Watching Death of a Salesman

The worksheet’s main purpose was to verify that the kids actually read it, to show that they could identify the correct make and model of the car that made its appearance in Act II. I’m sure a worksheet might capture valuable individual notes, ephemeral details, and vocabulary.

No worksheet could capture whether that play conveyed actual human meaning to these young people. “I told you that I hate that class,” my daughter told me. Who can blame her? I’ll bet similar mediocre experiences are being replicated across thousands of classrooms across America.

We’re living through tough economic times here in the southland of Chicago. Foreclosures and layoffs have brought financial disappointment, thwarted upward mobility, and everyday struggles for economic dignity that bear unmistakable resemblances to Willy Loman’s plight. Death of a Salesman might have provided an opportunity to communicate through literature what all too many of the families represented in that classroom are now going through.

This was an opportunity squandered. Attention should have been paid.

-Harold Pollock, The Incidental Economist

This is a heartfelt essay posted by Harold Pollock on his blog, The Incidental Economist. Read it, not to agree or disagree, but just to contemplate. The comments following are pretty thoughtful, too.

Read here.