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Politician Wants Sci-fi To Be Mandatory In School
Avantare writes "The first sci-fi novel I read was A Wrinkle in Time; the next was Dune. Why don't more people read these extraordinarily imaginative books? Delegate Ray Canterbury, who represents Greenbrier County in southern WV, wants to help with that. Canterbury introduced House Bill 2983, which reads, 'To stimulate interest in math and science among students in the public schools of this state, the State Board of Education shall prescribe minimum standards by which samples of grade-appropriate science fiction literature are integrated into the curriculum of existing reading, literature or other required courses for middle school and high school students.' For decades, walking around with a paperback sci-fi novel in your back pocket at school was the quickest way to find yourself permanently excluded from the cool-kid clique. But what if it wasn't just the geeks who read Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke? What if science fiction was mandatory reading for all students?"
I'm not in favor of legislative mandates for any kinds of curriculum. That said, I do agree with Canterbury's position that science fiction needs to be included in the types of literature covered in school. That the various education boards have overlooked the mainstream SiFi authors like Clarke and Asimov is a symptom of a deeper failure in their processes.
Personally, I'd throw in a little Lovecraft. Just so more people will get my Cthulhu references.
Have gnu, will travel.
And though Science Fiction is usually combined with Fantasy, there is a rather BIG difference...
Science Fiction (at least GOOD science fiction) tries to stick with only one violation of physics (frequently the speed of light, other times just that something is easy to do - such as neural implants). Each additional violation weakens the "science" into fantasy. Good Science Fiction focuses on the characters, and the physics violations are only a transport to get to a situation.
Fantasy, on the other hand, allows all kinds of physics violations - at the whim of the author when they can't figure out how to resolve a situation - POOF, a miracle (some god or other magical being/device) fixes/saves the character. Good fantasy doesn't even focus on the magical issues - they focus on the characters. Unfortunately, many fantasy authors cannot keep their "magic" coherent (and I include JK Rowling in this group - fortunately, the focus on characters greatly exceeds the magic.. most of the time).
Hes a West Virginia state legislator
OK. Then the legislature can butt out too. It's fine for them to set high-level standards. Micro-managing what kids read in school is a decision for somebody much closer to the process.
I agree. At least it should originate from the state's department of education and not from the state's legislature. Regardless of how good of an idea it may be, it sets a bad precedence.
If it's okay for the legislature to pass a bill mandating that all schools teach science fiction then it becomes okay for legislature to pass a bill mandating that evolution should banned from the classroom.
You should never let a camel put his nose in your tent.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Sorry, this is a ridiculous idea - quality literature should indeed be mandatory for educational curriculum, but specifically highlighting a particular genre is arrogant.
I don't know ... sci-fi is a valid literary genre that is traditionally under-represented in K-12 English courses. It is also a genre that supposedly leads more of its readers into science/math fields (which according to TFA the state is lacking in). This legislation makes a small change in legislative mandate to the school curriculum (that the legislature already makes mandates about) in order to balance things better and advance areas they're currently lacking in.
Dune's setting is carefully constructed to enforce semi-medieval status, from Butlerian jihad banning computers to forcefields that force melee combat to the return of feudalism. This effectively weeds out any sci-fi tropes. At the same time it has a hearty dose of fantasy tropes, from witches to ghosts possessing their descendants to magical worm-juice that grants precognition.
Dune is high fantasy with spaceships (who's pilots need magical worm-juice to fly them). It's sci-fi in the same sense Spelljammer is.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
This politician's point isn't about making children read his favorite books because they're his favorites. He wants children and teenagers to read Science Fiction because it makes science and math interesting, which in turn, turns more of our youth to those fields of study. I seldom agree with politicians, but this guy is absolutely right-- if we want to improve ourselves as a species, we need to get our youth interested in these subjects. Getting them to read Science Fiction is one good approach.
Learning about brewing beer, by brewing beer.