Musings on Reading Books with High Schoolers

by Dawn Duran

Giotto’s Justice (Image Source)

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I am very fortunate to have a group of high school scholars join me and my ninth-grade son once a week for a discussion of various texts across an array of subjects, ranging from Bible to epic poetry to Plutarch’s Lives. One thing we have been discussing together is the importance of viewing a work through the lens of the era it reflects rather than the lens of our own times. For example, rather than immediately expressing an opinion about the actions of a figure from ancient Rome based on a modern point of view, students are encouraged to adopt the framework of the ancient world and assess the figure through the eyes of someone who lived during that time.

This has been a challenge for many of the students, whose initial response is to share their opinion regarding how they think the figure behaved rather than reflect on how that person was perceived during the times in which he lived. This is a common response of many modern readers, of course, but we miss an opportunity to learn from the past when we skip over the critical thinking stage directly to judgement.

It’s not that we should never discuss our modern-day opinions about what we read, of course. One value of studying history, for example, is to learn from mistakes that were made, and discussing our opinions is one way we can arrive at healthy conclusions about what we have read. However, our primary reaction should not be to express our opinion, because initial opinions are often strongly influenced by emotions. Rather, we should first seek to understand the figure in historical context. This requires us to assume a posture of humility, though, and the modern tendency is to address a text from the judgment seat of pride instead.

We behave in arrogance when we focus on our own opinion about a figure in history, or a character in a story, rather than trying to understand him (or her) first. A more just approach would be to attempt to decipher the author’s intent, or find the objective facts that are included in the text. Unfortunately, initial opinions by modern readers tend to be based on the feelings a work arouses rather than a thoughtful reflection on the passage itself. Promoting the expression of personal opinions over the careful and objective reading of a book can contribute to a sense of self-righteousness that is damaging to the soul of the student.

We can encourage our students to assume a posture of humility in their reading when they use their imaginations to fully immerse themselves in a text rather than merely glancing at it from a tower of sanctimony. Don’t promote a spirit of judgment by placing a high value on opinion; instead, facilitate an approach to books that assumes a charitable and magnanimous posture by advising the student to take a point of view from within the text rather than from outside of it. This will guide the student to the formation of just opinions, and only then will it be appropriate to discuss the work through the lens of modern-day and determine what lessons can be gleaned from it.