The following essay stresses the importance of teaching literary theory to students in the secondary schools, allowing them to see the world from multiple perspectives.

Wan and gaunt, a cerulean-eyed teenage boy named Michael White shifted restlessly in his seat. His teacher, Mrs. Black, was bloviating about literature again. She was discussing The Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant. Michael wished he had a necklace so he could choke himself with it. Literature made him want to vomit. He could not understand the recondite and mystical prose that certainly did not bear any discernible relation to his life. He felt helpless, …showed first 75 words of 1261 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1261 total…There is no antidote. To preclude the baneful consequences suffered by Michael White and millions of other students, teachers must acquiesce to the foregoing didactic approaches in their entirety. To refuse to do so is to relegate students to abject failure and lifelong misery. It is as simple as Black and White. Works Cited Richter, David. Falling into Theory. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000 Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts. Addison - Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. 2001