Should Professors Assign Their Own Novels?
Natalie Everett
Issue date: 3/13/03 Section: View
I don't mind buying a textbook that my professor has written. But when it comes to reading their novels, I'm a little perturbed.
I enrolled in a creative writing class last fall. The teacher offered extra credit if we read his first published novel and wrote a review.
No amount of extra credit would be worth my buying fantasy. I declined the offer.
My decision didn't stop with reading preferences. It's just a bit much: I am already employing my professors in one way- why back their supplemental efforts also? It's a supply-and-demand issue- if students didn't enroll in classes, professors would have to find another career. Just ask one of my employees, professor of economics Dr. Okeke. I already bought the burger; I'm not splurging on fries to go with it.
Little did I know that I should have appreciated the choice I was given. The following spring, I enrolled in a contemporary literature class. On the assigned reading list was the same book that I avoided reading in creative writing.
These two teachers are married. Further, four of the five books for this contemporary literature class were people that the teacher works with or has worked with.
I'm sure the meager profits from book sales aren't what inspired these teachers to write. And I'm not saying they weren't well written. These are not the issues.
My point is that it is poor taste and even a rip-off for students to assign your own- or your husband's or friend's- books for student literature reading.
There's a whole big world out there with a whole bunch of contemporary authors. Why limit us to only reading works that come from the same place or to one group of thinkers?
A professor holding a master's or a doctorate degree in the sciences or even English should "write the book" on their subject. Who else knows so much about their subjects? But an English professor who"wrote a book" is different.
Fiction comes from ideas being hatched in creative minds. If the author is worth their salt, their novels will stand on their own, without the bookends of assigned reading lists. The talent of the author is not necessarily at stake; the character of the professor assigning the books is.
Teachers that assign their cohorts' literary gems are practicing poor taste, I don't care how good the book is.
I enrolled in a creative writing class last fall. The teacher offered extra credit if we read his first published novel and wrote a review.
No amount of extra credit would be worth my buying fantasy. I declined the offer.
My decision didn't stop with reading preferences. It's just a bit much: I am already employing my professors in one way- why back their supplemental efforts also? It's a supply-and-demand issue- if students didn't enroll in classes, professors would have to find another career. Just ask one of my employees, professor of economics Dr. Okeke. I already bought the burger; I'm not splurging on fries to go with it.
Little did I know that I should have appreciated the choice I was given. The following spring, I enrolled in a contemporary literature class. On the assigned reading list was the same book that I avoided reading in creative writing.
These two teachers are married. Further, four of the five books for this contemporary literature class were people that the teacher works with or has worked with.
I'm sure the meager profits from book sales aren't what inspired these teachers to write. And I'm not saying they weren't well written. These are not the issues.
My point is that it is poor taste and even a rip-off for students to assign your own- or your husband's or friend's- books for student literature reading.
There's a whole big world out there with a whole bunch of contemporary authors. Why limit us to only reading works that come from the same place or to one group of thinkers?
A professor holding a master's or a doctorate degree in the sciences or even English should "write the book" on their subject. Who else knows so much about their subjects? But an English professor who"wrote a book" is different.
Fiction comes from ideas being hatched in creative minds. If the author is worth their salt, their novels will stand on their own, without the bookends of assigned reading lists. The talent of the author is not necessarily at stake; the character of the professor assigning the books is.
Teachers that assign their cohorts' literary gems are practicing poor taste, I don't care how good the book is.