Ideological transparency is an issue in core literature classes, particularly where teachers understand literature as social critique. This article argues that the critical and prosocial growth we hope students will achieve in a semester with us requires a longer and more incremental process, one in which literature courses have a limited but potentially meaningful role.

Critical thinking skills are valued across the university. Derek Bok writes that 90 percent of faculty identify critical thinking as the most important goal of a university education. In English and foreign language departments, critical thinking has often served as a default goal when faculty cannot agree on which texts or approaches to teach. Without disputing the importance of these skills, I argue that an exclusive focus on critical thinking compromises more modest but also very worthy aims, including appreciation. This article makes the case for renewed attention to appreciation as a goal of literary study. I argue that teaching appreciation helps to cultivate virtues of open-mindedness, responsiveness, and attunement, and that such teaching may be useful in addressing widespread declines in reading and reading skills. At the end of the essay I describe changes I have made in my own teaching practices to emphasize literary appreciation.

Research Article| April 01 2005 Reading Students Reading in the Postcanonical Age Miriam Marty Clark Miriam Marty Clark Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Pedagogy (2005) 5 (2): 297–303. https://doi.org/10.1215/15314200-5-2-297 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Miriam Marty Clark; Reading Students Reading in the Postcanonical Age. Pedagogy 1 April 2005; 5 (2): 297–303. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/15314200-5-2-297 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsPedagogy Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2005 Duke University Press2005 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.