Patricia M. Kirtley and William M. Kirtley
Throndyke, a pioneer in educational research at Columbia Teachers College,
who determined the grade level for Superman #11 (1940) at 6.6 and Batman
#8 (1940) at 5.9. He published his results in an article, “Words and Comics”
(1941), that appeared in the prestigious Journal of Experimental Education in
which he concludes that comic books are of “real value” in teaching children to
read (112). Subsequently, he co-authored a language arts workbook featuring
Superman.
Those who saw little value in comic books found an advocate in
Fredric Wertham, a well-known psychiatrist. In his 1953 work, Seduction of
the Innocent, he argues, “Comic books with their words and expletives in
balloons are bad for reading” (10). In the course of interviewing delinquent
youths, Wertham found that they all read comic books. He concluded this is
what caused their dysfunctional behavior. Wertham gained publicity when he
presented his erroneous conclusions to a Senate sub-committee hearing on
juvenile delinquency. Subsequently, he serialized them in the 1950s' arbiter of
taste, The Ladies’ Home Journal.
Comic Books and Education
The debate over comic books turned to their use in schools to teach
reading. In 1944, Sidonie Gruenberg, a noted child development expert, saw
comic books as a force for good, with multiple applications in education. Yang
recalls that Nebraska Principal Lucile Rosencrans disagreed, calling comic
books a “stumbling block” to learning (1).
Emma Swain, a reading diagnostician, in her 1978 article “Using Comic
Books to Teach Reading and Language Arts,” notes that “teachers and parents
have criticized comic books for years” (1). Swain conducted a survey of 169
students in grades 4 through 12 and found that good students read more
comic books than poor students. She pointed out the tremendous popularity
of comics. Retailers sold 20 million comic books a month in 1977 (1). She
concludes that the demand for comics is an indication of their potential for
teaching children reading. She recommends that every classroom have a box
of comics for students to read.
Author Jennifer Haines, in her 2004 article, “Why Teach with Comics,” argues
that comic books generally require high reading levels. She insists that it is
a grievous mistake to dismiss reading material that is “challenging to read,
thoughtful and insightful, and age appropriate,” simply because it is a comic
book (1).
The mission of school librarians is to support the curriculum and
encourage reading. Librarians were originally some of the most vociferous
opponents of comic books. Modern librarians have a different view. Carol
Tilley, a professor of Library Science at the University of Illinois, in her article,
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