Recently, one of my students told me that she had to write down Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics for her high school English class. It was the first time in high school that I had an English assignment with an author I didn’t know at all.
But can we even call rapper and songwriter Kendrick Lamar an author and his lyrics literature? Call me a snob, but I would argue that we can’t and shouldn’t, especially not at a level as introductory to the English literary canon as high school. High school curricula are designed to provide a broad and basic overview of the important tenets of each core knowledge area: math, science, literature, history, and language.
We teach concepts from algebra and calculus that provide a solid foundation of knowledge should a student decide to study advanced mathematics in college or graduate school. We do not replace the basic principles of algebra with shapes and colors – that would lose a student if they decided to study mathematics or another STEM subject.
So why have we replaced Shakespeare, Chaucer and Dickens with characters who are, at best, minor roles in the study of literature? Shouldn’t we be teaching students the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer, on which English literature is based, rather than introducing them to the lyrics of contemporary songwriters like Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift, whose works may belong in a different category entirely?
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As educators, the fate of tomorrow’s changemakers is in our hands, and it is our goal to raise the next generation of successful thinkers. There is no better way to teach students to think than to encourage them to engage with the complex ideas we find in established literature. We must therefore not change our intellectual standards or dismiss literature as unimportant and pretentious, especially for students who are at such a crucial stage in their intellectual development. It is our job to guide students to strive for intellectual peaks rather than leaving them in more familiar valleys.
Many high school students already consume Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift on a daily basis without the education system stepping in. In my view, using class time to analyze the lyrics of these popular artists not only prevents students from gaining new knowledge, but also encourages them to view the ephemeral music of our time—most of which I predict will be forgotten within a generation—as great literature.
At some point, we have to start distinguishing between basic literature and the musical byproducts of our contemporary culture. New York University can offer as many Taylor Swift courses as it wants, and there may be nothing wrong with studying Taylor Swift as literature—but that shouldn’t happen until students have gained a solid understanding of the literary tradition.
At the high school level, we should encourage younger generations to understand the core aspects of the humanist tradition by giving them an accurate picture of what the field of literary studies has always been: a profound exploration of the human condition through words and stories. These stories, expressed through living literary works, will in turn compel them to think critically.
Through my college consulting company, I teach writing to high school students. When I prepare students to write their college essays, I always start with literature—Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, Fitzgerald, for example—because I believe that developing strong communication skills lies in understanding the writing style and message of these great thinkers and writers.
Many of my students, who will soon be submitting applications to America’s elite educational institutions, can no longer form a coherent sentence without AI tools like ChatGPT or Grammarly. While there may be nothing wrong with using these tools as guides and coaches, this cannot come at the expense of developing good writing skills, which are the cornerstone of good communication. A generation that has lost the ability to write will also lose the ability to create meaningful social change, because great change lies in sharing ideas effectively with others.
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The students I work with are our future doctors, engineers, and lawyers, among many other professions. By watering down their high school English curricula, we as a society are collectively abandoning humanistic studies and abandoning our commitment to developing strong thinkers and visionaries. While not all teachers have replaced Shakespeare with Swift, the presence of rappers and songwriters in the English curriculum is a clear sign that we have begun to change the standards of critical thinking and no longer emphasize the value of sustained communication.
I always tell my college-bound students to challenge themselves intellectually. Instead of endlessly scrolling through Taylor Swift TikToks, why not pick up a copy of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment? When I send my students off to college each year, many of them look back and thank me for encouraging them to sit through this literary behemoth, because there is a certain indescribable satisfaction in challenging yourself to engage critically with ideas: It makes us all stronger thinkers and communicators.
And I guarantee you that any 15-year-old with the right attitude and the right guidance can understand serious literature.
As English teachers, our goal is to encourage our students to think critically so that they can become the powerful communicators of tomorrow—and we hope that in the process they will view literature not as pretentious, but as beautiful and profound.
Liza Libes founded her college counseling startup, Invictus Prep, in New York City. Her writing has appeared in the American Spectator, Kveller, Jewish Women of Words, and elsewhere.
This story about high school English was produced by The Hechinger Reporta nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Subscribe to Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.
