The Political Dr. Seuss!
It seemed fitting considering my title of this blog, to have my first post on Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss has become widely known through his unique poems and stories that have captured the hearts and captivated the minds of children and adults everywhere. Although what endears Dr. Seuss to me is not only his creative poetry, but the politics and messages that lie within his writings. I think it is important to make students critical thinkers, especially within the arts. When students read a piece of literature, see a play, listen to music, view a piece of art, it is important that they not only appreciate the work, but be critical of the work and see the meanings and the history that lie within the piece. Many of Dr. Seuss' works "advocate social change, teaching generations of children not only how to be better readers, but better people as well" (Independent Lens, Dr. Seuss).
Something not known to many people, is that the popular story 'Yertle the Turtle' is modeled after Hitler. Dr. Seuss began his career political cartooning during WWII that "denounced racism, isolationism and other issues", and this political cartooning aspect linked into his children's literature.This particular story has created some debates within the education community as to whether it is too political to expose children to. Below is a link to a Globe and Mail article outlining an example. This is one thing I have struggled with, that when stories have political messaging, how far is to far?
Globe and Mail:
That's a great tie in to history and an interesting way to get students (of basically any age) engaged with talk about WWII. I thought of the politics of the Lorax but not of good ol' Yertle.
ReplyDeleteI love Dr Seuss, and remember learning that what he said in Yertle was a political statement. I think it is absurd to tell teachers they cannot bring up qoutes like the one mentioned in the article. True, teachers need to be cautious and try not to push their own political bias onto students too much, but we have to agree on some ideals to teach children.
ReplyDeleteThat article is fascinating! I didn't understand at all why the quote was an issue until I read that there is a strain between administration and teachers in Prince Rupert. I suppose that the teacher wore it to make a point, but if it weren't for that context, I think that would be an excellent quote to teach students about! Interesting how much of an impact the political atmosphere around teaching can impact our role in the classroom. In my opinion, any politics between unions and administration/governments should impact our students' educational experience as little as possible (speaking as a former student who experienced a teacher's strike during my graduation year). Hopefully that is something we can all agree on.
ReplyDeleteI loved the protest message of 'star bellied sneetches" - it seemed like an obvious reference to when the Nazis made Jews wear the Star of David. There was a recent court decision that made it ok for teachers to share messages like this. However, I read more about this incident at the time and I think that the teacher was taking a deliberate step, by bringing this intot he classroom, to bring the labour disputes there too - and that wasn't fair to the kids! She may have been within her legal rights but in my opinion, it was not putting the best interests of the students at heart - a sneaky and low way to get around the rules. However, when my leadership class in Quesnel based their leadership presentation on this book some years before, it was both delightful and appropriate. I agree that the rightness or wrongness of how the book is used is all abour the context.
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