Students produce pieces for school reasons: write this essay to prove you understand this text. Answer these questions to gain this mark.
Literature exists beyond school reasons. Admittedly, the popularity of classic literature, and modern poetry, is because students have been compelled to read them because of school reasons.
There exist human reasons behind the work too. Do the students feel sympathy for the violent Curley? Does his starstruck wife enjoy her racist baiting to the point of death?
How can there be context of reception (reading a text in school, for school reasons) if there is not a context of production (written to challenge perspectives of Dust Bowl America and rural poverty)?
Most noticably this can be seen in an Art Gallery: can a teacher speak the artist about what you notice? About what? The aesthetics? Just bright colours?
How naked will we be as teacher about why our students do their work? To pass an exam? To gatekeep the next part of life?
Do we gain from foregrounding those human reasons?
