Teaching Literature: Classics or Fantasy?

I am relatively new to teaching, (substitute teacher at all levels for two years, sixth-grade English for another two, and most recently Senior AP literature/Honors tenth grade English) but one thing I've heard far more than I'd like to is that kids "just don't like to read." I hold a firm belief that children who express this sentiment do so because they simply haven't found their genre. Genre is elusive in a sense because we open one door only to step into a room filled with more doors. Anyone who has been asked to explain what kind of music, writing, or art they create has faced this dilemma in trying to put into words just what their art is most like. It sends them on a walking tour through some doors, peeping into others only to back out and choose another. It is confusing and often overwhelming, but possibly more interesting, is it is expansive. The door I most often open is fantasy.

Why do we still teach the classics?

I won't venture to address the social implications of only teaching two-hundred year old novels written primarily by DWGs (dead white guys), which is problematic in its own right. I'd rather focus on the intention behind teaching literature in the first place. There is clearly literary merit to the classics: from their complexity in plot, language, and thematic development, to their ability to make the "ordinary" interesting; however, beyond doing it because it has always been done, or as a right of passage, is there any reason why new literature couldn't be taught that holds the same literary merit, albeit accomplished in non-traditional ways?

If the purpose of literature is to experience other lives and empathize with characters very unlike ourselves, fantasy seems to be tailor-made for this. If thematic understanding leads to universal human truths, then fantasy presents characters that are often overtly human (even sometimes non-human characters). By no means do I intend to disparage the use of the classics in education. They are unique, and often laid the groundwork for much of our contemporary literature, doing things that had never been done before. I am suggesting, however, that in an ever changing world (one that will be vastly different by the time current seniors in high school graduate from college, entering into a world currently nonexistent in terms of jobs they will potentially hold), observing and empathizing with characters who are thrown into the unknown reflects the state of the world more than reading about a guy living by a lake, intentionally I might add.

Okay, so why fantasy?

Fantasy has the ability to transport people beyond their bounds of normalcy. Some people may refer to this pejoratively as escapism. The need to run from real life. I would argue that fantasy does the opposite. It takes the essentials of reality and heightens them, honing them to a fine edge so that we may consider how we might respond to cruelty, violence, injustice, love, or any other part of the human experience that is the same whether we find ourselves on Earth, Middle Earth, Toril, Narnia, Arrakis, or Roshar. The way in which we understand and access our own humanity informs the way we live as much as religion or societal expectations.

Furthermore, fantasy exposes students (especially those who live in sheltered communities) to diversity and prejudice that they might otherwise not get. Fantasy often exposes the ludicrous nature of treating someone poorly based on a physical, mental, or other (often random) trait. In the case of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series, people who have lighter eye color are seen as the elite and referred to as lighteyes. They even receive positions of power known as brightlords or brightnesses. Through multiple characters' points of view, Sanderson reveals how arbitrary physical traits separate us when we could otherwise be united.

What now?

I encourage any and all teachers that have a say in changing their curriculum to suggest opening novel choice beyond a district supported list. Contemporary fantasy works can open conversation and increase student incentive to actually read. Fantasy also pairs well with other classic novels and can help students further access the complexities of each respective work. "What we've always done" is no longer a sufficient reason for teaching things a certain way. Innovation is key to impacting students in a meaningful manner, which can translate to life long learning.