A critique of the prescribed Literature 12 curriculum for British Columbia teachers, this article is a life-history narrative juxtaposed against my own literary education, examining how my lived experiences were reflected and reinforced in the Literature 12 curriculum, and in the literary canons of both high school and university English teaching and vice versa. After first introducing the curriculum documents and the required textbook for the teaching of Literature 12, this article then deconstructs the curriculum objectives and the canon, pointing out that the study of English literature, as traditionally conceived in high schools and universities, reinforces Eurocentrism, racism, elitism, and, particularly for the purposes of this article, misogyny. It concludes by reminding teachers that some students bring experiences of oppression with them to the classroom, and that it is therefore our responsibility to challenge the norms present in the literary canon.