# Should Lord of the Rings be studied in school?



## Arthur_Vandelay

Should _Lord of the Rings_ (or any other of Tolkien's works) be studied in English/Literature courses in high school or in the academies?

I know that it is studied at various campuses in the US, so I'm also interested in learning if you have studied it in high school or college/university--and if so, how was it taught/approached.

Have you taught or lectured upon LOTR (or any other of Tolkien's works) yourself?


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## HLGStrider

It was a willing read for me, and truthfully, I'm skeptical of making a book an assignment as a way to read it with enjoyment. For one thing you have to answer stupid questions about it at the end of the reading. For another it takes all the joy out of it if you have to do it. 

However, if you want to assign it, it is a good book to assign. It is well written and has a lot of good ethical questions.


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## Barliman Butterbur

Arthur_Vandelay said:


> Should _Lord of the Rings_ (or any other of Tolkien's works) be studied in English/Literature courses in high school or in the academies?
> 
> I know that it is studied at various campuses in the US, so I'm also interested in learning if you have studied it in high school or college/university--and if so, how was it taught/approached.
> 
> Have you taught or lectured upon LOTR (or any other of Tolkien's works) yourself?



In any other English-speaking country, it would be a great addition to the study list. In America, I'd say that The Hobbit is good for middle and high schools, and LOTR should start for the gifted classes in high school. It's language style is very complex and even turgid in spots. It needs repeated readings.

I didn't get to it until college, but that's because it was only first released in America in the 60s, and the college kids were all reading it voluntarily — including me. I'm not sure if it was taught in those days or not — I rather doubt it, since everyone had a copy in their back pocket or their book stack anyway. (We didn't have book bags in those days, we were all adroit at carrying huge stacks of books that rested on our hip.)

Barley


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## 33Peregrin

I would say yes. A lot of people don't read the books because they think they can just watch the movie. And with the movie, I think a lot more people would be interested in reading it, even for school.
But I think that Barley is right and only honors English classes should try LOTR. Even in my IB Honors English Class, there are many people I wuold doubt could read it if they tried. But I think The Hobbit is an excellent choice for everyone.


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## Thorin

Absolutely it should be studied in school. I am trying to convince my wife who teaches English to put it in her classes. She hasn't read it before and only recently picked it up (because I told her she can't watch the movies until she does) and still has to read RoTK. She does see merit in teaching them as well.

I would have to disagree with Elgee on LoTR seeming like homework. The movies have sparked so much curiosity that many students from grades 6-12 have been reading the books like mad (at least in my school). I have kids in grade 9 and 10 coming to me with all types of deep questions. A few of my students were reading the Silmarillion and I had a pretty good talk about the different races of elves and Ainur with some of them.

Kids are looking for more deeper and thought provoking literature that is fun and exciting as well. Teaching the deeper points from an English Lit perspective might be just what some of these kids need.

Heck, I teach French and Music and I end up having big discussions on Tolkien!


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## Lord Sauron

At my school the 8th graders two years ago read the fellowship of the rings for english. I agree it should but then you got people who don't like it and people who are not christians that have heard it is christian base might not like their kids studing it.


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## greypilgrim

There is absolutely no reason to be having the LoTR books taught or studied or anything in any high school anywhere. A student can do a book report on Tolkien, but that's about it (IMO).

A "creative writing" class, I'd say yes. Tolkien would be a great source of knowledge/inspiration to be used there but no-where else...(IMO).


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## Fredegar

It'd probably destroy your enjoyment of it though, having to study it and write essays and stuff. I was reading an article at work today about this new journal "Tolkien Studies" and how the guys behind it were struggling to be taken seriously in academe and make sure it wasn't confused with fanzines and suchlike. Forcing LOTR to conform with academic conventions seems totally against the spirit of it to me - that sort of stuff should be left for Milton or whoever.


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## Rangerdave

One of the considerstions of teaching The Lord of the Rings that must be first and foremost in the educators mind is the length of the material.

Granted, Tolkien's work can be sucessfully taught in a single semister, but only if they are taught exclusively. I for one would much rather see literature courses expose the student to a wide range of genres and writing styles. Leave the detailed analysis to upper lever college students (sophomore and junior prefered)
Any lower level of High Scool level course that includes Tolkien will undoubtedly be what is known in the US as a survey level course where students are introduced to the work without the benifit of any actual analysis or insight. While this may or may not convince the student to continue his or her investigation into the work, it can hardly be considered any form of actual scholarship.

Of course my views on literature differ wildly from the academic norm. I feel that teachers and professors who make their students read Shakespeare are doing a great disservice to their charges. Plays should be seen and heard, and generally not read.

Just as a side note, you might want to view the class syllabus for my old Alma Mater's (Rice University) course on Tolkien's work
Click Here


RD


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## Garwen

I think that it would be a very good topic in several corses.
A few years after I had graduated from college, the philosiphy department offered a Tolkien class. I am sorry that I couldn't have taken it. Also some would say that a spelling class would have been a good class for me too.


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## Arthur_Vandelay

Rangerdave raises the very good practical consideration of the book's length: although I'm certain this hasn't prevented the teaching of _War and Peace_ or _Ulysses_. Nonetheless, given the length of _Lord of the Rings_ (which for many would be a much easier read than either Tolstoy's or Joyce's works), it is probably more suitable for college courses--where students are expected to cope with much larger workloads than they would in high school. 



> Forcing LOTR to conform with academic conventions seems totally against the spirit of it to me - that sort of stuff should be left for Milton or whoever.



I don't know if it's such a bad thing that Tolkien is being taken seriously enough in academe for a journal to be devoted to his works. For one thing, it's yet another sign that the old high culture-versus-mass culture snobbery no longer holds sway in university English departments (and in fact has not done so for a very long time in many English departments anyway). Of course, I haven't seen the journal in question, and it may very well perpetuate the high art/low art dichotomy simply by re-classifying Tolkien as "high art". 

IMHO, there hasn't been _enough_ scholarship on Tolkien's works--then again, nobody's arguing that such scholarship should be restricted to academic journals.


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## HLGStrider

All I know is the moment my mother (I was homeschooled) assigned me a book, I began to grind my teeth. For awhile there she purchased these unit studies on books and you were required to read the chapter(s) for the day then answer the questions at the end. . .and it slowed me down, for starters, and sometimes asked questions I simply didn't want to take the time to answer. If I didn't like the book, I didn't care. If I liked the book I wanted to _read_ it, not analyze it. . .and read it as fast as I could! 


So she gave up on the unit studies and after that simply told me to write a character sketch every other day or so for it rather than have me answer questions. . .that worked a lot better, but why oh why did she do it for _David Copperfield_?


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## Gothmog

Fredegar said:


> *Forcing LOTR to conform with academic conventions* seems totally against the spirit of it to me - that sort of stuff should be left for Milton or whoever.


It seems to me that LotR cannot be Forced to conform (look at the arguments over the films  ). However, it may well work the other way and cause "Academic Conventions" to conform somewhat to the 'real world' of *Readers* of books.


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## greypilgrim

You can't talk about elves and wizards in school. Plus, some people relate LoTR to the Bible (or so I have heard)...so that could cause some controversy too.


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## Fredegar

Re: "Tolkien Studies"

According to the article I read, the guys setting up this magazine are going out of their way to differentiate it from fanzines and the like as this is the only way they are ever going to get respect in academe. The author of the article said that he came across one contribution "that only a philologist could love". All I am saying is, if I was an a lecturer in English with a passion for Tolkien, I would probably try to keep it separate from my work because writing that type of article would make reading Tolkien a chore for me. If I was writing something, I would prefer to do it for a Web site like this, where you are free to express your personal feelings.


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## Beleg

I will never advocate the teaching of _Lord of the Rings_ in any school. HLGStrider and Fredegar underline some of the reasons as to why I think that. 

I know that If I were 'forced' to write essays and criticize and do all sorts of crazy things, I'd never have enjoyed the book as much as I did, I'd probably have hated it. 

I wouldn't want it to become another 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.


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## e.Blackstar

I certainly think that teachers should put LOTR on a "excellent personal reading list", and recommend it, but I wouldn't want it to become one of those classics that we have to trudge through.


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## Arthur_Vandelay

I always enjoyed English and Lit. classes in high school, so the prospect of having to "trudge through" this or that novel/play never bothered me. Some of the texts I studied I actually enjoyed thoroughly: _Great Expectations_, _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_, _Macbeth_, _I Am the Cheese_, _Z for Zachariah_ (remember those?), "Tintern Abbey," "Ode to a Nightingale" . . . 

I suppose, however, the advantage of those texts (over LOTR) is that they can be processed relatively quickly.


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## Durins Bane

Well we just started reading Beowulf this past week in my senior english class in highschool. It seems pretty good. But back to the subject. I think most of my classmates would like it, most of them like the movies and they wouldn't mind reading it compared to other things we're used to reading...

And I personally would love to get some easy A's on tests.


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## Durins Bane

err double post...


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## Astaldo

It would be perfect if "The Lord of the Rings" was teched in schools. Easy A's as Durins Bane said.


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