IB Syllabus should include more classics

[Jack Harvey]

The Syllabus for English A1 Higher (or Standard, or any language really) should include more of the classics. In the 2 years of the IB the only text I can say that has been assigned that I feel is a classic is Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and that's a play! We should be reading the works of Jules Verne; Oscar Wilde; Arthur Conan Doyle. What do you think?

[Jaymi]

I think there should be a mixture, not only classics as you say but also modern literature. I think that doing only classics wouldn't really give us an insight into modern writing and so forth. And having only modern texts won't give us a knowledge on how contemporary texts were etc. But i seriously do think there has to be a mixture. Best of both worlds=)

[Expired Manwich of Doom]

Though I'm more of a fan of the movies (I fall sleep reading the books), I'm surprised JRR Tolkien's works haven't made it to the list. I wonder what criteria the IBO uses...

Edited August 28, 2011 by Expired Manwich of Doom

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

My French teacher (A1-HL) once told us that she had this huge list of books she could choose from that were like, BIO approved... so I think that the IB teachers have a great variety to choose from!

[ShootingStars]

I think some classics just have too much to analyze in them, therefore aren't IBO approved.

Also, maybe teachers feel that books that aren't classics are shorter/easier for them to teach/easier for students to understand?

Everyone has to do A1 and not everyone is a reader, remember.

But yes, personally, I think it would be great if we were reading more classics.

[TurtleR]

I think the IBO simply chooses the books based on convenience.

I know that some of the books on the list were so easy, I read them within the hour (e.g. Like Water for Chocolate, Things Fall Apart) while others were so boring, I took forever to read them (e.g. Madame Bovary, Heart of Darkness).

So if we only have a limited time to study a lot of books, AND we have to write World Lit Assignments on them, it would be hard to use books by authors such as JRR Tolkien. It also makes analysis really hard.

[daxx]

We've done some classics, as well as some more modern works. For the classics we've read Macbeth, Antigone, A Dolls House, the Awakening, and the Metamorphosis. We've also read/are going to read some more 'modern' classics: The Grapes of Wrath and Beloved.

[ShootingStars]

Remember, with the new syllabus, people aren't doing as many books anymore. I think, if I am correct, SL only reads 4 and HL reads 6 or 7. So maybe they will be reading more classics?

[Guest]

I agree; while I think my teacher is doing a fantastic job of exposing us to international literature of the late 20th century, he still started off with Alice and Looking Glass in the options. Picture of Dorian Gray got kicked off the new reading list apparently...what??

There needs to be a nice blend; my school, however, places less emphasis on the classics freshmen and sophomore years, meaning by the time we start IB, the majority of our high school reading experience is recent, and it's unfortunate. I mean, kids were being shown only the Odyssey films and movies based on Shakespeare's plays. Literature builds on itself, and it's hard to read recent material if you don't have a grasp of earlier lit.

Tolkien's so long (but beautiful-one of the favorites for many IB students), and so many kids have read him before IB.

[vira.may]

We've done a lot of classics - Kafka, Orwell, Shakespeare and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

I think maybe a lot of the IB books are like "modern classics"?

[Andyboi]

I think the IB is prioritizing internationalism over the so called "classics" when choosing literature