To really dislike An Inspector Calls?

She is called “pretty” by Sheila, Eric (with the awful “and a good sport”) and Gerald. Even the inspector alludes to it after Sheila asks him if she was pretty.

You can’t see that Priestly might be making a wider point?

I hate the big fuss that is made out of eva smith being ‘pretty’ - as if it would be somehow acceptable to hound her out of jobs if she was plain and old!

You have completely misunderstood the point of her being young and pretty.
You teach this to students, you say?

I saw it at the National years ago, it was amazing, visually stunning and the actors were fabulous. Also, I don’t know if it was just my interpretation, but over the years I’ve come to appreciate the way that it addresses the ‘perfect victim’ trope.

Yes it’s a bit heavy-handed in places but most people I know who’ve studied it have really liked it.

I quite enjoy it as a period piece. Dh hates it though. I didn't study at school but read it after having seen the b&w Alastair Sim film many times.

I saw the Stephen Daldry production and thought it was about as subtle as a mallet on the head and ridiculously pretentious.

Exactly- its good to have one text the the kids can all get on board with.

Gcse texts do ideally need to be quite short. The likes of White Teeth by Zadie Smith is long and rambling iirc.

25 years of teaching it and it’s not the point you don’t like it - nearly all of the teens I have taught it to do! Even the weakest of kids get the injustice and the brightest of kids can discuss hypocrisy and callousness.
The stage version is great too - I have taken kids from all backgrounds.

I don't disagree with you on the question of diversity in the curriculum (as a pp said, blame Gove who short circuited any progress being made in this area with his reforms).

But I would push back on only contemporary texts helping kids understand the issues of today. Loads of Victorian literature is about technology changing ways of life. Shakespeare explores power relations between generations, ethnic groups, and men and women. At the start of this term, I gave a lecture on paranoia about immigrants in the US in the 1790s, that touched on the same law Trump is using to justify deporting immigrants. Besides which, it's also good for students to understand that people in the past had very different worldviews and that ideas we have about the "right" way to do things, might not stay that way.

I like teaching it as it’s easy for students to get, only has a few characters in it, and is easier to do alongside studying a Shakespeare text.

I hate the portrayal of Eric and Eva caring for him after he forces himself upon her. I also hate the ending of him possibly being a ghost, feels like when students say “and then I woke up” at the end of a story. In the time after teaching it in y10, I’ve had a student’s mum commit suicide and another going through a SA case, and so it’s been difficult to revise coming up to the exams.

It also shows the hypocritical nature of Gerald. He is cruel and unkind to the older sex workers but casts Eva as a damsel in distress to massage his own ego.
also, it reinforces the pettiness and shallow world the Birlings exist in.

I thought that most exam boards offered a choice of text but most schools choose AIC because of the various themes and how as described above the 9 students can grasp the nuances but the 4 students can still grasp enough to get to the 4.

Just wanted to add that it was a set text in the early 80s, too.

I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago when ds did it for GCSE. I absolutely loved it! I think it is incredibly thought-provoking (ds less impressed). So many themes and possible ways to interpret it. One of the best plays I’ve seen.

I loved it. DD did it at GCSE.went to see it in West end too.really good .my own GCE was Day of the triffids!

So what out of the current set texts would you prefer? And how are you going to fund the purchase of 200+ copies?

Because the exam board class it as a modern text but to many of the kids it seems no more modern than ACC.

I'm not saying they shouldn't study Scottish texts.

I'm glad you are happy with what your children are studying.

Well, I'm in Scotland, and I'm quite happy with my kids studying Scottish books. Where else should Scottish books be studied? Italy? Vietnam?

It doesn't represent one type of perspective - when properly engaged it can be viewed from a multitude of perspectives. You can say all these things about whatever you are studying. It's not a fault with the material but a lack of imagination and engagement from the student.

That's not on the same list, because it's a 19th century novel

English teacher - it is obvious and a bit preachy, but it must be so hard to choose a GCSE text where the students who are going to get a grade 2 can grasp and retell the story, and those who should get 9s can find some subtlety and symbolism to unpick. We don’t teach AIC - we teach A Christmas Carol from that list and it faces the same criticisms.

I honestly don't read enough now to point to specific texts, but a lot of our curriculum doesn't represent the diversity that is within our classrooms now so I'd be interested in seeing texts that teach us more about other cultures.

I'd also be more interested in texts not all being written by old white men?
Part of the reason that children and young people disengage with the curriculum is that it appears stuffy and only represents one type of perspective.

Even the English language curriculum uses older texts rather than modern examples of writing from a diverse and internet driven society - that is missing a trick about enabling children and young people to develop critical thinking skills about things that they are accessing and experiencing now.

I like AIC. I really do not like Of Mice And Men which I think is still studied in about Year 8 or 9 in England - I think it’s really out of date now, and i think there are many far better books from British and Irish writers that could be used in the English curriculum. I also think we could do with some humour in our school texts … a bit of PG Wodehouse wouldn’t go amiss. The satirical Roderick Spode and his Black Shorts = perfection. More Jane Austen. If we want novels that teach us about cultural and political issues, White Teeth by Zadie Smith should be on the national curriculum imho.

Shakespeare leaves me cold. Even Michael Fassbender couldn’t make me enjoy Macbeth 🤣

I think her prettiness was mentioned to explain what inspired women to hate her and men to lust after her (and then hate her).

I studied it in 2005 for GCSE.

I saw it on stage in October 24. It was brilliant.