Why Ontario Students Should Only Study Canadian Literature

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During the high school careers of many young Ontario students, they will be faced with a wide variety of texts of different beliefs, cultures and themes. While marvelous writers exist in all cultures, Ontario students should only study Canadian writers in order for them to become accustomed to their culture. By solely studying Canadian literature in a grade 12 course, Ontario students can better focus on their own Canadian culture, replace the archaic novels currently being read, and value the diversity that being a Canadian means. Students in Ontario taking an English course should only study Canadian literature because they are currently infested by the American culture surrounding them. There is a historical attachment to this issue as Canadians have always been a “branch plant” of another country, namely England and France. Even from an early stage, the Canadian culture has never had the chance to flourish as it has been eclipsed by another powerful foreign culture. As a result, for years, a student in Ontario would helplessly study Shakespeare and other famous British writers. Today, they may even also study…show more content…
An exemplar of this is Mordecai Richler's novel, Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz or Margaret Lawrence’s Stone Angel. Furthermore, Fifth Business, published over four decades ago, is still on many courses of study in Gr. 12 classrooms. Again, while some teachers allow students to focus on more modern Canadian books for their ISP, the real classroom experience is limited to studying these archaic novels that are irrelevant to today’s Canadian society. The current curriculum is rapidly turning off students from reading Canadian literature ever again as the content that they are exposed to is not of their interest and does not appeal to the masses. By changing the novels currently being read, Ontario pupils have the opportunity to unleash the massive potential that Canadian Literature

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