Using Science Fiction To Help Turn Kids on to Reading... And the Future!© 2001 by David Brinused with permissionConsider the ages from twelve to fifteen, when a person's sense of wonder can bloom or else wither, starved by ennui or seared by fashionable cynicism. Often it's some small thing that can make a difference. An inspiring teacher or role model. A team effort or memorable adventure. Sometimes even the right book or film can ignite a fire that lasts a lifetime -- you never know. For many of us, it was futuristic or speculative literature that helped cast our minds far beyond family, city, or oppressive peers... not to mention the limitations that others seemed bent on imposing, shackling our dreams. Whether in stories that spanned outer space, or adventures in cyberspace, or thoughtful ruminations about the mental life of dolphins, we discovered that the universe is larger than the local Mall. Both more dangerous and more filled with possibilities. Once the sole province of nerdy young men, science fiction has become a central pert of our culture's myth making engine, now engaging girls, women, and adults of all ages. Yet the breadth of SF and its ultimate importance can be difficult for a non-aficionado to grasp. After all, isn't it all just spaceships, lasers and all that childish stuff? Well, no it isn't. As with any branch of human storytelling, science fiction has a spectrum of quality and depth, ranging from shallow Star Wars romps to the dark, serious explorations of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Mary Shelley. A key element is fascination with change and how human beings respond when challenged by it. In other words, there is no genre more relevant to this rapidly transforming world we live in, where citizens are called upon to contemplate issues that would have boggled their grandparents. Environmental degradation, the extinction and creation of new species, cloning, artificial intelligence, instant access to all archived knowledge and the looming prospect a generation - perhaps the very next one - that may have to wrestle with the implications of physical immortality. Heady stuff! And you'd never imagine that any of it was under serious contemplation, if your idea of "sci-fi" came from shoddy movies! But these and a myriad other subjects are probed at the literary end of science fiction. In fact, some of the kids in your classrooms are wrestling with concepts at the very cutting edge -- imbedded in tales they devour between colorful paper covers. Books that explore the edges of tolerance, like those of Octavia Butler and Alice Sheldon. Books that ponder biological destiny, penned by Greg Bear and Joan Slonczewski, or the physical sciences, by Robert Forward and Gregory Benford. Books designed by Julie Czerneda and Hal Clement to revolve around teaching themes. And those by Heinlein, Clarke and Bradbury, that instruct almost invisibly, because the authors were teachers at heart. Shouldn't you be aware of this? Moreover, if high-end science fiction provokes wonder, thought and a sense of vigorous involvement with the world, can it be worth adding your arsenal of tricks and tools, ready to offer that hard-to-reach kid? Especially as an alternative to the violent fare in video games and the wretched pabulum that is on TV? What can be more relevant to bright teens, in their rapid-pulsed flux, than a literature that explores ideas and the possible consequences of change? I can't offer a tutorial on high-quality SF in this short space. So let's do the next best thing -- offer a short list of ways to help teachers, librarians and others bridge the gap between the simpleminded sci-fi images that are so popular in movies these days, and the real literary Science Fiction, where ideas flow and readers engage in truly exploratory adventures of the mind.
A new effort has begun, aimed at creating online resources for teachers wanting to bring good science fiction into their classrooms, as a way to excite topic-specific interest among students. Some use classic SF stories and novels to illustrate topics that are already in a teacher's official study program. A teacher in Barstow, California created a good example, using my novel, The Postman, http://postman.cosmic.org to elicit class discussions on issues in both literature and civics. Other teachers use stories to illustrate points in physics, chemistry, history, etc. When their materials - study guides and question sets – are distributed on the Web, they become a permanent help to teachers everywhere. To encourage this new kind of shared teaching resource, I have begun offering a $1,000 annual prize -- in conjunction with Analog Magazine -- http://www.analogsf.com/wow for the best new web site that uses science fiction to help with a teaching curriculum. It has a huge resource list. Here are just a few examples of items listed there. Julie H. Czerneda's book, No Limits: Developing Scientific Literacy Using Science Fiction, a resource to help teachers combine great stories with science curricula. http://www.trifoliumbooks.com/ The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts: http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/iafa/iafa.home.html Science Fiction Research Association: http://www.sfra.org/ Science Fiction in the Classroom: www.uni-bielefeld.de/~tslucht/sf-index.html Science Fiction Foundation Collection: www.liv.ac.uk/~asawyer/sffchome.html Lesson plans relating to SF: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/guides_index.html Finally, there is the issue of what today's science fiction fan community might do to help. Fans are a special breed -- millions strong -- who maintain a belief that the future is a place that can be explored with brave adventures of the mind -- adventures that may even help us avoid errors, the way George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and others gave warnings that helped divert us from dangerous paths. The rest of this note is addressed to these aficionados of strong literary science fiction: We've all heard about declining literacy in America. Sherry Gotleib tells that when she first opened the Change of Hobbit bookstore, in L.A., it thronged when the local junior high let out. Over time, these customers stayed loyal... but weren't replaced. In the store's final years, Sherry's average customer was gray-flecked or balding, and the few teens who showed up focused on media or comics. (1) Who will keep fandom going, and run the cons later, when we all want to kick back and be Big Name Fans? (2) If the readership declines, your favorite authors might have to get day jobs. Polls show an aging of the SF readership. Science fiction themes are popular -- in films, comix and games -- but the genre's literary heart faces demographic collapse. Worst of all, countless kids forget how to say the most beautiful word in any language -- "Wow!" That is where it all finally comes around. No altruism is more effective than the kind that begins at home. Each of us lives near some school where bright kids now languish -- bored, bullied, or unmotivated. Who among us can't recall facing the same crisis once, in our own lives? For many, it was science fiction that helped us turn the corner. Science fiction welcomed us home. As a community of science fiction fans and professionals, shouldn't we make it our chief socially responsible activity to help expose another generation to a love of 'the good stuff?' For the last years, ever since Greg Benford, Greg Bear and I first made this proposal, a number of SF oriented clubs and fan groups have focused their con-auctions, fund-raisers and charity drives toward raising helping SF literacy in their own communities. In many cases this meant "adopting" a local junior high school English teacher and/or librarian, finding out their needs and doing some of the following: There is self-interest here. Authors who give talks often acquire new fans. Local conventions that sponsor a SF club may soon have new con-com members. If your charity auction sends $500 to the "Special Wish Fund," you'll get a thank-you note; but hand the same amount over to a stunned librarian and the photo will make your local paper! Some committees, such as the Baltimore-based Worldcon, have organized nationwide contests for SF-related stories, essays and artwork created by teens across North America, with awards and prizes to be presented at their convention.... and now, Junior Memberships in the Science Fiction Writers of America! Others -- in the Northeast especially -- have followed suit. But we've only just begun. One thing local conventions can do: Most fan organizations have in their charters a major provision for "outreach and education." Yet, this seldom gets priority. Here is a relatively painless approach, already tried with success at several conventions, offering a win-win situation for all. The Saturday morning SF-education mini-conference. It starts by simply gathering all the routine "SF/youth/education" panels into a cohesive group, then making a real effort to invite area teachers and librarians to attend that part of the con for free. (With reasonable upgrades for those wanting to stay.) Some teachers can then be recruited to help adjust next year's program to their needs. In a year or two, the mini-conference can be granting credential credit with momentum all its own. Moreover, it can be a money-maker for the convention, as attendees convert their free half-day memberships and tell their friends! Later, corporate sponsorships become a real possibility. With teachers and librarians aboard, you can generate great projects that involve kids in creative ways, for example by running a science fiction reading/writing/art contest in area schools, involving several grade levels, culminating in a grand awards ceremony at the local con. (With reasonable con memberships available to the winners, their parents, friends....) This kind of thing has worked already! At Worldcon in Baltimore, Chicago and, now, Philadelphia and every year in Salt Lake City. Experienced fan groups stand ready to help, through the Reading for the Future network. If nothing else, running a focused "SF & Education Miniconference" surebeats scattering the usual youth-and education related panels all over the weekend. It seems worthwhile to focus some effort on the future, since that's what SF is all about. So there it is. A general outline of some efforts that are currently underway, to use the most American form of literature -- Science Fiction -- in the cause of helping kids learn. So far, it is only a rough outline, with some sincere efforts being made along the way. This letter is not so much a prescription as a call for people to think about possibilities... how the literature that is most about foresight and hope can somehow influence both young people and society at large to do the one thing that separates humans from all other creatures of Earth, Sky or Sea... Think ahead.... With respect, David Brin March 2001 |