Poem ban insulting to teachers and students
UK examination board Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) has issued new copies of its school poetry anthology (used by teachers and students to prepare for GCSE English exams) after it removed a poem called Education for Leisure by current Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.
The poem is simple and provocative and because a handful of people complained about its implied references to knife crime, has been removed from the AQA syllabus:
(I get our bread-knife and go out. / The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm.)
The actual decision was made last year amid the spate of knife-related murders in the UK, where statistics gathered by the Conservatives reported that 227 stabbing deaths occurred between April 2007 and April 2008.
I must admit, I haven’t been keeping up as closely with UK news since I moved from there back to Australia in late 2006 so I have only just become aware of the removal of Duffy’s poem.
I taught this poem to my GSCE students in London in 2004 and 2005 and it was one of the most successful poems in generating discussion and engaging their interest. Isn’t that the whole point of poetry? It was especially popular with boys and considering many of them would moan every class, “why do we have to learn poetry, miss? What good is it going to do us?” that is quite an achievement.
Personally, the poem was one of my favourites and we had great classroom discussion on anti-social behaviour and what makes people want to hurt others. (“Today I am going to kill something. Anything./I have had enough of being ignored and today/I am going to play God.”)
In an article on the brilliant Sp!ked, writer Michele Ledda, who started a petition against AQA’s decision called Hands off Poetry! said “…if we accept this unprecedented, absurd decision, we agree that the curriculum should be devised and managed according to health and safety rather than educational principles…”.
What’s next? Romeo and Juliet because it may glamourise suicide?
December 12, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized
2 Responses
How insulting that any form of educational tools are banned for their connotations – why not let students and teachers discuss and decide for themselves, and use the opportunity to TEACH!!
Happy SITS Saturday Sharefest!!
Exactly right. When I did year 12 MANY years ago, we studied a poem by Sylvia Plath. Did that mean the entire class rushed out and committed suicide? Of course not. Speaking for myself at least, it got me thinking about great writing and the interesting ideas and images in the poem.
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