the

mind of a boy living in the south in the 1800s, letting them experience his life firsthand. Through this

experience they learn what it was like to live in that time period, how the people talked and thought and

acted. The same goes for books about other countries, which teach students what life is like in other

parts of the world. It’s more engaging to read a novel about another time or place than to learn about it

in a lecture or from a textbook. The Diary of Ann Frank is a great example of this effect, since it exposes

students American students to both a country and time period not their own (and most likely a

nationality and religion as well). Note – many of these older novels are available in the public domain.

Check out Project Gutenberg for access.

Building Vocabulary

Having a large and wide-ranging vocabulary is essential for a number of reasons. It helps with both

writing and reading abilities, of course, but it also allows for more complex discourse. The larger your

vocabulary is, the more in depth and thoughtful discussions you can have on important topics and

issues, both in and outside of the classroom. When people speak they tend to use a fairly limited

vocabulary, so the best way to become exposed to new words is to read. And reading literature is a

great way to build and enhance vocabulary. Due to the descriptive nature of a story, any novel will

include plenty of words students have likely never seen or heard before. They’ll see those words in

context, learning their meanings passively rather than having to drill. And because they’re reading a

story and not drilling, they probably won’t even realize they are building their vocabulary (hence they

won’t be able to complain about it).

Improving Writing Skills

Writing skills can be taught, to some extent. But the number one way to become a better writer is to

read often. When you read you are being immersed in language, in the way it sounds and feels when put

together in the right ways. Students who are encouraged to read have a more intimate knowledge of

the ways in which language works, and so have an advantage when it comes time for them to write. This

effect can even be made transparent by encouraging students to try writing in a particular book or

author’s style. Many older works of literature are still taught primarily because of their authors’ way

with language. Novels such as The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, and The Catcher in the Rye are

noted for their unique style and creativity with language. And there are plenty of more recent novels

that are just as well written. Literature serves as a valuable teacher and an example to students who are

first learning to use written language to communicate with the world.

Teaching Critical Thinking

Education is supposed to give students the tools they need to become a valuable part of society, and

one such tool is the ability to think critically. We want them to not just passively consume whatever is

around them, but to analyze and criticize it as well. Literature serves this goal in a couple of ways. Many

novels encourage critical thinking on their own, due to the issues and themes they explore. The kind of

novel usually taught in the classroom is selected for its depth and for the way it transcends the obvious

and the cliché. And educators often use literature to promote this kind of thought actively, by teaching

students how to analyze what they read, understand others’ opinions about the text, and formulate

their own views. You can learn to think critically about the events and characters in a novel, the themes

it presents, the author’s purpose in writing it, and the ways it fits into a certain time period. You can also

analyze its impact on society and the ways it compares and contrasts with other texts. Few activities give

students’ critical abilities such a workout as the close reading of a work of literature.

And Many More…

Going back to the main question of this article – why is literature important? In summary, literature

takes students out of their own lives and lets them experience things that are new and challenging, and

encourages them to imagine possibilities and to think about ways the world could be different. Few

textbooks could be said to do the same thing.

Article authored by Haley Drucker