Do you think this poem should be banned?

[toolly]

Here it is www.sumption.org/2006/05/23/education-for-leisure
An invigilator things it glorifies knife crime. I think rather than watching people taking exams she should take some because this poem in no way glamorises street violence.

[Sidge]

I think that's a horrible piece of writing.

[marmadukescarlet]

How unpleasant.

[mabanana]

Lot of great literature is about 'unpleasant' stuff! That's not how you judge it.

[cutekids]

horrible...sickening actually

[ParCark]

Message withdrawn

[S1ur]

Course it shouldn't be banned, invigilator is a muppet.

[nell12]

It has an unpleasant subject, but that is not how it should be judged... it makes you think and puts you into the mindset of someone completely different to the norm

Good grief, no it should not be banned

[MrsMattie]

Not a great poem ( can't stand her work) but I see what she's trying to do.

Ban a poem? FFS, get a grip.

[TwoIfBySea]

It is a very disturbing piece...but it shouldn't be banned. Who is talking about banning it?

[christiana]

Message withdrawn

[toolly]

OK I understand some of you might find it unpleasant but do you think it should be banned from the GCSE curriculum. Does it glorify knife crime?

[janeite]

I've taught this for quite a few years and think it is a superb poem and even fairly low-ability pupils can write very complex essays on it because they engage with it so well. It is certainly no more scary than

this

which is in the same anthology.

I think this ban is utterly ridiculous.

[donnie]

it's a very good poem which I have taught many times at GCSE level. The speaker exists on the periphery of society. His boredom and lack of intellect are key. Read the papers.

Is Macbeth 'sickening'? after all, Duncan is stabbed to death is he not?

Witchcraft in The Crucible?

child rape in The Bluest Eye?

Violent Japanese POW camps in Empire of the Sun?

Incest in Hamlet?

beacause I have taught all the above texts and they are superb, important and profound works of literature.

Prove me wrong.

[LilRedWG]

Very disturbing, but should not be banned.

[Yurtgirl]

I think its a vile poem full of hate - Not what I want my child to be taught, regardless of whether it glorifies knife crime

[janeite]

Go Donnie! Agree with every word you said.

[LilRedWG]

Sorry - meant to say, it does not glorify knife crime in my eyes.

[toolly]

BBC story here. http:/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7594566.stm

[berolina]

Disturbing, yes, but very well and cleverly written. I have taught it too. Why ban it? It is anything but glorification of what it describes.

[theSuburbanDryad]

Of course it doesn't glorify knife crime - quite the opposite IMO.

Invigilator obviously has never done an English GCSE - loads of horrible knife crime in Shakespeare and the Tennessee Williams stuff we did at A-Level was pretty horrific in places too!

[Habbibu]

Don't think it's great poetry, but banning it is daft - these things should be discussed and aired, ffs.

[SammyK]

No poem should ever be banned IMO.

Yes even terrible poems about terrible things before anyone asks.

They are about self expression, or explring another world, or POV, or seeing things in a different light, or simply identifying with a feeling or situation.

You can't ban something because you find it unsettling.

[donnie]

basically I could list hundreds of poems/plays/novels/biogs which refer to violent matters or themes which people find uncomfortable. FFS Frankenstein digs up corpses and reanimates them with lightning....Blake's poems are full of references to squalid poverty and emaciated child labourers.

Shall I continue?

if people really want to know there were a paltry three - YES THREE- parental complaints which made AQA withdraw this poem. And I am willing to bet those parents don't actually understand the poem.

[donnie]

Solzenitzyn was banned.

[Heated]

Are you kidding! This - and the other poems that are paired with it - don't glamorise knife crime. The whole point of the poem is that he's a saddo with an inflated sense of self, which the students totally get; their maturity when discussing this is so much more insightful than adults give them credit for. It's been in the anthology for at least 4 years.

An invigilator at a Lutterworth school saw this text in an exam in May and got their knickers in a twist. My students were incredulous.