expected to know about prostitution in a GCSE exam?

[allinahuddle]

Just wondered if I am a prude or if this is inappropriate? Dd2 sat her English literature exam yesterday and the poetry section as expected had two poems to compare and contrast. The introduction to them said they were both about nature and how it affects the man made world. One poem was about prostitution and the other about mining. She said she found it confusing as the introduction made her think her instincts were wrong. She thought it was about drugs and maybe sex but didn't dare write it as she felt sure it wouldn't be that on an exam paper. I can see how perhaps prostitution could be studied as part of a social question in another subject I suppose but to include it as an unseen poetry question for 15 and 16 year olds seems inappropriate to me. To assume that this age group would feel confident to talk about this in an exam situation seems mad. It aldo seems to put the more anxious and less confident or less streetwise kids at a disadvantage as they felt embarrassed writing about it, especially after being told both poems were about nature. Only a couple of kids in the whole school actually wrote about prostitution or drugs even those on target for an A or an A*. AIBU?

I'm more concerned that the poem in an exam was ambiguous as to its theme

Poetry is often ambiguous. Mostly, even. That's the point of the question, to see how the student interprets the meaning, if they can see more than one meaning, how those meanings relate to each other.

What is ambiguous about "The introduction to them said they were both about nature and how it affects the man made world."?

Interesting, I got prostitution as very much the main theme of that poem. I agree not all kids would have been comfortable with it, (I imagine my DD would be okay).

But, in this exam the question was totally misleading.

How, SueCooke? What exactly was the question? As described in the OP, it wasn't misleading at all.

It's about sex alright. Alleyways are places for sexual transactions. (Quite apart from the punning use of 'crack'. What, you might ask are those bare-legged girls waiting for? What are the men's transactions about? The there's the imagery of 'pushing' being 'taken'. 'Opening' for anyone. Being 'abandoned'. Even the 'heavy rain' may be a symbol of ejaculation.

However, much would depend on the other poem and the way in which the students looked at the way each writer looked at the interactions between human nature and the natural world

Yes, everything Marianne says. And not all GCSE kids are streetwise 16 year olds, plenty are just 15.

Actually my DD did her Lit exam last year, a year early. It's very possible there are 14 year olds taking this exam, as DD was, (if they are still allowed to do them early). Thinking about it, not sure DD would have got it last year.

Rufus he wasn't supposed to have seen the poems! It's an unseen question, testing whether students can actually 'do' literature or have just learned what to say.

Obviously there are references to prostitution but I didn't see prostitution as the main theme of the poem and I think it would be possible to give a good answer even if you didn't pick up on this aspect.

Yes, but marianne, if you were 15 and didn't happen to pick up on any of that, it'd be perfectly fine. There's loads else going on without it.

Might as well say 'there's a baby and you don't get babies without sex, do you?' (I'm misquoting someone talking about Jane Austen's Emma there, but the point is, you can find sex all over the place if you so choose, but you could also manage to say other things).

It would be possible to argue that it's about desire. How it's everywhere and anywhere and doesn't obey social rules. Perhaps the key lines - they're from the central stanza - are:-

Lilac, like love, makes no distinction.
It will open for anyone.

Maybe even that 'new mother' is someone who didn't wait or plan her baby...

I think you're quoting Barbara Trapido, Jeanne!

Am I alone in thinking buddlia would be more likely to have been the tenacious shrub not lilac?

No - you are not alone it would be a buddlia.

wonders away muttering about artists not checking basic facts

I'd be inclined to say that if you said something along the lines of:-

'This is a poem about lilac trees. The poet tells us that they grow in busy, run-down urban areas and have strongly scented blossom. The first stanza tells us that lilacs can grow even without a great deal of natural light. This poem shows that event though urban areas may contain a lot of litter and be polluted, that it is still possible for plants to grow.'

... examiners might be inclined to award you rather low marks on the grounds that you can only read/have been taught to a poem on a narrowly literal, prosaic level - and have little grasp of imagery, symbolism, suggestion.

I'm sorry, drudge and Jeanne, but, unless things have very much changed, the allusions to prostitution are intrinsic to the theme and use of language in this poem. Candidates who didn't pick up on it won't get full marks.

See Marianne's post for explanation.

But if this is a general omission across the cohort, the marking scheme will be adjusted. I think they were trying to make a clear distinction in determining the higher grades, say B to A*.

Seems like a poem any 16 yo should be able to write something about. English literature isn't 'nice'. One of my o-level texts was under milkwood, I had to write an essay on Thomas's attitude to women - much more overtly about sexual roles including prostitution. That was nearly 40 years ago!

Thymeout
unless things have very much changed, the allusions to prostitution are intrinsic to the theme and use of language in this poem. Candidates who didn't pick up on it won't get full marks.

That's arguable. And equally, if students think the poem is entirely about prostitution, they might miss out on other details/marks.

Errol - very different writing about known themes for prepared texts. Unseen poetry is a different ballgame.

DS (who has ASD) did his GCSEs two years back, and they primed him specifically to look for this sort of topic, knowing that he wouldn't look beyond the obvious surface interpretation.

I remember him saying " Miss Bloggs says whatever the poems look like, it'll be about sex, death or break-ups, so I just have to work out which one."

So for those who think commercial and/or casual sex isn't central to the poem - tell us what it's about....

Surely it is entirely about prostition though? The lilac is just a metaphor for a young woman struggling in a difficult environment. To me it is not a nature poem.

Can't spell "prostitution" though

Casual sex, yeah, I can see that too.

'there's a baby and you don't get babies without sex, do you?' (I'm misquoting someone talking about Jane Austen's Emma there, but the point is, you can find sex all over the place if you so choose, but you could also manage to say other things).

It's Trapido's Brother of the more famous Jack. Exact quote is something like 'Of course there's sex in Emma. Mrs Weston has a baby. It grows out of its caps. You don't get babies without sex, do you?' (Or so I think, I don't actually have a copy in front of me, I've just read it 101 times.)

Great poem, that Dunmore. A terrific writer all round, I think.

fascicle - yes, writing about unseen texts isn't quite the same, but it's unlikely that they won't have coverered all sorts of issues during their work on prepared texts, and practice for unseen.

I'm still rather bemused by the OP's DD thinking 'it wouldn't be that on an exam paper' and by the OP thinking it was 'inappropriate' for 15-16 yos. As to being embarrassing to write about - (a) surely much less bad when it's going to be read by someone who doesn't know you than anything they've had to do in class, and (b) you don't need to be 'streetwise' to write neutrally and factually about sex and drugs.

Hmm, I do think it is a tad near the knuckle and outside some kids' frame of reference. Any English teachers able to say if 14 year olds could be sitting it this year?

'outside some kids' frame of reference.'

Isn't one of the purposes of studying literature to expand your frame of reference, and learn how to analyze something unfamiliar?