Several weeks ago, the teachers’ union SEW released a statement calling for more diversity in Luxembourg’s school curriculum, particularly when it comes to mandatory readings.
Before I go on any further, a few things about me personally: I was not only a student within the Luxembourgish school system, but I am also a graduate of the ‘Section A’. In case you are not aware, after completing the first four years of (classic) secondary education, students in Luxembourg get to choose one of several ‘sections’ that determine what they will focus on during their final three years in secondary school. When I was in school, the sections were A (literature and modern languages), B (math), C (natural sciences), D (economics), E (art), F (music), and G (general education but with an added focus on sociology).
After graduating from ‘Section A’, I studied German literature and linguistics in Germany before ultimately becoming an English-German translator as well as a published author – what I want to say is: Books and languages play quite a big role in my life.
I personally feel that the issue raised by the SEW is both important and interesting, particularly because my own view on it has changed over the years.
Joining ‘Section A’ was probably one of the best things that could have ever happened to teenage-me. Even back then, I was practically obsessed with literature, and I was more than glad to spend 90% of my school hours discussing great literary works.
But speaking of, what were those works that we discussed? Listing everything I’ve read in those three years might go a little far, so let me just give you a list of the mandatory readings during my final year, i.e. the novels, plays, and poems that we had to study for our final exams:
German
French
English
Italian
Even if you don’t know all of these authors, what you have probably noticed immediately is that there is only one woman on this list. All of the other 12 authors are (white) men.
I have to admit that at the time, I did not really think about this. I remember, however, that my English teacher at the time did criticise the curricula in German and French in particular for not “mixing it up” enough. In fact, when I wrote my final exams in 2016, the German curriculum had been exactly the same for decades.
I would definitely say that our English classes offered us the most diverse selection of authors. However, it should be noted that a nationwide curriculum only applies during the final year – before that, it is generally up to the teachers to choose the mandatory readings of the year.
The obvious follow-up question now is of course: Do I have the feeling that I “missed out” on anything because of a reading list that was not diverse enough?
When someone demands more diversity in mandatory reading lists, some people like to reply with something along the lines of “Well, these books are on the curriculum because they are universally recognised as masterpieces”. In a way, it’s the same argument people use to criticise the introduction of a women’s quota or diversity quota: They fear that such measures will ultimately be to the detriment of merit.
There are a few problems with this argument, however. First of all: Who gets to decide what is considered a “masterpiece” in the first place? After all, art is not a hard science or a sport, there are no objective criteria here. The truth is that most classic literary canons have been created ages ago by a group of old white men, and for some reason many still think we should consider their opinions as scripture.
And just to be clear, I am not saying that Macbeth, Faust, or Madame Bovary are bad works of art, not by a long shot. I hugely enjoyed all of them and I do think that if you teach them right, students can learn a lot that still holds up today.
However, the problem is that there is so much more literature out there. This is something I only really realised once I left secondary school and had a lot more time to explore the book world on my own. I would say that – without a doubt – almost all of the books that have had the greatest impact on my life are books that I have read after I graduated from school. Books by queer authors, books set in a post-colonial context, books that tear down the walls between genres – so many works that have never made it onto a mandatory reading list.
So, what’s the solution here? Out with the old, in with the new? In part, definitely yes. Literature has this amazing power to open our minds to realities that we could otherwise not even fathom to imagine. And it is, in my personal opinion, honestly plain criminal if we allow this enormous potential to go to waste by gatekeeping the kind of literature students experience over the course of their school career.
Of course, we will never be able to squeeze all of the world’s literature in a school curriculum. But that’s why it would be so important to regularly switch up the selection. And as for the discussion old classics vs contemporary literature: Why not include both? I remember thinking that the combination of Macbeth and The Handmaid’s Tale during my final year was really cool and interesting. And if I think back at all the amazing contemporary French and German literature I’ve read over the past years, there are so many books that would make for an amazing reading in class.
Ensuring that reading lists in school accurately reflect the world that we live in does not diminish anyone’s merits. Especially not the merits of authors who lived hundreds of years ago and whose books have been analysed to death by generations of university students.
And while it might seem like a trivial issue to some, representation can mean a world of difference to so many others. We should remember that if representation seems trivial to us, it is perhaps because we are used to getting it all the time. But there are so many more realities out there, so many more colours, and so many more stories – let’s make sure that we tell them all.
