Yesterday, whilst reading an excellent opinion piece by Alice Thomson in The Times, I learnt that the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, is proposing to
remove English Literature from the core GCSE curriculum.
If Gove’s reforms are
accepted, students will be expected to study a newly-reworked English exam
focusing primarily on use of language, alongside Maths, one of the sciences, a modern
language and either History or Geography – with English Literature relegated to an optional extra.
Frankly, I’m terrified.
I have been an avid reader
since junior school – and it was my English Literature classes at secondary
school that first introduced me to the classics. I showed very little interest
in the likes of Shakespeare at first; it wasn’t until I went on to study it at
A-Level and then at drama school that I was bitten by the bug – but if it
wasn’t for those initial classes I might never have felt the need to get around
to it.
They taught me that difficult
language wasn’t impenetrable – and that by getting to grips with it, I could
entirely change my outlook. Without this initial guidance I might never have
realised the wit and relevance of the likes of Austen, Dickens et al. – and my
life would have been all the duller for it.
It was this early exposure to
English Literature that taught me the value of personal expression; that by engrossing yourself in another person’s story, be it fact or fiction,
you could transport yourself to another world: a world that enriched, enhanced
and informed your own.
History taught me
the statistics of the two world wars, but 'Birdsong' and
'Schindler’s Ark' taught me about their emotional impact. Ultimately, literature taught
me to care.
Presumably the root of this
core curriculum change is to encourage students to be more practical; assuming
that a more numerate and logically-minded generation will ultimately be a more
profitable one. But what is the use of a society that can tot up the numbers
but is emotionally defunct?
Also, what's the point of teaching the rudiments of the English language without putting them into context?
Personally, I'm grateful to my teachers for informing me of the value and weight of English Literature. It is thanks to their education that I will always have a book at my side - and it will be through this constant reading that I will hopefully continue to learn and grow.