Susan Landt provides a unique insight to using Young
Adult Literature that is very similar to mine.
I really love her idea of literature being a “kaleidoscope” because I think
it is a great metaphor for what literature really should be. Literature should provide readers with the
opportunity to develop a different view of the world around them with each
piece of literature that they read. Her main
idea is to use multicultural young adult literature in order to teach
adolescents and young adults about different cultural societies. She quotes an article by Ford, Howard, Tyson
& Harris by saying “Providing a multitude of perspectives through literature
at this point in students’ development is an effective way to help facilitate
their engagement is self and understanding.”
I think this is her main argument.
She is trying to argue that it is important to introduce adolescents and
young adults to multicultural literature at a younger age so that they can
develop an understanding of different cultures before they develop any kind of
prejudice against those cultures. I agree
with this argument, but I question waiting until the adolescent age. I believe that children develop prejudices at
a young age because they are introduced to whatever prejudices their families
have and by waiting to expose them to other cultures we allow them to solidify
and justify their prejudices. I have to
counter my argument though by saying that it is possible that younger children
are not developmentally prepared to learn about different cultures. I agree with her idea that there are many
different multicultural young adult pieces and I think that they are an
excellent way to expose young adults to various cultures. In this class alone we have learned about so
many different cultures spanning from Caucasian to African American growing up
in Harlem to the wealthy and the poverty ridden, and even to some people who struggle
with mental illness and disorders. Young
Adult Literature is an entertaining way to allow young students to develop an
insight to different cultures that they may have never been exposed to. Her article really exposed me to the idea
that I can use YA literature in my classroom to teach very serious subjects to
my students. I have really been
interested in using Young Adult Literature in my classroom but have struggled figuring
out exactly how to incorporate it. Landt
revealed to me that I can use Young Adult Literature to teach my students about
different cultures which I think is an extremely valuable lesson for young
students. When I graduated high school I
had only been exposed to very few different cultures and coming to college has
allowed me to be exposed to more cultures.
I think that we can learn a lot from different cultures but in order to
learn about them we must first be exposed to them. Exposing students to different cultures
allows them to learn more than I did earlier than I did that way it won’t be so
difficult for them to open their eyes to the different challenges and privileges
that certain cultures have. Using Young
Adult Literature to teach students about cultures is a fantastic way to let
them learn about different cultures around the world.
