INTRODUCTION
The heart of the Boston Latin Academy English curriculum beats in the classics of literature, those works of perennial value and artistry which transcend and unite all ages, places and peoples. Even our youngest students read Shakespeare; all study Sophocles, Dickens, Hardy, Hurston, Miller and Wright, as well as other novelists, playwrights, and poets.
Typically, high school English literature is the students’ first serious introduction to the Humanities and the vision of human experience which they express, rooted ultimately in reverence for every human individual: his freedom, his worth, his experience, and his tragedy. In classical literature the characters are not only tolerate but welcome diversity, inhabit the same planet, breathe the same air, struggle against injustice, and often are their brother’s keepers. Surface differences among students diminish when they can all pity King Lear, grieve with Heathcliff, share Richard Wright’s anger, or face Sidney Carton’s moral dilemma. Achilles, Hester Prynne, Willy Lomar, Hamlet, and the student in the third row can all be tragic heroes.
Since it is our goal to teach students to think, it is our obligation to give them something to think about. Literature is the foundation of our educational philosophy. Students then develop the skills to write about the literature. These writing skills depend upon thoughts and ideas they feel compelled to express. When we achieve our goals, students have the means and the spirit to live more fully human lives.