High schools are requiring students to read almost exactly what they did 25 years ago: heavy on Shakespeare but light on works by female and minority authors, according to a survey.
Eighty-four percent of public high schools assign students "Romeo and Juliet," the Shakespearean play that tops the list of required works, according to the nationwide survey by the Center for the Learning & Teaching of Literature at State University of New York at Albany.But only one of the top 10 most frequently assigned works was by a female author - "To Kill A Mockingbird," by Harper Lee. No works were by minorities, according to the survey of 322 public schools, 80 Catholic schools and 86 private schools conducted last spring.
"I think the survey shows schools are still very much concerned with emphasizing good literature. They continue to assign classics complemented with modern and accessible works," said the survey's author, Arthur N. Applebee.
"At the same time, it's disturbing that there are essentially no books by minority authors working their way into the canons."
Following "Romeo and Juliet," 81 percent of public high schools required "Macbeth." "Huckleberry Finn," the classic Mark Twain novel, was the third most assigned work, with 70 percent requiring it.
The survey appeared to answer conservative critics who have lately accused schools of watering down curricula and retreating from the classics. Such charges gained currency in the recent best-sellers "The Closing of the American Mind" by Allan Bloom, and "Cultural Literacy," by E.D. Hirsch.
The study also showed, surprisingly, that public, private and Catholic high schools are assigning nearly identical books, said Applebee.
At the 80 Catholic schools surveyed, the top-10 list included the same books as public schools, but in different order. "Huckleberry Finn" ranked first, followed by "The Scarlet Letter" and "Macbeth."
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Literary Top 10s
Here are the most widely assigned literary works at public and private high schools. Included are the percentages of schools assigning each work.
Public schools:
1. "Romeo and Juliet," William Shakespeare, 84 percent.
2. "Macbeth," Shakespeare, 81 percent.
3. "Huckleberry Finn," Mark Twain, 70 percent.
4. "Julius Caesar," Shakespeare, 70 percent.
5. "To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee, 69 percent.
6. "The Scarlet Letter," Nathaniel Hawthorne, 62 percent.
7. "Of Mice and Men," John Steinbeck, 56 percent.
8. "Hamlet," Shakespeare, 55 percent.
9. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald, 54 percent.
10. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding, 54 percent.
Private Schools:
1. "Macbeth," 74 percent.
2. "Romeo and Juliet," 66 percent.
3. "Huckleberry Finn," 56 percent.
4. "The Scarlet Letter," 52 percent.
5. "Hamlet," 51 percent.
6. "The Great Gatsby," 49 percent.
7. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 47 percent.
8. "Julius Caesar," 42 percent.
9. "The Odyssey," Homer, 39 percent.
10. "Lord of the Flies," 34 percent.