The high-school English teacher
will be fulfilling his responsibility
if he furnished the student a guided opportunity,
through the best writing in the past,
to come, in time,
to an understanding of the best writing of the present…
will be fulfilling his responsibility
if he furnished the student a guided opportunity,
through the best writing in the past,
to come, in time,
to an understanding of the best writing of the present…
And if the student finds that this is not to his taste?
Well, that is regrettable. Most regrettable.
His taste should not be consulted; it is being formed.
~ Flannery O’Connor in Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
