Dante's Inferno

I agree Johnv and TexasSky. If the parent finds fault with any of the accepted classic literature their child is required to read, said parent should discuss this with the child at home. We are talking about teenagers here, not elementary school children. It is up to the parent to supplement a child's education, but a school cannot bend to every whim or flight of fancy of a parent. To do so would not only be unrealistic, but quite frankly stupid.

 

Or on the other hand, there are far too many parents out there who are not dangerous and stupid, etc. to make blanket statements like the school should NOT exist to support the parent.
The private Christian school my kids attended DID read classic literature, and I thought it was fine. But I looked over what they read and discussed things with them. That school does take the view that it is there to support the parent. The teachers are always ready to provide alternatives for true concerns.

Karen

 

Okay, Murph, perhaps stupid is not the correect term. Intellectually challenged might be a bit more accurate . Seriously, though. There's a huge difference between taking concerns of parents into consideration, and yielding to the will of the parents. Just because the parent doesn't get what he wants doesn't mean his concerns aren't taken into account. Parents who are "anti-Dante" will likely believe that, if the school doesn't stop using Dante's works in literature class, that the school hasn't taken their concerns into consideration.

I once knew a parents who was upset that so many of her daughter's math problems had the numbers "69" (a sexual reference) and "666" (an evil reference) in them. She was upset that the school wasn't "doing more" to eliminate the occurrence of those numbers in math problems. This parent was, quite honestly, a self-centered egomaniac. TS might rightly call her intellectually challenged.

So the legitimate question is: Where does one draw the line? IMO, the line is drawn where doctrine is taught. I don't know of a single Literature class that teached Dante as religious doctrine, so imo, the doctrinal concerns are as meritless to the topic as the doctrinal concerns of "666" in math class problems.

 

Her concern came with the teachers promotion of dante's views on the afterlife as well as his claims to have witnessed these things.

First, how exactly is the teacher promoting the views of Dante? Secondly, I would have a problem with the teacher claiming that Dante witnessed the afterlife because she obviously does not know the meaning of an allegory. The character of Dante is not Dante himself, but a symbolic figurehead, just as the character of Thomas More in Utopia is not really St. Thomas More.

She was concerned partly because the teacher was demanding that they learn dante's claims and digest his anti biblical views such as the layers of hell and who goes there as well as his catholic leanings in his claims of interaction with Mary.

Why else would they read the book. Isn't the point to learn about it?

I became concerned when I discovered that the teacher had previously studied the New Testament but made it abundantly clear that the class could not study the claims of the biblical writers concerning spiritual things nor could they treat the material as if it was real.

OK, we are talking about a public school here. The difference is that the NT is used to educate spiritually and is considered "truth", by Christians. Dante's Divine Comedy is a work of fiction and is not used to promote spiritual doctrine today.

happy to study and focus on dante's beliefs

In order to really understand Dante it is prudent to understand his life and his beliefs. The political climate of his life and the philosophy he studied had a profound impact on his work. I wish that the NT authors could be studied in more detail, but it is a public school, not the church. In this day and age, whether you like it or not, it is up to parents to teach religion to their children, not the school. Frankly, I would be a little hesitant for my child to learn about religious doctrine in a public school.

I also feel it is important for parents to know not only what is being taught but also teh emphasis the teacher is placing on the material.

I am still not clear on what emphasis the teacher was actually placing on the material.

 

im reading dante's inferno and i feel that with all those paganism and catholicism mixture of doctrine underlies dantes tru intention:to get even to his enemies(political and religious) even just in his poetry.

 

Murph,

I understand your point, but I still do not understand how the teacher is promoting any doctrinal stance. IMO, the Inferno cannot be taught without teaching the levels of hell and who goes there, etc., without these there is nothing left to teach.

 

Murph,

Is the teacher claiming that Dante's layers of hell are real, or is she just teaching what the layers are? The Divine comedy is a work of fiction centuries old, from the Middle Ages no less. I guess I have a hard time believing that teenagers, or anyone, would treat Dante as doctrinal fact.

I agree that Dante espouses flawed doctrinal views, but that does not lessen his work, IMO. I enjoy it for what it is worth, an esteemed work of classic literature. IMO, Dante is about as dangerous, in influencing doctrinal beliefs, as the philosophy of Parmenides. By highschool teens already has some sort of doctrinal foundation, whether is be Catholic, Baptist, or even atheist. Reading Dante may affirm views they already hold to be true, but I sincerely doubt it would cause a teen to change their entire belief system.

 

Loved the way that the punishments fit the crimes in that classic. I couldn't have thought of better punishments myself, though I would have given Judas Iscariot a worse punishment for betraying Christ than Brutus and Cassius who betrayed Julius Ceasar. It's hard, though, to think of one worse than being chewed in the mouth of Satan for all eternity.

Maybe fire?

 

I have never in my life read the book and hold a BA and an MSE from college. Apparently, this was not a pre-requisite for success in college in my case as recent as 1995 and 2001.

Joseph Botwinick

 

Dante is classic literature, and suitable for study of classic literature in high school, imo. I read Dante in HS, and I went to a private HS. Unrelated, but of interest: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was required reading my my daughter's English Lit class. She attended public high school. </font>[/QUOTE]That was required reading when I was in 8th grade.

Joseph Botwinick

 

I have never read the book, but in searching Google, you can find that it is required in a lot of humanities classes in different colleges.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Dante%27s+Inferno+class+assignment&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=lang_en&newwindow=1&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial

Also, if you search further within Google, you can find that a lot of High Schools do require it in a lot of their AP classes.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&newwindow=1&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=Dante%27s+Inferno+class+assignment+high+school&btnG=Search

So, in some classes it would be required, but I have to agree with Joseph, in all my schooling I haven't been required to read it.

Jamie

 

Murph,

I attended the University of Kentucky, and I have a degree in Poly Sci and Philosophy. Dante was required reading in 6 of my classes.

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• PHI 100- Intro PHI Knowledge/ Reality</font>

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• ENG 102- Writing II: Ways of Reading</font>

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• ENG 261- Western Lit Greeks-Renaissance</font>

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• PS 235- World Politics</font>

</font>

• PHI 260- Greek Beginnings to the Middle Ages</font>

</font>

• PHI 310- PHI of Human Nature</font>

I graduated in 2002. I understand that every university is different, as are different fields of study; however, it is not unreasonable to conclude that your child may be required to read Dante in college.

 

Some links to various highschool reading requirements:

http://www.littletonps.org/summer_reading_list.htm

This is a 9th grade reading list, the summer reading list shows Dante as a requirement.

http://www.nassaulibrary.org/baldwin/summerlist/eleventhgradehonors.htm

11th grade honors program required list.

http://www.centennialsd.org/SchoolPages/Tennent/departments/english.htm

The advanced studies in oral tradition class for high school students.

http://www.tamora-pierce.com/recbooks/homeschool.htm

This is a home schooling suggested reading list, showing "The Divine Comedy" under poetry.

http://www.millbury.k12.ma.us/hs/readingindex.html

Here it shows up as one of the books to choose from in a list of "you must read so many of these books".

JamieinNH had already posted a link showing Dante as required reading in some highschool AP courses. TS was not wrong in her statement concerning Dante being required in highschool. Does this mean that all highschoolers will be required to read Dante? No, of course not, but it is common practice for highschoolers to read Dante, and no one should be surprised if their child is required to do so. I had the option of reading Dante in highschool my junior and senior year, but I chose to read Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy, and The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoevesky, instead.

BTW, you never answered my previous post (the very first post on this page). Was the teacher claiming Dante's layers of hell are real, or is she only teaching what the layers are?

 

Yeah, wouldn't that make all the difference? Unless she is saying it's real then it should be fine I would think.