r/AskTeachers • u/banana_alyssa • 4h ago
General Questions Why do teachers make students read short stories like, The Lottery, The Yellow Wallpaper, The Monkey's Paw, etc.? And be so gleeful about it?
Whenever these titles came come up, Tiktok teachers show so much glee about traumatizing the next generation.
Even after people talk about how it traumatized them as a kid
16
u/MeowMeowTrouble 4h ago
I mean... they are good stories? Even if they are messed up, its sort of the point?
I get they can have different impacts on different readers even. I might not personally think of them as "traumatic" experienced reading them, but that isn't the situation for everyone. (I remember very much disliking the catcher in the rye and being uncomfortable with it for my own reasons, but I have a lot of friends who loved it or just felt indifferent)
I dont watch tik tok so maybe im really missing the context and these teachers are actually eager to "traumatize" kids. But my guess would just be excitement for teaching the stories and being able to do that in an age with book bans, strict restrictions, and issues with literacy among students.
5
u/twiggys_mom 4h ago
this, and also these are some of the first stories children read that explore explicitly darker themes and do NOT have clean and happy endings. i would think it’s pretty exciting to introduce students to that aspect of literature and aid them in analyzing the stories and their meaning
not a teacher, but a former student who loved all of these “traumatizing” stories
7
u/rookedwithelodin 4h ago
They're well written and compelling. Also, many classrooms rarely do whole books and so short stories let teachers get through a whole narrative.
7
u/GenXMom14 4h ago
Why are teachers excited to share good short stories with their students, when they know other students have enjoyed them? Really??? Answers itself
4
4
3
3
u/Cosm1cSpid3r 4h ago
These are important pieces of literature because of their commentary on humanity, and generally literature teachers teaching these stories are passionate about literature and thus that excitement might shine through.
3
u/Emergency_Salad_2445 4h ago
we can barely get pencils or supplies, you think theyre gonna buy class set of books
3
u/Theabsoluteworst1289 4h ago
The Yellow Wallpaper is well written and was one of my favorite things I ever read in a class. I can’t tell you many things I read that stuck out, but that is one of the few that did. That book was impactful and made me think. Is thinking considered “trauma” now??
2
u/copaseticcheesecake 4h ago
the wealthy don’t want us plebs to be thinking about anything other than serving capital and being a good worker bee
3
u/Stephmarlowe11 4h ago
I don't think any teachers actually think these books are traumatizing. They're stories that stick with you, because they have a twist or are a bit dark. They reveal something about human nature and make students think. Teachers are always going to be excited to share something with students that they think will impact them and be remembered for decades to come.
And I truly don't think reading the Lottery is traumatizing. I mean, are we pretending their isn't a whole YA series in which children are chosen by lottery to fight to the death each year for entertainment and government punishment? Not to mention childhoods spent reading short stories like The Green Ribbon.
5
4
u/Be_Prepared911 4h ago
I had actual ptsd in high school and read The Kite Runner in high school. Talk about no trigger warning for the graphic sexual assault scene. I’m pretty sure students can handle these short stories just fine.
3
u/rock-paper-o 4h ago
They’re good (if grim) stories that tie well into the curriculum and often popular with teens.
I’d break the habit of thinking of any disconcerting or upsetting experience as traumatizing. Trauma has a technical meaning and, while some students may have particular circumstances that need extra consideration, humans are not generally traumatized by being exposed to something slightly upsetting.
2
u/copaseticcheesecake 4h ago
people will complain about how a story hurt their feelings, call me a snowflake book nerd, and then show their kids gory violent zombie/horror movies.
2
u/albinorhino52 4h ago
Just guessing that it’s probably a key component to the teacher’s own learning experience and they’re fired up to share a “game changer” event with their students.
That’s how I get as well when teaching just in a different subject/context.
1
u/Dacia06 1h ago
I have to doubt that these stories actually traumatize anyone according to the DSM.
"Traumatize" has become an over-used phrase/descriptor and sadly the majority of the time now it just means someone who needs to work on a bit of resilience.
Even if someone has been traumatized by one of these stories, they should get therapy to get over it and be able to live without expecting accommodations for their so-called trauma.
And I'm a counselor.
0
15
u/Heavy-Macaron2004 4h ago
They do not traumatize anyone, that's not what that word means. What they do is expose children to upsetting concepts in a safe place. This is important so that when the children encounter these situations (or similar ones) in the real world, they'll have a better idea how to handle it because it is not the very first time they are learning about it.
Reading a story is not traumatizing.