Which Stories Should Your Kids Avoid?

There’s been a recent push in public education towards not only dismissing great works of literature from the curriculum but instead offering students studies in “digital media” and “popular culture.” Since students spend so much time online, the reasoning goes, education should meet them where they’re at to promote “learning practices that increase the relevance of school to society.” [1]

In his book An Experiment in Criticism, Lewis explained that the worst types of readers are those who only ever see themselves reflected in what they read. He called it “mirroring.” Mirroring means that every time we read a book (whether we disagree or agree with it), we only hear our own opinions. Every new thing we hear only reinforces what we already knew all along. 

Lewis says that this type of “learning” is not only restrictive but keeps our minds petty, small, tribal, and childish. How much worse is it if a child can’t even read anything outside of their experience? Lewis would say that that is the very opposite of education.

But it's particularly disheartening because children, in particular, are desperately craving stories—narratives that transport them beyond their own experiences. Why? 

• Narrative plays a crucial role in helping children make sense of the world around them. Stories provide a framework for understanding and navigating what often appears chaotic.

• Stories have a unique power to encourage children to empathize with perspectives different from their own in a way that nothing else can. By immersing themselves in narratives, children can experience life through different eyes. This process not only cultivates empathy but also enriches their understanding and broadens their worldview.

• Stories teach kids how to encounter and battle troubles, trials, dragons, and monsters of every kind. 

• Stories teach kids right and wrong. Didactic or reductionist teaching cannot do this. “Don’t steal,” “Don’t lie,” and "Don’t cheat" have no meaning or context outside of a story; justice, honor, and courage are only vapid, vague, thin, and bossy concepts.

But not all stories are, therefore, good. Again, those stories that only reinforce what they already think or those stories that only point them back to themselves are just as harmful as good stories are enriching.

1. https://ncte.org/statement/media_education/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email