Seattle sacrifices Monster Lit

"Every child's education should be handcrafted," writes Scott Oki, ex-Microsoftie and University of Washington regent. In his new book, "Outrageous Learning," Oki writes, "We should allow principals and teachers to select the curriculum that best fits the needs of their particular students."

It is a lovely idea. It is what people want for their own kids when they have a say about it. But Seattle pushes now in the other direction, toward a standardized curriculum.

At risk is David Grosskopf's class in Monster Lit.

Grosskopf is an English teacher at Roosevelt High School. He is a Harvard graduate, a National Board certified teacher and was a winner last year of Symetra's "Heroes in the Classroom" award. He is one of a cadre of English teachers at Roosevelt who have kept the language arts (LA) requirement to two years.

Instead of more LA, Roosevelt offers poetry, speech, creative writing, expository writing, journalism, science fiction, sports literature, early American literature, modern American literature, social-issues literature, African-American literature, and — Grosskopf's classes — Shakespeare and a class in literature and philosophy.

Now he's planning a class in the literature of monsters. Why? "Because it turns me on," he says. And because it will turn on students.

His idea is to have them read Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Albert Camus' "The Plague," and something from Edgar Allan Poe. These stories have ideas in them about human nature, morality and how we know what we know. Students can get into arguments about them and write papers about them. And when it comes to test their ability to read, analyze and write, they will do well.

The district has a rationale for its plans, too.

Start with LA 10 — sophomore English. All the kids take that now. But if someone asks what "LA 10" means, "Right now I can't tell them what it means," says Cathy Thompson, Seattle Public Schools' executive director of curriculum and instruction. "We don't know what they're getting. We don't know if it's aligned with standards."

Thompson's assignment is to manage curriculum in Seattle Public Schools "so that every child gets a high-quality education." And so, starting soon — perhaps phased in, perhaps all at once — instead of two years of language arts, all public high schools in Seattle will have four years of language arts. Each year, students will read two novels chosen by the central office. There will be two more from a short list and further choices from a longer list. There is consultation in making these lists, but they are still lists.

More requirements mean fewer electives. Monster Lit will probably not happen, and many of Roosevelt's other electives will go away. And that reduces the handcrafted aspect.

"Developing the curriculum is part of the joy," Grosskopf says. "Excitement is not just for the students."

Grosskopf says he favors high standards. "But if we can show our courses provide the rigor and meet those standards," he says, "why can't we teach them?"

Because if they have to do this for you, they have to do it for others. We all know the argument. It is the way organizations think, and they do have a point. But I also know as a high-school senior, I would have been first in line for Monster Lit.

Bruce Ramsey's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is bramsey@seattletimes.com