Trick or treat? The common core is knocking at your door
Townhall – Terrence More –
10/31/2013
If students in English class
are not reading Frankenstein, then what are they reading that might qualify as
fiction or, er, literature? That’s where the textbook takes us “live from New York . . . it’s
Saturday Night!” Yes, under the heading “Contemporary Connection,” this
literature book apportions five pages (two more than are given to Mary Shelley)
to a script of a Saturday Night Live parody of Frankenstein. First, students
are invited “to share their impressions of the long-running comedy show.” (In our
day, did we have to be told by our English teachers to watch SNL?) Again the
talented-and-gifted students are called to the fore, as they are supposed to
obtain props, costumes, and make-up that will enable them to “take roles and do
a dramatic reading” of the script. Let us look at a specimen of that timeless
scene:
Villager #1: [to Head
Villager] Well, maybe you’re the monster!
Head Villager: [shakes his
head] I’m not the monster! [points to Frankenstein’s monster] Look at ’im! He’s
got a square head and green skin!
Frankenstein’s Monster: Oh,
great—now it’s a racial thing! You know what? You guys are a bunch of fascists!
[villager with a lit torch again steps too close] Seriously, du-ude! Get that
fire away from me! . . .
Lest the teacher not know
how to explain the term fascist, the Teacher’s Edition lends a hand:
Point out the use of the
term fascist. Explain its traditional political meaning and how it has been
extended to refer to any right-wing extremist group.
Mmm . . . “Any right-wing
extremist group”: might that term extend to the Tea Party?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment