"Teaching Emotional Literacy"

In Jerome Bump's essay he argues that there needs to be some kind of emotional education to go along with what we learn in college. And I have to agree with him. Bump points out that the more education he received the further his emotions got from him, and I think this relates very well to what we have been reading in other chapters where logic always seems to take precedent over emotions. I think this is what we have been taught through social interactions as well as in our education.

Bump argues that students are not taught how to respond to literature in an emotional way, instead they are expected to respond simply to the text and how it relates to life or society. Students are not expected to allow their emotions to be part of a class discussion, and often students are shunned when they do share their personal feelings.

Bump points out that when emotional feelings that are inspired by literature is pushed aside, the opportunity to discuss these emotions is lost. Without the opportunity to explain and explore these feelings that come up, students are often given the short end of the stick and are encouraged to push away their feelings.

I thought this was an interesting chapter and showed a different side of education. I think talking about emotions in the classroom is very important and we definitely don't see enough of it. I think its interesting that when we do, those students are seen as teacher's pets or inferior to the rest of the class because they weren't able to keep their feelings to themselves. I wonder what a classroom would look like it this wasn't the case and students who didn't share their emotions were seen as the ones struggling.