Response to Hispanic Voices in American Literature

Why include Hispanic literature in the curriculum? Why include any varying cultural pieces?

To me, it shouldn't matter what the racial population of the classroom is, a variety of texts from a variety of authors, genres and cultural viewpoints should be taught. Isn't the point to make our students well rounded students of the world? Whether or not a student can personally relate to the races dipicted in novels is at times irrelevant. Yes, I think it is important to showcase a variety of authors from a variety of cultures, but not at the price of quality. Instead of worrying about the culture connected to a novel, choose a novel based on quality or theme. In doing this, you will most likely come up with a varied list of literature with a wide range of authors and viewpoints. It would seem that quality literaute with interesting issues and problems will be sucessful in the class. Literature does not have to be a history lesson. Sure, it can be, but in my opinion that should not be the overall goal. Literature should ignite thought and good discussion. It can be agreed and disagreed with, liked and disliked, but it should stir up some type of emotion in its readers - whether that be through a connection or disconnection.