The Practical and Particular Nature of the “Canon” Question

Discussions about what “canon” of books a school should read often focus on theoretical topics such as the purpose of reading, the criteria that define a “great book,” and how we should think about whether the standards for a book’s canonicity are universal or culturally contingent. These issues are all important and deserve our attention as we select the lists of books that our students will read. However, there are also practical factors that every school should consider given its unique particularities. This article focuses on these practical considerations by highlighting five pieces of practical advice that schools should follow as they select their book lists. Focusing on these practical considerations in no way negates the importance of theoretical principles as we think about why we have students read books or what makes a book a great book. A robust theoretical framework is incredibly valuable and helps us navigate the practical realities we face. However, anyone who has ever run a classical Christian school knows well that one’s theoretical ideals often run into practical realities that require adjustments and accommodations. Running an actual school, in other words, usually involves moving toward an ideal goal through a minefield of practical obstacles that necessitate detours and deviations from the original, idealized path. Thus, while theoretical discussions about what constitutes a “canon” and the criteria by which “great books” should be selected are essential, in practice they often are of limited value. Even if we could do so, establishing a definitive “canon” of “great books” that all students at all classical Christian schools should read would not be that helpful. This is because the canon question is a very practical and particular one. That is to say, at the end of the day you have to make decisions about what texts the students in your class or your school will study, not which ones ought to be included on or excluded from some idealized list. As you make these practical and particular decisions, you of course should keep in mind the “canons”—that is, the principles or criteria—that define a great book. The particular book lists that emerge based on those canons, however, will be, and I would argue ought to be, different for every school. So, in addition to the theoretical considerations that are valuable to discuss, here are five practical factors that should be considered.

I. Align your reading lists with the school’s mission and vision.

While in one sense all classical Christian schools ought to direct their education toward the same ultimate goals, the nuances and emphases with which one works toward those goals look different in different schools. A school whose mission focuses on developing the skills of lifelong learning, for example, is different fromthan a school whose mission focuses on cultivating the moral imagination, passing on our cultural inheritance, or developing lovers of Christ. Obviously all classical Christian schools want to do all these things to some extent, but the ways that various schools prioritize one or the other are different and should affect what books a school chooses for students to read.

For example, I know of a school whose reading lists kept growing year after year as teachers continued adding books to the lists that they thought were important for students to read. Over time, the lists became so long that teachers couldn’t possibly teach every book and were rushing students through book after book at a dizzying rate. Teachers didn’t like this situation, nor did the students, and the administration recognized that there was a problem. No one was quite sure what to do, however, because so many “great books” were on the lists that didn’t deserve to be cut. Here was the irony: The school’s mission statement explicitly included the cultivation of students into lifelong learners as one of its goals. Given the mission statement’s focus on cultivating lifelong learners, the size of the school’s “canon” of books was a missional problem. Simply put, pushing students through book after book at such a pace that teachers couldn’t teach students to read well or cultivate a love for reading such that the students would continue reading independently after graduation was precluding the fulfillment of the school’s stated missional goals. To fulfill their mission, the school needed to drastically cut down their reading lists, even though this meant that teachers (and administrators) had to remove from their “canon” books that they thought were important for students to read.

Different schools will approach the breadth-depth spectrum differently based on their mission and vision, which is okay. If a school’s goal is broad exposure instead of a lifelong love of reading, for example, then moving students through as many texts or excerpts as possible may be appropriate. In the case described above, however, the practical effects of the school’s long reading lists were at odds with the school’s stated missional goals. So, take seriously the particular nature of your school’s mission and vision, and think about how that should affect the books you select for students to read.

II. Recognize and respect the limitations of your time with students.

The simple truth is that every school has a finite amount of time with its students. This means that there is always more to teach than time to prepare. This is true not only of literature but of every other subject as well (math, Bible, history, etc.). The question, therefore, is not whether or not a book or idea is important and worth teaching, but which books or ideas are the most important for students to study when they are students at a particular school. Concerning reading lists, the question thus is not whether a given book is a “great book” or not. The question is which books are the best books, given the limited time the school has with its students.

Practically speaking, every time that we choose which books to read our children before bed, or which books to check out from the library, or which books to include on a syllabus, we are simultaneously establishing a particular “canon” of books and also thereby are excluding other books within the specific temporal parameters we face. With regard to a school’s book lists, factors that affect how many books can be in the school’s “canon” include whether it is a five-day-a-week school or a collaborative school, how many class periods there are per day, how many minutes of literature class students have each week, and what parameters on homework the school has in place. A school’s philosophy of homework is a particularly significant factor to consider, given that the majority of literature reading that students do typically happens outside of the hours of the school day. No school can have students read every worthy book within the time constraints of a thirteen-year scope and sequence. So, recognize this simple truth and choose the most valuable books for your students to read.

III. Consider the demographics of your student body.

Regardless of one’s stance on the universality of a canon of great books that all should read, it seems obvious that a school’s demographic particularities, such as geographical location and the cultural composition of the student body, will affect at least to some extent the books that students read within a particular school. The book lists will and should look different, for example, in rural Kansas, inner-city New York, Texas, Ecuador, Kenya, and China. In addition to the books themselves, the demographic particularities of a school may also affect the grade level at which a given book is read. That is to say, schools sometimes should make different decisions not only about which books are most important for students to read but also about the grade level at which those books are read, based on the demographics of the student body. Such relevant factors may include whether the school serves primarily rural students, inner city students, highly churched students, mostly unchurched students, students from low socioeconomic families, students from high socioeconomic families, students with well-educated parents, students with less-educated parents, etc. For example, a highly churched student body may be ready for The Pilgrim’s Progress at an earlier grade than a student body coming primarily from non-Christian homes. Similarly, a school with well-educated parents may find it appropriate to read a given book at an earlier grade than a school with less-educated parents, given that book’s level of reading difficulty or content. In such cases, the schools’ rationale and goals for reading the book may be the same, but those goals may best be achieved by reading the book at different grade levels in different particular contexts.

IV. Don’t discount the value of unique teacher preferences and qualifications.

Obviously there should be a high degree of consistency across the grade levels from year to year regarding what books students read. Individual teachers should not, in other words, simply pick whatever books they most like or want to teach. Doing so would be misguided and would lead to many practical problems. That said, there is great educational value in giving teachers some latitude to customize their reading lists based on books they are passionate about or are uniquely qualified to teach. For example, suppose a school hires a new teacher who, according to the book lists, is supposed to teach Tolstoy, but that teacher recently wrote a Master’s thesis on Dostoevsky. Or again, imagine a school has a teacher covering Romantic poetry who loves Wordsworth but does not prefer Keats for some reason. Or again, suppose a teacher has years of experience reading Orwell with students but has never taught Huxley before. In each of these cases, I would argue that the teacher will do a better teaching job, the students will learn more, and the students’ love for great books will be more deeply cultivated if the teacher’s preferences and qualifications are considered relevant factors. If the teacher is an expert on Dostoevsky, for example, a principled debate about whether it is more important for students to read Crime and Punishment or Anna Karenina is probably not worthwhile. Even if one would argue for Anna Karenina in that principled debate, if the teacher is a Dostoevsky expert then going with Crime and Punishment is probably the better decision. Of course there are limits on how far such unique teacher preferences and qualifications should go. However, within reasonable limits, teachers should be allowed to teach the texts they love and know best. There are times when multiple books are of equal quality and equally able to meet the school’s educational goals. In such cases, be sure to consider particular teachers’ preferences and qualifications.

V. Be aware of the unique parameters set by your scope and sequence.

Every school has a scope and sequence of what subjects students will study at each grade level, and that scope and sequence plays a legitimate role in determining which books are taught in a given class. That is to say, given a school’s scope and sequence, it is important to consider how the difficulty and content of books correspond to students’ intellectual and moral maturity. Two examples from actual classical Christian schools will illustrate how this can be the case. First, consider a school whose history and literature sequence is on a six-year chronological cycle, such that the last time students study Greece is in middle school. In this case, some of the sexual, violent, and philosophical/theological themes in Greek literature are a bit heavy for 8^th graders. Those same themes may be fine for 10^th or 11^th graders; on the other hand, if the school had a three- or four-year chronological cycle. If a school is on a three-year chronological cycle, for example, such that students study Greece in 1^st, 4^th, 7^th, and 10^th grades. There are more options for distributing various important works of Greek literature across the elementary, middle, and high school years according to students’ intellectual and moral maturity at each level. Hence, the “canon” of “great, Greek books” may look different in different schools depending on which grades study Greek literature at each school.

A second example is a school that teaches American history and literature in 12^th grade. While doing American in 12^th grade is fine and a fitting capstone, it means that students read authors like Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, and Solzhenitsyn before they read Mark Twain and Jack London. In terms of reading difficulty, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. One option in this situation is to choose different, less-famous/important texts based on the grade in which each period is being studied (for example, easier medieval and modern texts, and more difficult American texts). Another option in this situation is to change the scope and sequence by, for example, moving American history and literature to 9^th grade so that the reading level and themes of the books better correspond to students’ maturity levels. Regardless of how the situation is resolved, these are examples of how a school’s scope and sequence affects the best books (Greek literature, American literature, etc.) for students to read.

In conclusion, these are five practical factors important for classical Christian schools to consider as they think about the “canon” of “great books” that the students at each particular school will read. It is important to note that none of the five practical factors this article has discussed has anything to do with the merits of a given book per se. Instead, each has to do with the characteristics of a particular school that should help to guide what that particular school’s canon of books should be. This in no way diminishes the value of the theoretical considerations regarding the purpose of reading and the characteristics of great books, which are necessary to make principled curricular decisions. At the same time, however, it is essential (and hopefully encouraging and freeing) to recognize that there is no single correct answer. Every particular school has a particular mission and vision, particular time constraints, particular demographics, particular teachers, and a particular scope and sequence. Thus in addition to theoretical principles, practical considerations should guide a school’s decision-making process regarding the particular lists of books that the students at that particular school will read.