Uk exam boards to drop To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Just seems like common sense to me. What do you think the purpose is?

I always assumed it was more about the development of reading, writing and critical thinking skills as per andyh2000's post.

Limiting it to what a politician, any politician, thinks is culturally acceptable seems the thin end of the wedge to me.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Just seems like common sense to me. What do you think the purpose is?

I could have sworn that history, government and the like are better places to teach children about their history and culture then an English literature class. I thought literature classes were meant to teach children to appreciate the written word and learn how to better express themselves in their writing. Maybe even help guide them in the development of their critical thinking and reasoning skills.

I think that the US has done just fine teaching English Lit in junior high and high school while requiring kids to read plenty of British authors. I would argue that any American school that removed British authors from their would be greatly limiting the students world.

Honestly, it sounds a wee bit gingoistic to me. Let's limit the literature we expose our children to in school to people who come from our country. Let's intentionally ignore the many classics from other countries that speak the same language we do.

Sorry, but it does not make sense to me. Teach the language and use authors whose works are most likely to engage the kids.

[Bricorn]

Waaaay back when I was at school, we got Shakespeare.

Shakespeare should not be inflicted on children.

[Laridae]

" Studying GCSE English literature should encourage students to read widely for pleasure, and as a preparation for studying literature at a higher level."

Seems to me that if the stated objective is to encourage young students to branch out you'd best not start out by limiting their exposure to the broadest range of experience available in the language.

So why not throw in a little Mordecai Richler and Margaret Atwood for good measure! ;-))

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Bricorn

Waaaay back when I was at school, we got Shakespeare.

Shakespeare should not be inflicted on children.

I loved studying Shakespeare - we did Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet at school, starting in Year 8. I had some pretty good lit teachers, though, who taught Shakespeare as drama, not as prose. We watched films, went to theatrical productions, read aloud.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Most British people have the same confusion, believe me. The problem is that some of these names refer to political entities, while others are geographic. "Great Britain", for example, is the name for the island that is the British mainland, and comprises most of England, Scotland, and Wales, while "UK" (or, more formally, "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland") includes Northern Ireland and all the other small islands, too. Many people who live in England use "England" interchangeably with "Britain" (which annoys people who live in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

So Americans aren't alone in finding it confusing.

Technically Great Britain & The United Kingdom are both sovereign states, and as sovereign state and country are often used synonymously confussion occurs.

I did go through a stage of ticking the Other box and writing England on official forms instead of ticking United Kingdom for country, so our own government is unsure as well.

For more confusion in sport
In the olympics Great Britain is a team (Although as it includes Northern Ireland it's quite poorly named)
Football is seperate teams for England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.
In Rugby, Northern and Southern Ireland are counted as a single country (Union at least, League was split into 2 teams in 2007).

And of course America have the World Series for baseball (No countries other than North America are actually allowed)

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by andyh2000

It would appear culture is a part of it but definitely not the only purpose:
GCSE specifications in English literature should develop knowledge and skills in reading,writing and critical thinking. Through literature, students have a chance to develop culturally and acquire knowledge of the best that has been thought and written. Studying GCSE English literature should encourage students to read widely for pleasure, and as a preparation for studying literature at a higher level. Andrew

This sounds far too sensible to have come out of a government department, frankly !
However, it - to my mind at least - is a good enough blueprint fo an English literature curriculum as any I've seen, or indeed could ever come up with ............
At no point does it mention how essential it is to have it limited in any manner at all - although presumably it has since been rewritten to suit the demands of Herr Gove ....................

[shalym]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

And of course America have the World Series for baseball (No countries other than North America are actually allowed)

You do realize that North America is a continent, not a country, don't you?

Shari

[ProfCrash]

Canadian teams can play in the World Series if they can get there. So two countries are represented.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

And of course America have the World Series for baseball (No countries other than North America are actually allowed)

Originally Posted by shalym

You do realize that North America is a continent, not a country, don't you?

Shari

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Canadian teams can play in the World Series if they can get there. So two countries are represented.

Sorry slight typo - should read
No countries other than those in North America are actually allowed

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Sorry slight typo - should read
No countries other than those in North America are actually allowed

Yeah, we really need representation from the other 39 North American countries! Go Greenland!

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by 5thWiggle

Yeah, we really need representation from the other 39 North American countries! Go Greenland!

To be fair, most of those aren't really from the continent of North America; most are islands that are simply lumped in with the continent for easier grouping purposes. In fact, one "North American country", Trinidad and Tobago, is made of two islands literally directly off the coast of Venezuela!

[5thWiggle]

That's only because the Caribbean tectonic plate is incuded with the North American plate. Only fair, as South America gets the Scotia and (I believe) Nazca plates. Trinidad and Tobago are on the Caribbean plate, despite being off the Venezuelian coast. (As to why the mysterious "they" group the secondary tectonic plates with the primary ones as they do? It's a conspiracy! )

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is a list of what has to be studied. Each school is free to add additional works from any country or author that they wish; nothing is "banned".

I'm not sure if I got this correctly but to compare it to the educational system in Romania: there used to be one set of textbooks for the whole country, and then they switched to a system of alternative textbooks and each school can choose whichever they like best. But the end exam is still the same for the whole country, so the textbooks must all cover the subjects that could be on the exam. So in the case of literature, there are works that all the alternative textbooks must cover. There are other works that are being studied in school, they just won't be on the national exam.

[jehane]

Interesting discussion. Thinking back to my high school days I was surprised to realise that we didn't study *any* Australian works in English Literature (years 11 and 12). My reading list was:
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
The Collector - John Fowles
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
The Crucible - Arthur Miller
A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
The Caretaker - Harold Pinter
Robert Frost
TS Eliot
Wordsworth

We did study Judith Wright and Miles Franklin in earlier years though. In retrospect I think it's a pity that TPTB couldn't have found space for Nevil Shute or Mary Durack.

btw, we also did Shakespeare early on, we didn't skip his works entirely!