If only they had had African Dads

[TheDude]

The only good book I read in English was All quiet on the Western front - written by a German.

Whichever Shakespeare play we studied was rubbish and The mayor of Casterbridge was tedious as hell.

If you want kids to engage then give them something that interests them - not a load of borax.

[ladymuck]

I don't remember studying Shakespeare at school.

That said, I don't remember anything I studied at school.

I firmly believe that English Literature should involve the study of literature written in English, not necessarily written by the English.

[SueEllen]

I don't remember studying Shakespeare at school.

At least two classes in my school didn't study any Shakespeare for GCSE. Their teacher choose more modern works.

I am absolutely sure everyone did a Dickens novel.

[vetran]

The only good book I read in English was All quiet on the Western front - written by a German.

Whichever Shakespeare play we studied was rubbish and The mayor of Casterbridge was tedious as hell.

If you want kids to engage then give them something that interests them - not a load of borax.

Sad you had a rubbish teacher. Comparing Chaucer, Shakespeare, Hardy, Owen & Larkin documents the evolution of English literature. If you talk to anyone with even a minimal education they will recognise these as the greats. You of course studied Beowulf?

By all means include more recent poets as the next step in the process, but don't remove people who have created prose that has driven English around the world.

Maybe a war poem by a foreign born soldier to compare with Owen? Or from WWII to compare the language & experiences?

Select them by quality not protected attributes.

[WTFH]

Select them by quality not protected attributes.

Ah, so are you saying we should not just select them based on them being “war poets” or “ones Vetran has heard of”, but because their writing inspires, educates, etc?

Just want to check, because you seem to be contradicting your first post in this thread.

Maybe we should also ask “why were there few disabled people writing in the Victorian era?”
Is it because if you were disabled you didn’t get an education and were put in an institution?
Is “12 years a slave” worth studying, since it was from 1853, and there aren’t that many books from back then written by a person who was enslaved?

[d000hg]

study artists we have never heard of

So uncultured.

[vetran]

Ah, so are you saying we should not just select them based on them being “war poets” or “ones Vetran has heard of”, but because their writing inspires, educates, etc?

Just want to check, because you seem to be contradicting your first post in this thread.

Maybe we should also ask “why were there few disabled people writing in the Victorian era?”
Is it because if you were disabled you didn’t get an education and were put in an institution?
Is “12 years a slave” worth studying, since it was from 1853, and there aren’t that many books from back then written by a person who was enslaved?

You seem to be floundering. You need to pay more attention Master Hell.

Well as the move is to make it contemporary then the victorian era isn't relevant.

12 years a slave would probably count as significant but as this is poetry it isn't relevant.

[d000hg]

At least two classes in my school didn't study any Shakespeare for GCSE. Their teacher choose more modern works.

I am absolutely sure everyone did a Dickens novel.

I actually don't remember doing Dickens though we did at least one Shakespeare - we got a school cinema trip out of it to see that Romeo & Juliet film from the 90s.
Novels I can remember studying were Lord of the Flies and Brave New World. I think Animal Farm too and maybe An Inspector Calls.
Don't get anything from Shakespeare myself.

Is the move to include LGBT authors, or to include books which have strong LGBT messaging? I am guessing the latter.

[Gibbon]

Heaney, Joyce, Frost, CS Lewis… are they offensive to the Wail too?

but some times it helps to learn history in history classes, and literature in lit classes.

Really? You can't divorce the two once you go back further than the camera. The thing about studying the far past is it's less controversial politically and religiously, but the human part of the events is very similar and can be explored more objectively.

The Gracchi are great examples of political reform and the tensions between rich and poor, their failure to resolve the issues led to the raise of 'strong' men and ultimately the fall of the Roman Republic into a dictatorship.

[vetran]

So uncultured.

we are talking about GCSE not evening class poetry appreciation.