Let it be.

Literacy is simply being able to read and comprehend what you’ve read. As a student, I have to analytically read novels, articles, and textbooks. I also have to do research on the web and understand how to find the information I need, how to use it, and most importantly, how to write about it. I believe English shouldn’t venture off very much because if certain subjects are not taught in the classroom, they will be lost. If it weren’t for English, I never would have read Ethan Frome, 1984, or numerous other great texts. Learning how to read different kinds of books and write different kinds of essays is an important asset that cannot be taught anywhere else. If there needs to be education that ventures “outside the realm of text-based writing,” maybe it could be only touched on, or another class could teach it. I believe the English classroom has more than enough on its plate, too much to add something as substantial as online text. In every English class I took in high school, the curriculum was always rushed. We were always behind, simply because there was so much information to cover in such a short amount of time. The teachers not only have to expose students to as many different kinds of literature, poetry, prose, plays, etc, but they also have to teach students how to analyze what they read. And on top of that they have to teach students how to write! There are SO MANY different kinds of writing styles. There are argumentative, compare/contrast, persuasion, and informative essays. If anything, these topics should be divided into different classes.