> Our curriculum is steeped in white supremacy, class and gender bias, and many other blind spots created by societal norms. [..] Add the fact that formal educa

> Our curriculum is steeped in white supremacy, class and gender bias, and many other blind spots created by societal norms. [..] Add the fact that formal education was largely designed to appeal to the sons of the aspiring Victorian upper middle classes and it’s no wonder that there is a leaning towards a particular kind of “classic”. Ah yes, works blind to the realities of a class society, such as Charles Dickens' books, who left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison, or works blind to gender bias, such as written by Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. That someone who "spent 15 years teaching English literature" just happened to omit these authors (or painted Orwell as someone whose work appeals specifically to the upper class) is not exactly a sign of honesty. > It’s no accident that white straight men dominate the canon because people with those identities have historically enjoyed privileges denied to others. Would anyone care to guess who dominates the Chinese literary canon? Do you think they also feel guilty for learning primarily about their own culture?