Every once in while there is
a program or project that comes across my radar that makes me brim with hope
and delight. This week it is a story in the Boston Globe with the intriguing
title, Caught in the act: Juveniles sentenced to Shakespeare by Louise Kennedy. Yes, ’tis true. Teens who have been arrested and
subjected to probation are required to act roles in Shakespeare. This
innovative program has been around for 10 years, and of course, it is situated
in the Massachusetts Berkshires, home to Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow. Such programs are novel but
not new. This American Life
showcased a story of convicted criminals with life sentences performing Hamlet.
Over 6-months a group of high security inmates were transformed. Listen to this
story – it is one of humility and humanity. (It’s worth the 99¢ download.)
The story of the troubled teens describes just how resistant these youth are. Some have very low literacy and most have bad attitudes. Rehearsals are four hours on a Friday afternoon. Yet, over time, the majority of the kids come around. Having to learn a bit part in Shakespeare for high school English often feels like punishment for the average teen, let alone tough teens. How can one utter phrases of old English that seem to go on forever? I recall having to recite Brutus for Mrs. Rhodes English class. Somehow the lines coming from a scrawny teen like myself seemed out of place – I remember not having the physicality to channel his lament. But I blustered through it.
These days, when the word “like” seems to launch many kids’ utterances the thought of Shakespeare is quite refreshing. The common chatter among some young teens I get to hang with falls along these lines: “Like, you know, she’s such a mean teacher. Like, why give us extra homework because she’s obviously having a bad day. It’s not fair.” What about, “Oh, woe is she that dares drag her apprentices through the dredge of language arts.”
While the Berkshire program doesn’t fix all the problems in these teens’ lives, the program manager quoted in the article remarked “…the beauty of the program, too, is that learning the words, and learning the meaning of the words, is something that they’ll have forever. Nothing can take it away from them, which unfortunately is not always the case in life.’’
The following day there was an editorial on the sorry state of American students' written proficiency. Kara Miller, whose teaches English to Babson College students, laments: “Why do so many students come to college without a command of the fundamentals?” (At Babson, no less.) She cites a statistic that is alarming: The National Assessment of Educational Progress found just 24% of high school seniors are proficient or better in English. What? That means 75% of the rest do not meet basic standards!
Maybe, it’s time we are all – youth and adults
alike – sentenced to Shakespeare.
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