Why Reading Lists are all 1970

Julia Steiny wrote “Classic Lit No Longer Fit for Children” in 2003

Ravitch writes, “When I asked why so few reading passages were drawn from classic children’s literature, the publisher explained that it was a well-accepted principle in educational publishing that everything written before 1970 was rife with racism and sexism. Only stories written after that date, he said, were likely to have acceptable language and appropriate multicultural sensitivity.”

As if. As if the 1970s were a golden age of English literature and the 19th century were not. We are all trying to be culturally sensitive, but where oh where did we get the idea that we would slam the door on our illustrious heritage to do so?

This is why so many reading lists out on the internet are not useful. They skip the classics and give a skewed view of literature.