As Henry Jenkins pointed out in his piece, there is significant value placed on texts and media by their fans. These fans interact with one another and create a community of their own, and to ignore this in the classroom is something which should change. I have seen the effect that simple creative freedom has done for myself in an education setting; when I’m given control over what I can write about and tie it into the most far-fetched of ideas, it makes my piece better. In high school this was very much not the case, as students were assigned a particular text to write about and given a specific format to follow. If one strayed from the structure of five paragraphs and the way in which the teacher wanted it written, they were marked down for it.
In general, allowing students to be more themselves in the class is key, and if fan culture can be woven into it, then that’s ideal. Such an inclusion would make students more invested in the work they’re doing in class and give them a reason to put more creative effort into it. While some may have interests not suitable for the classroom environment, simply allowing students to bring fan culture into classrooms is hardly a bad idea.
