Ezra Chan and Jessica Lin, Center Spread and Athletics Editors
Sparknotes: every student’s best friend in the painfully familiar situation of being too overwhelmingly busy to complete the assigned reading before that big test. Created by Harvard students in 1999 and advertised as “the most helpful study guides around,” Sparknotes provides students with with character lists, context, summaries, and detailed analyses of almost every book read in the English classroom as well as a variety of other subjects.
But what do our English teachers think about the resource? Do they vehemently hate Sparknotes with a passion, like they do in the stereotypes students have created for them? It would make sense if they do—after all, many students tend to utilize Sparknotes in lieu of their assigned reading. Surprisingly, however, many of the English teachers at Mills have an overall positive attitude about their students using Sparknotes (on certain conditions, of course).
Mr. Dwyer, who teaches the courses AP Language and Composition and English II, actually encourages his students to use Sparknotes because he believes that it is an extremely useful resource to “gain background knowledge” on the novel that is being read. For many literary works, Sparknotes does include a page about the context of the novel, where students can read about the period of the time that the author was living in when they wrote the novel, emphasizing why the author might have chosen to portray a specific message to their audience through their story. For example, on the Sparknotes website page for To Kill a Mockingbird, the “Context” page details Author Nelle Harper Lee’s life as well as the Scottsboro Case. This highly publicized case has many parallels with the trial that Lee paints in her novel, and the young narrator’s thoughts most likely reflect the thoughts of Lee towards the Scottsboro Case as she was just five years old when the nine African American men were sentenced to death. Learning about the context of the story may help students to put the story into perspective, therefore making it easier to comprehend as well. However, Mr. Dwyer also emphasizes the fact that Sparknotes should not be used as a source for research-based assignments, and Ms. Price (CP English IV, AS English II) concurs, mentioning that she has “also found a lot of mistakes” in certain online resources, cautioning students to always check their facts.
Ms. Alberta, who teaches the courses AP Language and Composition and CP English IV, comments that Sparknotes can be “…appropriate at times, but I don’t think they should replace the reading.” This is a fair statement that many teachers would agree with, including Ms. Petersen, who teaches English II and CP English III. Her opinion of Sparknotes is that it is “very beneficial after you’ve read [the book]”, as students who are substituting Sparknotes for the content of the book itself are also “denying themselves quality education.”
There are many details that the summaries provided by Sparknotes do not cover, that are also points teachers may find important and quiz students on. Some of the recently graduated Mills alumni fondly recollect memories of their utter panic during an English quiz on information that Sparknotes did not tell them the night before. They advise students to heed the opinion of teachers and only peek at Sparknotes after reading in order to not miss small but significant details, but still understand the novel’s major themes. Mr. Hensley, advisor of The Thunderbolt and English I teacher, further expands on the thought, analytically articulating that “as the title [of Sparknotes] suggests, it can spark a deeper understanding that might not ever occur otherwise. For example when it talks about a certain theme and kids read about it in Sparknotes first, it helps them to better trace the theme as they go through the novel.”
All in all, Ms. Leung, who teaches AP Literature and CP English III, summarizes with a quote that most teachers would, with no doubt, agree wholeheartedly with: “I believe students have more capability than they give themselves credit for.” Remember, Sparknotes is a helpful resource and a great tool, but should never be a replacement for the actual book.
