Valdés, Mario J.

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University of Rhode IslandDigitalCommons@URIIannone, Carol: News Articles (1991) Education: National Endowment for the Arts andHumanities, Subject Files I (1973-1996)1991Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to theEditor 07Mario J. ValdésFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/pell_neh_I_36This Letter to the Editor is brought to you for free and open access by the Education: National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, Subject Files I(1973-1996) at DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991) by an authorized administrator ofDigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@etal.uri.edu.Recommended CitationValdés, Mario J., "Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to the Editor 07" (1991). Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991). Paper17.http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/pell_neh_I_36/17SENT BY: odern Language Assn. 6-28-91 10 Astor Pl. NYC .. 202 224 5375:# 2 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1991 Letters to the Editor We're Not Attacking Western Culture The Executive Council of the Modern glected works of Western and other cul· Language Association has noted With dig· tures. Instead of attacking traditional · may the recent appearance of a number of works on political grounds, these teachers books and articles, Including your May 3 are re-enlivening the study of literature· and 23 editorials, that decry "political cor· and language by ralslnf ch.allenrtnr ques· rectness" on American campuses. These tions from new perspeetlves. Contrary to texts charge that teachers of language and the charge that such questlon!l and per· literature, with the support of the MLA, specttves debase standards, they have are eliminating the cllliSics of Western c1v· stimulated students to think more criti· iliz.atlon from the curriculum and maltl!li cally, rigorously and creatively. certatn attitudes toward race,-class. ren· Chanues in what we teach our students der, sexual orientation or political affllla· have never been free of controversy. In tlon the sole measure oi a text's value. thls context, It ts useful to recall that the · Some teachers. It Ii sa.ld, Intimidate col· Mode~n Languaie Association arose in leagues whG do not eomply with their own 186! precisely out of such controversy- the political qendas, and they sub_v~rt reason, oppmiti~ to addin&' the teachlnr of El'l8· . truth and artistic standards tn muef to Im- · llrsh arid Other modem languaps and llttr-po&e crude ldeololical dosmU '* students. aturts to· a cufflculun\ dominated by Nonne.lly, the MI.A Executive Council Oree~. and I,atlh. The teachlnf of Amen· Would not ·comment on tbe approacllea .. can ll~raturi!, as distinct from Enrl1sb lit· members use in thetr acho11riy work. or erature, evi>lved alter World War I out of a. classrooms: however, recent statements. similar dispute. in wlltch many claimed call for a_ response. that educational standards were being sac· The MLA., It centu?'Y-old leanied society, rificed to lXJpular tasle. And 50 years ago consists of almost 30,000 coUere and uni· there was stron: resistance to the Intro· verslty scholars and teachers of the mod· duction into llterature classes of writers em languages and literature representing such as Joyce, Woolf, Kafka, Garcia a wide ~~ctrum of histories, Interests. Lorca, and Faulkner. scholarly methodolortes and approaches to Literature has always been a theater of teaching. In view of Ulelr great diversity, contention over social, aesthetlc and ethl· it ts unreasonable to suggest they are im- cal values, and so has the study of litera· posing a monollthtc Ideology on the college ture and language. Recent changes In our curriculum. Over the past decade. many culture have Intensified these concerns In have introduced new writers and raised ways that need to be dlscussiid In a spirit new Issues tn their courses, and there Is a of mutual respeGt. The Modern Language lively debate within the field about the Association will do everything It can to proper scope and focus of literary and Ian- make the current controversy-at the mer guage studies. But this debate ls scarcely ment so acrtmonlous~frultful and genu-unprecedented; It Is an extension of the le· lnely educattonaJ. gttimate process that has always made the MARIO J. VALDES President Modern Language Association New York college curriculum ln the U.S. responsive to the changing interests or society and the changing shape of Intellectual disciplines. What is most disturbing In the attacks against the MLA and individual members ts the persistent resort to misrepresenta-tion and raise labeling. While loudly invok-ing rational debate, open discussion and responsible scholarship, these attacks dis-tort evidence and reduce complex Issues to slogans and name·c&lllng. Further, they fnll to acknowledge the many dltf1mmcea In phllosophiCal an~ other poslttons repre" sented ambng proponents for curricular change wllo, whether or not one agrees with tbem. are raising Important quesUons about culture, lan(Uage and society, Fat trom having discarded Ule estab-liihed canon, most teachers of Jiteratu~ and languare continue to teach Ute tradl· tlonal woru ot Western culture, even u a rrowtns BWDbet 1Dt.rod11te new· or .-• ' I ... , .,. nR. ?R. 91 n9:23 AM P02 

Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to the Editor 07

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Iannone, Carol: News Articles (1991): Letter to the Editor 07

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