even if I won't be as good at answering as others will. I own Mein Kamphf, actually, and don't think they should try banning it. That never works anyway, except to keep it from the people who don't want it.

What was breakfast?


I really don't think so. There are some that probably could be, but it's a slippery slope.


I think high schools might be a different issue. I have the same "slippery slope" problem, but I also think that some things aren't appropriate for all children, and it can be more trouble than it's worth for the school to fight certain battles. Students/parents can make the choice to read whatever they want outside of the school environment.


For that I'd say they have to be fairly widely read, and I can only think of a few (as I said, others will be much better) that qualify. And they aren't all "books." Economics and politics (etc) mostly: Manifesto, Red Book, Wealth of Nations, Paine's Common Sense, The Federalist Papers, etc.


If I were setting curricula, schools would be nutty. I think we should read more like the above than multiple Shakespeares.



I wasn't sure which books were censored, so I had a look. Some of them are surprising, but I suppose I can see why they might be banned. I don't have a teenager, but I can see how I might object to him/her reading a book full of cursing, psychotic behavior and sexual content. Not so much the "culturally subversive" type, which should not be banned, imo.


I like that you're asking me to remember back that far. Besides, I think my schooling was probably different, given that it was Catholic. I can tell you that I hated most of the "classics" I was forced to read in HS. I would have preferred more history placement/importance rather than reading all of Jude the Obscure and Great Expectations. I would probably enjoy them now, but I hated them then and still have a mental wall against reading them.


I can't think of any I would remove, but I might almost prefer the writings being more presented as "at this time in history, this book/author was important because of ..." rather than in reading a whole heavy novel (opposed to excerpts). I can't decide whether that would actually work, but it would be nice if something could solve the problem of people hating to read anything "classic" by the time they graduate.


Again, I'm not sure what people typically read, so I'm not sure I can say. I didn't have to read the Hobbit or LotR, but I do think that fantasy that's actually literature should be presented.


Cop out answer: it's probably different for everyone. I'm a big fan of making people study other cultures/religions/basic history though, so if there is a comprehensive novel in that direction, I'd answer with that.