Literature used in CCPS reflection:

The books used in the CCPS High School English curriculum are novels such as Things Fall
Apart by Chinua Achebe, 1984 by George Orwell, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by
Rebecca Skloot, The Things they Carried by Tim OBrien, Their Eyes Were Watching God by
Zora Neale Hurston, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, and Henry V by William Shakespeare. These
novels span grades nine through 12 and are only a sample of choices of the novels offered by the
curriculum but are the novels most often chosen by English teachers in Carroll County Public
Schools.
In regards to these novels and the idea of gender and cultural stereotyping some of these titles are
guilty of stereotyping by gender or culture more than others. Some of this is due to the time
period in which the novel was written and the novel topic itself was mean to discuss the issue at
hand of that time period while others of these novels show gender or cultural stereotyping
because the book was written about a specific group of people that had been studied by, lived
with, and/or raised in by the author.
Though these novels contain instances of gender or cultural stereotyping, as an English teachers
in the county, they do not feel that they have a negative impact on students thought process or
learning. They believe these novels touch on these subjects in a way meant to have the students
reflect on aspects of society that need to be brought to light, especially to students who are close
to entering the real-world so they know more of what happens and is expected of them post
high school education. For example, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe shows examples of
both cultural and gender stereotyping as the story unfolds. In this story, the reader follows
Okonkwo through different trials of his life. Okonkwo is a leader in an African tribe in which it
is acceptable and even expected for male leaders to have many wives. In Okonkwos society, it is
also expected that male leaders be brave and strong, while the wives stay home and care for the
males children, whether they are hers by birth or from another wife; the wives are supposed to
work together to raise ALL of the males children. This shows both gender and cultural
stereotyping rather clearly. However, this book is used to teach a hero and archetype unit and
show how every story as some type of archetype present and thus a story is created and easy to
follow. This story also has elements of non-fiction in that Chinua Achebe grew up in tribal lands
of Africa. Another example of one of these novels focusing on gender and culture stereotyping is
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. In this novel, one of the main themes
discussed is the different roles of men and women in southern Florida in the early 1900s.
Though this novel shows an enormous amount of gender stereotyping for example, Janie (the
main character) is told over and over again that she needs a man to take care of her, it is done
purposefully by Hurston to show the reader what life was like in southern Florida, especially for
a female. Therefore, even though some of the novels in the current curriculum do show examples
of gender and cultural stereotyping, those novels were purposefully chosen by the CCPS English
curriculum writing team to help teach the concepts identified as important for high-school
students to discuss and become aware of. In the teachers opinion, the literature we use with
cultural and gender stereotyping is beneficial to the education of todays high-school students.
One recommendation I have, is we need to look at the idea of updating sources to make
them more relevant to the students. Some of the books such as 1984 were written 67 years ago.
We lose the students because the humor is lost and they do not understand the references in the
book. We talking to the department about this, my suggestion was to start with their supervisor.

Bringing this issue to attention can start the search for a new book which gets the same point
across with modern references.