If the World is Without Books(2 Reasons Why I Teach Literature, Entry 1)

           
After a whole month of  battering my students in round table discussions, I decided to give them a break and asked a simple single question for their seatwork. Or perhaps I was giving myself a break. "How would the world be if we don't have books?", I asked. They were instructed to answer in any of the three languages we have been using for Philippine literature or they could also illustrate their answers.

Amazingly, from a class of non-book readers, most answered that the world would be boring, that the world would lack life, imagination, knowledge etc. Quite an irony for a class whose majority believe that "reading is boring, we'd rather watch a movie."

               

A lot of dystopian stories, or those stories that picture a chaotic mirror of our society often depict a world that is without color, without books, without art. Maybe my students had it in them to write dystopian narratives. Their drawings spoke the same, no books thus no color.

               

Would a world without color be so bad? On the positive side, a student wrote that if the world is without books, everyone would be equal, it would be peaceful. In its simplest form the argument is this:

               

Books bring color to the world, we differentiate ourselves from each other from the color of our skin and our thinking, discrimination and difference bring about conflicts of interest.  Books bring color,  colors bring difference and discrimination, discrimination and difference bring conflict. No books, no conflict.

               

And I am lead to imagine what if the bible, the torah, famous philosophical treatises, the Koran, the Tripitaka  etc... what if all of those did not exist?  Could we have been safe from all of the wars? Stretch this argument to the idea of telling stories to include societies that although did not have books have rich Oral Traditions, epics that is. Would their wars sprung from their different stories on who did this, did that, owned this, owned that?

           

One of the goals I hold for each literature class is that at the end of the semester, after we wish each other farewell - see you around - good luck - they exit the classroom as readers. And If they already were, they become more passionate with reading. But not just reading. Reading Literature, reading on their own. With that I can provide an epic list of benefits of reading on education, entertainment and engagement. (an epic list)

       

But what if my student is right about the whole ordeal about books and reading?         

                    
Kudos to her for this brilliant spark of imagination and that question. That is still and also one of my goals in teaching Literature.