If I lived in Ohio and paid taxes to support public education, and more specifically to support the education of Ohio State students, I would be pretty angry this afternoon.
In an Honors Intro to Fiction English class at an institution for higher learning, one would expect to find the works of literary greats like Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf. At Ohio State the four pieces of literature that are required reading for students include: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Bram Stoker's Dracula, short stories by Henry James... and Stephanie Meyer's Twilight.
Though there are valid reasons for students to explore contemporary works of fiction, Twilight is a young adult book where vampires sparkle, and a telepathic fetus rips through its mother's womb then falls in love with a 16 year old werewolf.
Just to compare, here's a quote from Twilight: "I hear voices in my mind and you’re worried that you’re the freak."
Here's a quote from Stoker's Dracula: "The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness."
Again, Twilight: "I’m really glad Edward didn’t kill you. Everything’s so much more fun with you around."
And, Dracula: "I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body."
