To think that American literature should stay in schools?

[superstarheartbreaker]

I am an English teacher and I don't agree with Gove that American literature should not be taught at Gcse. Sure, it's important to have the big British writers such as Shakespeare, the Brontes , Wordsworth etc but American literature is hugely important and influential. We played a huge part in the founding of America and the states is very influential in Britain today. All my students adore Of Mice and Men for example and find the historical context of the Great Depression very interesting.
Also, multicultural poetry is very important. As colonists we took our language all over the world and in turn literature from other countries teaches our young about the world.
Aibu to think that there is a bit of an isolationist agenda coming from Gove by insisting that our young only study British authors?

As far as I'm concerned it's the only good thing he's done! Can't stand Of Mice and Men!

Yanbu, but is that actually what he said, or is it another media beat-up?

All my students adore Of Mice and Men

Of course they do. A seven year old could finish it and recognise the key themes in an afternoon.

Should America include more British authors in its syllabus?

Monte - American schools read far more widely than we do; they will experience lots of British authors in class.

American writing has been hugely influential, Poe, Wharton, James, Steinbeck, Lee, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost. It's ridiculous to dismiss something because it is not from these sceptered isles.

I wonder where all of this leaves Wilde, Yeats, Heaney, Behan, Swift, Congreve, Goldsmith, Shaw, Beckett, Edna O'Brien, Frank Delaney, Laurence Sterne, Bram Stoker, Cecil Day-Lewis, CS Lewis, etc. or does British occupation of Ireland make them British?

Montegomongoose I really really doubt a seven year-old would pick up the themes of this text. Certain aspects of its content would make it unsuitable for study by so young a person.

In terms of the curriculum, there is no such thing as an American syllabus, school districts determine the content. Which is why "Of Mice and Men" is still banned in some school districts.

That last sentence didn't make sense, I meant to imply that quite a lot of people took, and still take this novel very seriously indeed because of its themes, and probably the more so because of the simplicity and accessibility of its language.

Speaking as an American, I would actually encourage the study of some American writers but for the love of crap do not allow/make anyone read John Steinbeck's "The Red Pony". That was the first book we were assigned in seventh grade English and for a thirteen-year-old girl who was WAY IN LURVE with horses it was traumatic.

There's other Steinbeck that's better but it's all generally woe-y and depressing.

It's very sad. I too would like to know if Irish authors will also be banned.

Heaney and Shaw been on the A level syllabus for a while, whether or not that will continue is an unknown, at present.

The books will not be banned, GCSEs are only two years of a student's education, there is no reason for them not to read American/French/Russian literature in other years.

American and any other literature in English can be taught in schools.

And the pre-1915 (?) GCSE text does not have to be British. It's only the twentieth century one, and of course there's not exactly a shortage of interesting/challenging British works.

So unless you are associated with a school that teaches only the GCSE set texts thorough secondary, there is nothing to worry about here.

But if your school does not provide a varied lit curriculum in years 7-9 and at least suggest parallel reading in 10/11, then I would worry about the teaching standard.

A very sad aspect of the furore about OMAM is that the way that economics and the crowded curriculum account for its inclusion. UK schools have to provide the texts, and budgets are very tight, so usually it's topping up the books that aren't actually falling apart. For such a slim novel, there's plenty to be said about it, and it's accessible. The same could be said about Miller's "A View From the Bridge", another perennial favourite, a quick read, very engaging and bursting with ideas. And American.

I think we can safely say Gove is a cretin.
Would he go about banning T S Eliot? US and UK literature have histories so inextricably linked it would be madness not to teach any US writers; especially when you think about literature post 1900. I simply don't understand where there can be a single positive in such an isolationist stance. It's actual madness.

Especially when one of our most loved British writers says this:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/10809406/Alan-Bennett-English-writers-have-little-to-tell-me.html

What will Gove do next? Go on a rampage and ban the Booker committee from having any Commonwealth and US writers ?

Someone needs to tell him English literature in its traditional sense is literature written in the English language, regardless of the nationality of the writer.

Grrrrr. I really really hope this isn't allowed to happen. It will really disadvantage anybody hoping to study English at undergrad level because US/Commonwealth/Post-Colonial Literature is quite a large part of English Lit degrees.

He hasn't banned anything.

One of the two novels required at GCSE must be by a British author. That's all.

Is it really going to make secondary school lit unsuitable if they read all the same books on the way through as they do now, but the examined text is not OMAM?

American literature has not been banned OP, as you well know. If you are teaching hakespeare, the Brontes , Wordsworth alongside Of Mice and Men, then that is great. As I understand it, the main issue is that Schools have been predominantly focussing on Of Mice and Men at the expense of other literature. The new rules mandate a broader reading spectrum. Surely as a teacher you would encourage a wider range in schools?

LOL @ hakespeare! I've always thought there was something a bit fishy about some of his works tbh.

Auntiestellar is absolutely on the nail. Nothing. has. been. banned.

But don't let that stop a bit of Gove bashing. Bizarre rumour about Gove eating babies? Must be true. Policy about widening curriculum texts? Nah he must be banning something!!!

Perhaps teachers could spend some of their disgustingly short holiday reading up on the policy announcements? I mean you should be able to squeeze it in somewhere in the 2.5days 6 sodding weeks you will have off

I studied English literature in an American school in Europe. We did Steinbeck and Thoreau.

It was mind-numbing.

I am grateful to my American friends who continue to introduce me to wonderful American writers.

I really think anyone panicking about this can easily ensure their children read at home, with access to the wide ranging literature they worry their child may be missing.

Ladyrabbit here you go - leap aboard and reach untenable conclusions from a false premise.

For the avoidance of doubt - it really is a band on a wagon

I rather think the idea of the ban came after Paul Dodds of OCR said that Gove had influenced the book choices for the new GCSE and had "a particular dislike" of OMAM and was "disappointed" at the number of students studying it. The subsequent disappearance of the text from the GCSE list and Gove's form for interfering and micromanaging education rather reinforces the idea of his diktat, and his denials are disingenuous, mere sleight of hand.

If anyone can point to any article where Dodds withdraws his comments, I'd be interested to see it. I'm on one my many holidays from teaching and have the leisure to read.

Really Montegomongoose? you find The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden 'mind numbing'?

Also re: your comment about a 7 year old identifying all the ideas and issues in OMAM in an afternoon - does that include the fact that Curley rapes his wife? you do understand, don't you, that when she confesses to Lennie that 'I ain't never told nobody this but I don't like Curley....he ain't a nice fella' she is trying to tell him that he abuses her. Hardly material suitable for a 7 year old.

I'd keep a single Shakespeare text as a nod to English writers and make everything else American English texts....

I was impressed at reading one of the Irish exam threads on here how much great Irish literature was included in their basic syllabus. Similarly the French syllabus appears to contain all their greats.

I actually find what MaidOfStars has just written quite horrifying and sinister.

I have a degree in American Lit. There is more to literature than what is dragged out year after year at GCSE. What about Cormac McCarthy, Annie Proulx, or Sherman Alexie?

Fwiw GCSE or even A Level English texts did not inspire me. I imagine it is the same for a lot of teenagers.

OP check out the reading lists online