What We and Our Children Can Leqrn from Great Literature
EDUCATION
What We and Our Children
Can Leqrn from Great Literature
BY MiCHEAL FLAHERTY
” . . . You are what you read. We are shaped and influenced by the books that we read. They prepare us for more than interesting conversations—they actually
prepare us to face real crises that we encounter in life. ”
AT THE END of C.S. Lewis’ The Li-on, the Witch and the Wardrobe,Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucyassume their rightñil thrones as kings and queens of Namia. Lewis dedicates only one sentence to describing how they govemed during the Golden Age of Namia, but it is in- teresting to hear his summary of their most im- portant accomphshments. Lewis tells us that they “made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being cut down and lib- erated young dwarfs and young satyrs from be- ing sent to school and generally stopped busy- bodies and interferers and encouraged ordinary people who wanted to live and let Uve.”
It is interesting to note that the first item of business after keeping the peace and protecting the environment was abolishing school. Namia thus is the first kingdom where home-school- ing not only is encouraged, but required. How- ever, I think Lewis was talking less about the institution of school and more about what was being taught there. When it came to what was being taught, Lewis thought that stories made all of the difference.
Lewis begins The Voyage of the Dawn Tread- er with a memorable introduction of a new character: ‘There once was a boy named Eu- stace Clarence Scrubbs, and he almost de- served it.” In introducing us to Scrubbs, Lewis believes the best way for the reader to under- stand him is to know the kinds of books he read. “He liked books if they were books of in- formation and had pictures of grain elevators
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or of fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools.” In other words, he did not have time for the types of stories that Lewis adored—stories about heroism, knights, and talking animals.
As a result, Scrubbs is at a significant disad- vantage when he first arrives in Namia and finds himself in a dragon’s lair. “Most of us know what we should expect to find in a drag- on’s lair,” Lewis writes, “but as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.”
The situation gets more dire when the drag- on begins to stir: “Something was crawling. Worse stül, something was coming out of the cave. Edmund or Lucy or you would have rec- ognized it at once, but Eustace had read none of the right books.”
Clearly, Lewis is telling us something about more than dragons and taUdrig mice. He is giv- ing us a simple instmction: you are what you read. We are shaped and influenced by the books that we read. They prepare us for more than interesting conversations—they actually prepare us to face real crises that we encounter in life. Few people would dispute this simple statement, so let us ask a simple related ques- tion: what are we reading today?
The short answer is: not much. The National Endowment for the Arts released a report enti- tled “Reading at Risk.” You may be familiar with its findings, but allow me to repeat the
headline: for the first time in modem history, less than half of the adult population now reads literature. The decline is across all races, all ed- ucation levels, and au age groups—although it is most pronounced among college-age stu- dents. Young adults have declined from being those most likely to read literature to those least likely.
The report went on to show that the decline in literary reading strongly correlates to a de- cline in cultiiral and civic participation. Literary readers are more than twice as likely as nonlit-
USA TODAY • NOVEMBER 2013
erary readers to perform volunteer and charity work, nearly three times as likely to attend per- forming arts events, and nearly four times as likely to visit art museums. Before you begin to think that this is limited to highbrow events, lit- erary readers are even substantially more likely to attend sporting events than nonüterary read- ers. Before you begin to think that the group of people making up literary readers is a group of Luddites that has sworn off electronic media, the report found that literature readers still man- aged to watch close to three hours of television
each day. In other words, people who find time for “Law and Order” still can find time for Crime and Punishment.
The report concludes on a rather somber note: at the current rate of loss, literary reading as a leisure activity virtually wiU disappear over the next half-century. This decline wül not be reversed by any one solution. In fact, it will re- quire a number of innovative ones from a num- ber of different groups.
Cultural restoration, Russell Kirk said, be- gins at home. Certainly the same is true of liter-
acy and, in today’s media-saturated culture, I dare to say that it also may begin at the movie theater.
Waiden Media was started several years ago by myself, Cary Granat, and Phil Anschutz. We wanted to create a company dedicated to recap- turing imagination, rekindling curiosity, and demonstrating the rewards of knowledge and virtue. All of our films would be based on great books, great people, and great historical events. They would be made by the top talent in enter- tainment and they all would be linked to educa-
USA TODAY • NOVEMBER 2013 45
EDUCATION
üonal materials developed by some of the best talent in that field. We were taking Henry David Thoreau’s famous advice—to mareh to the beat of a different drummer—to Hollywood, which is why we decided to name our company after Thoreau’s most famous book, Waiden.
In launching Waiden Media, our greatest challenge was in identifying the stories that we wanted to bring to the screen. We did not want to waste our time making films out of “the wrong books” that Eustace Scmbbs wasted his time reading. So, rather than tum to the usual parade of agents and Hollywood producers, we launched an unusual campaign. We enrolled in as many educational conferences as we could find. We spoke to tens of thousands of teachers and librarians and asked them what books they most enjoyed teaching and recommending. Af- ter several years, the only thing that seems odd about this strategy is the fact that our company is the only one doing it. After all, who knows stories better than teachers and librarians?
I still remember when we first received a let- ter from a teacher in Philadelphia recommend- ing a book called Holes. We paid little attention to it until the following week, when we re- ceived dozens more Hke it. It seems the teacher decided that she wanted to lead the class in an exercise of persuasive writing, and they decided that they would attempt to convince us to make a film out of their favorite book. The students were quite persuasive, and we went on to make “Holes” as our first feature film. It became a great commereial and critical success.
Our teacher and librarian friends introduced us to a whole new world of authors and books that publishers Mke to classify as “young adult” literature, but we were surprised to see that the books—while accessible to a younger audi- ence—were every bit as profound and mean- ingfiil as the boolá I had read as a literature ma- jor in college. The books deal with real issues— death, racism, divorce, alcoholism, alienation, war— ând similarly they all deal with the com- mon theme of redemption. Many deal with faith respectfully, as a critical and transforma- tional force in people’s lives. Holes took place in a juvenile detention center—the perfect set- ting for a redemptive story. Our next film, “Be- cause of Winn Dixie,” tells the story of a young girl dealing with her mother’s abandonment, adults struggling with alcoholism, and the last- ing sting of racism. Our following film, “Bridge to Terabithia,” concerns the toughest issue haunt- ing parents— t̂he death of a child.
Our project has opened up a fair debate about whether children should read books that have such frightening content. Lewis tackled this issue head-on and offered some good ad- vice that informs how we select our projects: ‘Those who say that children must not be fright- ened may mean two things. First, we must not do anything likely to give the chüd those haunt- ing, disabling, pathological fears against which ordinary courage is helpless— în fact, phobias. The child’s mind must, if possible, be kept clear of things he or she cannot bear to think of. The second meaning is that we must try to keep out
of the child’s mind the knowledge that he or she is bom into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evü.”
ff they mean the first, I agree with them, but not if they mean the second The second indeed would be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is bom to the . . . atomic bomb. Since it is so likely that they wül meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise, you are making their destiny not brighter, but darker.
In conjunction with every film, we launch an ambitious educational campaign that places the book at its center. Since starting Waiden, we have distributed hundreds of thousands of books, mostly to Title One Schools that are not able to afford them. When we released “Winn Dixie,” we also launched a program in conjunc- tion with the Girl Scouts of America and Sun- rise Assisted Living Centers to draw attention to the “Reading at Risk” report. Girl Scouts across the country volunteered to read Wmn Dixie at different Sunrise Centers. In doing this, we were showing one way to reverse the decline in read- ing and volunteerism at the same time. With the release of “Charlotte’s Web,” we invited teach- ers and students to read a section from E.B. White’s classic to break the Guinness world record for most people reading simultaneously. The previous record was 133,000. For us, more than 500,000 people participated in all 50 states and 28 countries.
Booming book sales WMle it virtually is impossible for us to de-
termine if our efforts have made any kind of dent in the decUne in reading, there is over- whelming evidence that we have exponentially increased the book sales of the books we have adapted into feature films. The Namia books saw an increase in sales that was several multi- ples. In fact, because of the increased focus on C.S. Lewis, sales of his other books increased by several multiples as well.
We also are proud of other films. “Bridge to Terabithia” follows our traditional model of a ñhn based on a popular book—in this case, Katherine Paterson’s Newbery Award-winner Then there is “Amazing Grace,” a film based on a great man (William Wilberforce) and a great event (the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain).
After a powerful conversion experience, Wü- berforce dedicated himself to what he called his two great objectives—the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of society. In pursuing the first, he was challenging a mind- set that had existed for centuries. Wilberforce recognized that, if he wanted to change the law, he needed to change peoples’ hearts and minds. He also knew that none of this was possible until his own heart experienced a radical trans- formation.
Wilberforce’s childhood preacher, John New- ton, experienced an even more dramatic con- version than Wilberforce. In a graceless world, absent of God’s mercy, Newton should have rotted in the bowels of a slave ship or been tossed in the sea. Yet, God, in His providence, saved this wretch and gave him something he did not deserve, a prominent role in the story of freedom. Newton went on to pen one of the most redemptive songs in human history: “Amazing Grace.”
Wilberforce and Newton both understood that they could not accomplish great change alone. It required friends—people from all walks of life and from both sides of the politi- cal aisle. Wilberforce called them his “co-bel- ligerents”—^people who had many differences but were united in their commitment to end the slave trade and improve British society. De- spite decades of defeat, ridicule, and treachery, they were companions for the common good.
Through faith and perseverance, Wüberforce and his friends of the Clapham Sect accom- plished what everybody thought was impossi- ble, but their story did not end there. It was said of Wilberforce that good causes stuck to him like pins. Over his lifetime, he launched more than 65 social initiatives, including the first ani- mal welfare society, the first Bible society, and the first national gallery of art. He also helped reform penal laws and child welfare laws.
Today, we desperately need more leaders like Wilberforce and the kings and queens of Namia who will fight to make good laws, keep the peace, save good trees from being cut down, and encourage ordinary people who want to live and let live.
We all are familiar with the problems that good people face, both nationally and globally. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that we have two options when faced with such problems: we can act like a thermometer and merely make a record, or we can act like a thermostat and correct what is wrong.
Let us accept King’s challenge to help cor- rect what ails us. Whether we fight against illit- eracy, poverty, racism, AIDS, or hunger, let us dedicate ourselves to making the types of sweep- ing changes that William Wilberforce and his colleagues accomplished. Let us work in their same spirit of cooperation—^finding “co-bel- ligerents” from all types of backgrounds and beliefs. Let us play a role in creating our own great stories of bravery and heroism to give hope and joy to our children. •
Micheal Flaherty is cofounder and president of Waiden Media, a producer of films, books, and interactive programs that tie directly into school curricula. In addition to its own film re- leases, Waiden Media, in association with the Walt Disney Company, produced the Academy Award-winning film “The Chronicles ofNar- nia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. ” This article is adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale (Mich.) College, manuscript cour- tesy of Imprimis.
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