July 2020 | Vol. 20 Iss. 07
FREE DIVERSITY IN LITERATURE A POTENTIAL ANSWER FOR MINORITY STUDENTS, ANTIDOTE FOR RACISM By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com
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f the 700 books on the approved booklist for middle schoolers and high schoolers in Jordan District, only 8% are written by authors of color. “All of the books tend to cater toward a certain type of student,” said West Jordan Middle School literacy specialist and language arts teacher Tara Pearce. She is pushing for a booklist that reflects the minority students who make up 25% of the district demographic. “Stories change people’s lives,” Pearce said. “And having a role model that you can actually identify with also changes lives. I just want all of my students to have a really great mix of role models of characters or people that they can look up to, to help to find who they want to be.” The lack of diverse books is a stumbling block to literacy for students who don’t fit into a traditional white American family mold, said Pearce. “Students can read at a higher level and read and comprehend at deeper levels when the book is engaging to them, when it’s interesting and relevant to them,” Pearce said. “My goal is to find real-world, relevant texts for my low readers.” The problem is, these books often contain profanity or sensitive subjects that raise red flags with the booklist approval committee. Pearce respects that many parents don’t want Many books that teach cultural empathy are not approved for use in the school classrooms. (Photo courtesy of Tara Pearce) their students exposed to that kind of content but believes “I’m not trying to push sketchy books on some sweet lit- their own—that’s how we learn,” she said. those books should be available as an option to those with Herriman High School AP English teacher Whitney differing values. She wants parents to trust teachers to handle tle girl,” she said. “My goal is to be able to give some books to Borup agrees. the sensitive topics responsibly and not as an excuse to push kids that actually do talk like that and look like that.” She also believes diversity in literature benefits all students. “I teach that every writer comes from a political point of their own personal or political agendas. “It’s good for all students to have perspectives outside of Continued page 8
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