Classical Trash

 

Society has been observing a cataclysmic event: the acceptance and universal approval of ‘classical trash’.  For too long have school children been assaulted with the responsibility of reading, analyzing, and even quoting doubtful works of merit to comply with scholastic expectations.  Quality, has been punctured with trashy additives, yet we are told by the expert few, that those works are still a valuable resource for the collective knowledge. 

Should schools claiming a religious focus subject their students to this literary criteria?  No.  As an institute representing a particular religion, these schools have a responsibility to maintain high moral values that accurately reflect their beliefs. To squander an opportunity to share works of high moral merit with the students who have chosen that particular learning environment, is to throw away individuality in favor of identical conformity. 

Students who have made the choice between a religious school and a secular one, deserve a high level of education.  There may be some works, such as Much Ado About Nothing that are utilized in literary courses.  The schools may fear excluding such literary giants as Shakespeare, and rightly so.  However, the argument stands that schools that offer a high caliber of moral expectancy, also have the chance to reveal the value of moral absolutes—something that secular schools may skip over.  To include works that offer behavioral acceptance of moral depreciation can be a strength if at the same time, it incorporates a discussion as to why the behavior, words, etc. are excluded from acceptance within the particular religious environment. 

Historical evidence suggests that civilization is built upon strong protective and freedom enhancing regulations.  If we, as a nation, and as a world, refuse to create, foster, and support varying ways of approaching learning environments, then we are doomed to create a society of imitation and lack of ingenuity.  To foster the growth of a nation, we must foster our individual strengths.  We must not only claim, but we must expect, a rich and vibrant diversity within our culture.  This allows our collective strengths to provide a rich tapestry of literary and scholastic variety—with each subset of educational values providing enhanced focus upon the values they claim to hold to. 

Strong, diversified education enables the students to achieve and succeed within the world, and yet hold true to the values they are learning and strengthening.  To succeed, there must first be belief.  Individuals must believe that it is possible to create great works without vulgarity and violence. To step into that possibility, we must cherish our beliefs, and promote those who adhered and kept their moral fiber, while in the midst of creativity.  If the academic world chooses to ignore those who are lesser known in favor of wildly popular, yet morally weak works, then the world suffers in a lack of diversity. 

To create a world of diversity, we must protect it.  No single entity can become the expert of all.  Thus a voluntary division of what is taught can be a marketable and reasonable way to insure the survival of many types of works.  Each school has the right to create a focus and create marketing priorities to win prospective students into their schools.  Schools such as Andrews University, California Baptist University, Brigham Young University, and others have the unique ability to achieve what secular schools cannot. 

Many prospective students find a religious environment both supportive and freeing.  In Doctrine and Covenants chapter 88, verse 118, it states, “Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith,” are words that promote great learning.   If we as a nation defend our values, and seek learning by diversification, we strengthen our collective knowledge and have a greater chance to make valuable contributions to society at large.