I read an article online this week that said that the UK is removing American authors from the required reading of high school students. Apparently, they will only allow English and Irish authors to be a part of their educational curriculum. I have one question: WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE?!! I'm not a fan of the American education system (which is we home-schooled both of our kids), but at least they haven't ditched Shakespeare or Dickens. I've often heard of Americans being accused of not being open to other views and believing that their culture is all that matters, but isn't that precisely what education secretary, Michael Grove, is doing by taking To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice And Men out of their classrooms? He can't believe the rest of the world's cultures are important if British children don't need to read anything other than English Authors. I certainly hope that I'm not the only one who felt a bit of outrage at that article.
My blood boiled when I read the headline that said they were dropping Harper Lee for Jayne Austin. Now, I know that there are a lot of Jayne Austin fans out there, and I don't mean to offend, but I would liken that sort of trade to replacing Wuthering Heights with the Twilight series. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the best books ever. It was the book that inspired me to want to write. Pride And Prejudice made me want to watch the movie series that A&E did with Collin Firth, which is the only time I've enjoyed the movie more than the book.
There are some awesome British authors that everyone should read. The Bronte sisters, Orwell, and Dickens should be on every bookshelf around the world, but what about Hugo, Dostoevsky, and Cervantes? Americans aren't the only ones being shunned here. I mean, you can read about the French Revolution in history books, but how are kids supposed to understand the desperation of those times unless they read it for themselves in Les Miserables? And how can they fathom an entire nation agreeing to be lead by the likes of Marx, Lenin and Stalin unless they read the abject poverty that is portrayed in Crime and Punishment? And how can they see that all Spaniards are insane ego-maniacs unless they read about Don Quixote chasing down windmills? (Just a joke - I don't know any Spaniards, but I'm sure they are all very sane and humble people).
I think the greatest loss to the British educational system is for their children to see that people around the globe are really no different than the person who lives next door to them. Books open our eyes to the hearts and minds of people of every shape, color, ethnicity, and time in history and cut through the polished exterior to expose the ugliness of humanity that affects us all. In Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, we get to stand beside Jean Valjean as he tries to cope with life outside of France's prison walls and feel what it is like to get a second chance for a bad mistake. Or we can visit Russia and see how desperation leads to murder and the weight of that sin tears up Rodion Raskolnikov's heart, in Fyodor Dostevesky's Crime and Punishment. And who wouldn't want to read about how six-year-old, Scout Finch, in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, lost a piece of her childhood innocence when a black man was falsely accused of rape and her daddy had to go against old-school racists to defend him?
Hopefully, British children will develop a love for reading and move beyond Michael Grove's isolationist ways and get a well-rounded education in spite of him.
Jes -
Sadly Education secretaries feel the need to turn everything upside down instead of leaving things be that aren't broken. This is to the great annoyance of teachers and parents.
Our Government positions are merely stepping stones to get higher up and these secretaries have no experience in the fields they have control of.
It is a ridiculous system.
If Michael Gove really plans to make 15 and 16-year-old kids read Dickens and Shakespeare, then all he'll achieve is making youngsters hate education and books even more than they already do. The guy is an arse.
This statement from the article says it all.
"Since when was the wretched Michael Gove allowed to dictate what children read? This man is a dangerous philistine."
I'm sure he's trying to make a name for himself and will shortly be moved up to Secretary of Intergalactic Communications or some other such twaddle pointless position.