Literary works are teaching values?

In the essay, I Know why the Caged Bird Cannnot Read, Francine Prose criticized the use of literary works to teach students values. She wrote that focusing on one aspect of the challenging and extraordinary literature, takes away from the actual writing piece. I have to agree that Prose is correct in her allegation.

Most teachers focus on the values: good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, racism, sexism, and it continues to include everything wrong or right in this world.  We push these novels on students, not because of their ability to challenge our students on a more literary standpoint or to increase the students' reading ability, but to teach them our values. Teachers have students read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird to teach students about racism. To Kill a Mockingbird also has the ever present good vs. evil with its simplified characters. Why are they talking about ethics, when the point of reading these novels is to learn to appreciate the writing?

When did reading a novel in Language Arts class become less about the language, the style, the characters, and all of its complexity, to become more about teaching lessons that most students at the high school level should have already learned. Teachers have to show what is beneath the surface and what is above it. In the novel Gone with the Wind, Scarlett's character has much more depth than being just a selfish woman. Her character was a modern woman placed in a time that being a business woman and a woman that fought for what she wanted was not something that was accepted in the late 1800s. Teachers should not simplify novels, just because they are a harder novel to read and understand.

Teachers should have students read classic novels and intricate modern novels. They should show the students the elaborate plots and complex characters. The Style and the language are also important elements, that should have more time dedicated to them. If these aspects are not addressed, are we really surprised that many students do not like to read? The reading lists of the Language Arts classes should be changed and the lower number of students that like to read should also be addressed. What happens in Language Arts classes can and will influence some students' future reading comprehension or if they read at all. Language Art teachers, especially in high school, should leave teaching values to the students' parents or elementary teachers and start focusing on the writing itself.