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So far, as expected, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Robert A. Heinlein works and Ender's Game have been suggested.

But we could have one here, too...

When I was in highschool, 74-75, we had a short class on science fiction. It included hard SF, starting with Verne, soft SF starting with Wells, and romance SF starting with Burroughs. It was a good class.

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Le Guin is a great commentary on ethics, and on the utopia / dystopia tradition.

I suppose it depends on the goal of the course. "Great" or literary works. A time line of the development of the genre. From one country or many.

No matter what, there are only so many novels you can get through in a single semester, but short stories let you quickly survey a lot of material on a theme, or many different themes. That might really help keep different kids attention on the class, since they wouldn't have THAT long to wait if they didn't like something in particular.

I might even pick something like Mythago Wood that would spin off a an entire discussion of Jungian psychology.

I'd argue for a mix of "historical timeline" selections and more contemporary nominations.
For example, there are good reasons for sampling either H.G. Wells (War of the Worlds) or Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).
I'm a fan of steering first-generation readers to some Isaac Asimov (Foundation) and Arthur Clarke (short stories, or Childhood's End, or Rendezvous with Rama).
Next perhaps Larry Niven short stories and Ringworld.
More contemporary: Octavia Butler (Blood Child, Parable of the Sower, Fledgling) and Alastair Reynolds (Revelation Space).

In the absence of a stated goal, I would want to mix three elements: historical perspective, breadth across the genre (subtypes), and critical thinking about what's good. Maybe a mix of novels and short stories. In addition to Wells and Verne, I'd consider The Left Hand of Darkness, representing social-science fiction; Out of the Silent Planet (first-contact story, use of religion; it holds up surprisingly well after all these years); Dune for its emphases on ecological ideas and messianism; The Stars My Destination for reuse of an existing story (Monte Cristo). I'd also include at least one eastern-European work, maybe We, and one or two more contemporary works (maybe Old Man's War? Fool's War? a Stross?). Students would get to choose one book/story we hadn't read (with my approval) and present to the class on why it's a favorite and how it fits in with those we've studied. Etc., etc.

Why would you teach pupils about the genre using old texts? Surely it would be more appropriate to discuss the genre using modern examples. And then bring in older texts as part of a study into the history of the genre and sf's historical perspective.

As of 9:30 CT today, the discussion of the article has run to 841 comments on Slashdot.

#7 I agree. Give them books they can identify with.

As for Foundation I attempted to reread it and ended up throwing it across the room, it was so sexist. Not a good choice IMO.

I also think with novels you wouldn't actually get much coverage. Most students aren't avid SF readers (as I hope we all are). Maybe a load of short stories could illustrate more about the breadth of SF.

As for old / new. I think sometimes that a little leeway can be allowed. For example reading PKD's "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" or "The Minority Report" might be good as the kids may have seen the films. Also with short stories it would be possible to hint at some of the longitudinal changes in SF stories.

I would assume we have a self-selecting group of at least somewhat motivated or curious readers.

Can sneak in a little history with 1632 by Eric Flint

His Dark Materials, anyone?

>7, Are you saying start them off with new materials to get them interested, iansales, and then have a section of the class that covers the history of scifi (with a few examples) or have history of scifi as a completely different class? Because I feel the latter might be too much to hope for in a HS curriculum.

I agree with everyone who's been saying that short stories should be the main focus. It allows a broader view of the subject. Plus I happen to think that scifi (like horror) works very well in the short story format. I'm a little surprised no one's mentioned Gaiman--he's very popular and straddles the fantasy/scifi line well.

I also like andyl's idea about using a few stories that have been made into movies--and then have the kids discuss what changes were made, why they think they were made, and what they would have done differently.

I'm saying that anything first published last century, and especially prior to 1980, should be presented as an historical document, and not an example of what sf is. So it's no good giving them Foundation or Stranger in a Strange Land, because they're books of their time.

Do androids dream of electric sheep? is a must - androids status vs human superiority vs sub-human status; the representation of animals/electronic animals as a status symbol; ecology; migration to Mars as an escape from contaminated Earth...

Black Man (AKA Thirteen) covers similar territory, is more recent, and does a better job of it.

> 15 I'm saying that anything first published last century, and especially prior to 1980, should be presented as an historical document, and not an example of what sf is. So it's no good giving them Foundation or Stranger in a Strange Land, because they're books of their time.

I guess it depends on what the point of the class is. I assume that a high school SF class would be about introducing the genre, and/or showing how & why writers use SF by looking at the function of those things peculiar to SF -- setting, in particular, but also some of the didacticism common to science fiction. ... But if one were looking at the development and history of SF then dated works would be entirely appropriate.

I might think that was too sophisticated a concept for a high school class, but I've heard of some amazing stuff at high schools.

Introducing the genre doesn't mean making them read Ralph 124C 41+. There is plenty of contemporary sf which can introduce readers to the genre.

If you were introducing someone to thrillers, you wouldn't give them The Riddle of the Sands, would you? Or to literary fiction, you wouldn't give them Clarissa...

I suppose we're coming at this from two different viewpoints. I see the class as being more like my "British Literature" class--a survey of the history (and major themes) of one area. You see it more as a "Current Topics in SF" class to talk about how those themes are being handled now and what issues new sf might/should cover. I think they both sound like fascinating classes, and its too bad I can't enroll in one!

Oh, and last night I remembered a book I'd add: Little Brother. Of course, I'd make the kids in my class read 1984 first, but that's because I don't think you pick up on as much if you aren't familiar with the first story. (I'd probably also have them watch the ST:TNG episodes, too, but that's because I love Cpt. Picard.)

In a recent reread & discussion of "Stranger in a Strange Land" I was surprised at how badly it aged, especially for the younger crowd.

Roger Zelazny has aged very well & writes terrific short stories. Neil Gaiman wrote a wonderful introduction to This Mortal Mountain crediting Zelazny with making him want to write. He heard Zelazny say that "most of my best short stories are the last chapters of novels I'll never write." or something to that effect.

Jack of Shadows would be great for high school. Lord of Light might be too long, but Gaiman said he first read it when he was 11 & adored it. I certainly loved it as a teenager.

A 1984 / Little Brother comparison would be /really/ neat for high school kids. Very contemporary, very interesting, and a lot of them are likely to have to know Orwell for other classes and just generally... knowing stuff about our political discourse today.

I could see getting some really fantastic discussion there both about the impact of Sci Fi on society, and of society on Sci Fi, /and/ about how science fiction can exist as a conversation with itself.

Plus, I think it's a good idea to let them get their teeth into some YA sci fi, and that they'd enjoy the protagonists of Little Brother a lot.

I'd love to hear how your class ends up, by the way!

Message edited by its author, Oct 8, 2009, 4:52pm.

I would combine this class with Freshman Biology and start with the Book of Genesis.

When i was at school the only science fiction on the curriculum was day of the Triffids and The Invisible Man. 1984 was something studied in higher education. I really got into science fiction because of my english teacher Mr Downing recommending that i read Dune by Frank Herbert never looked back.

If I were teaching a class on SF, I would begin with a selection of short stories to warm them up:-) Through reading novels, I'd get them to think about how an idea is expressed through the various literary vehicles within SF (utopia, dystopian satire, the awful-warning novel, time travel, first contact...etc).

Of course, there are many different ways to approach the subject matter...

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde is a *must.*

She by H. Rider Haggard is another great one. I actually read it in a Victorian Lit class.

Both are great literary works but also strong fantasy.

-Kat.

*edit* I'll have to look up my copy of She's isbn to add it to my library, when I try to link it it gives something completely different. Here's a link to it on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/She-ebook/dp/B000J...

Message edited by its author, Nov 15, 2009, 8:25pm.

No his dark materials! I hated that when I read it in high school and I still haven't met anyone who liked it.
1984, Foundation, and Fahrenheit 451 were all on my high school reading lists and were relatively popular.
Short stories are probably best for an intro, especially since scifi is very much to taste so no one will stuck reading a whole novel they hate.
Ender's Game is also great for high school, but you might be surprised by how many students have read it already.

No his dark materials! I hated that when I read it in high school and I still haven't met anyone who liked it.
1984, Foundation, and Fahrenheit 451 were all on my high school reading lists and were relatively popular.
Short stories are probably best for an intro, especially since scifi is very much to taste so no one will stuck reading a whole novel they hate.
Ender's Game is also great for high school, but you might be surprised by how many students have read it already.

I join in disliking His Dark Materials!

I'd think you should have some Heinlien, like the Rolling Roads short story --and the wonderful and funny "The Menice from Earth" -- oh there are so many. But I would want to suggest Connie Willis -- her short stories are funny. SF can be funny as well as profound, though-proking, dark, etc. And funny brings people in. Who wrote, a story, "Bears Discover Fire" I remember that as being so good. And Ursula La Guin of course. The sad thing is, I enjoy just old-fashion space opera like the wonderful Miles Vorkosigian books, or even David Weber's. Good guys win! And how could you teach this, or would you even want to teach it? Ender's Game thus is a good suggestion.

oh what about Jasper Fford (sp?), that could bring in discussion of writing, plot, character, character growth and the limits of fiction -- wow, I'd take a class just on his books!

The content of such a course certainly does depend on your goals to start (#20), but isn't this the case with any course?

I've found that dystopian novels (1984, Fahrenheit 451, and the like) work well with teenagers. Perhaps because they always think their world is on the precipice at all times. I've used some cyberpunk (most notably Neuromancer but also Snow Crash) but had some really mixed results. Some students have trouble suspending their disbelief for these kinds of things.

I think the "Dark Materials" trilogy is far over-rated in comparison to the quality of the work.

The only thing that is really notable about the trilogy is the criticism of the Catholic Church, which I found to be too blunt and heavy-handed, and didn't really say much of note except "the Catholic Church is evil".

I really liked the Mythago Wood suggestion. And I second the thought that your content would have to depend on your aim in teaching the course.

# 7s' comment about older work being irrelevant to modern students begs the point of its absolute relevance to Sci Fi itself. Maybe if you were trying to appeal to the self centered modern youth you would have to go that path, but I think it is selling them short to do that.
I think Wells' short story The Land Ironclads would be a must for any course. You could match it with a modern "Weapons and the Man" tale like The Forever War.

Interesting to think of people dismissing decades and decades of seminal works about futurity, as "too old" to be relevant. New is better, but only when it IS better.

#31

I think if people hadn't been informed by journalists, most readers wouldn't have seen that criticism as a big thing in the works. I know I didn't see it as a strong and specific message. Sure, once I read interviews and the like, I could accept that that was his intent , but reading the book, it was so clearly not our world that I didn't bother considering it "our" catholic church.

If someone wrote a story where the Catholic church had never spawned Luther and Henry the 8th, carried on in the status quo of its days of power, it would obviously have to be critical from our point of view, right?. The western world in the story would have no freedom of religious conscience, still practice slavery, persecute infidels etc. But could that be fairly said to be a criticism of "our" catholic church?. "Ours" is really gentle and considerate compared to the thing in Henrys time.

I did read it as a condemnation of state led, or organised religion. Religion with power to coerce faith. It could as well have been any other state religion. Allegorical.

#33 That book might well be Pavane by Keith Roberts...

#33

I wouldn't pretend to be knowledgeable of Catholic theology, but even I found the obviousness of the church-bashing to be boring. And obvious.

Message edited by its author, Nov 23, 2009, 6:30am.

For me, it was frustrating to keep the Dark Materials "theology" straight, as I already know Catholic doctrine, and he twisted and redefined almost every theological term to mean the exact opposite. In the end I was disappointed because he didn't tackle the center of all Christian theology, Jesus and the cross.

#29
Bears Discover Fire was written by Terry Bisson. I was impressed by the nearly every story in the collection of the same title, Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories.

I agree that several of the short stories in the book would be fantastic as part of a course. I liked Over Flat Mountain especially.

#36

Well, I know I also am not a studied critic of Catholicism, and maybe that is why I didn't realise he had twisted the terms at all, I take it as read that you are right.

So if he didn't address its central tenant, and he didn't portray the doctrine squarely,and it existed without another Christianity to balance it , as we have Protestantism, doesn't that make it even more likely that he was using it merely as a catchall construct?, a "State Theology" for an alternate Europe, with the intent of saying state theologies are bad?.

For example, he says:
- humans have souls (that's OK)
- souls can be separated from the body (?)
- souls are mortal, but the body is not (Catholicism, influenced by Greek philosophy, says the opposite)
- a soul is a daemon (in the bible, a demon is an evil spirit)

I suspect that he wants to create enough confusion in the reader to wonder about his beliefs, and to see how ridiculous theology can be.

(Btw, many protestants would say that the whole human IS (not: has) a soul, so most of this mind game is moot.)

Message edited by its author, Nov 23, 2009, 5:41pm.

If I was teaching a high school sci-fi class (and I am currently a high schooler, albeit a nerdy one) I would start with some prototype sci-fi stories - maybe Voltaire's Micromegas. I would cover 19th and early 20th century sci-fi too, like The Last Man by Mary Shelley (first apocalyptic novel), Looking Backward 2000-1887 (since this was influential and is an example of how Socialism worked its way into sci-fi/utopian writings), and some of Verne, Wells, Burroughs, and Doyle as well as short stories like Forster's The Machine Stops and ones by authors like Jack London and Rudyard Kipling - authors that are known today for works that are not sci-fi. Then I would move to the modern science fiction novels.

Message edited by its author, Nov 25, 2009, 9:43am.