My Ds has brought this poem home from school and been told to learn it. Please come and give me your thoughts on wether I should speak to the school.

[MTPurse]

As the title says, Ds has came home from school today with a Poem to learn, He has to learn it to be read out between a group of them(apparently he was chosen to read it as he is good at drama/being dramatic).

This is all I know, I have no other info on what it is about and why he has to learn it yet

Now I am not into poetry at all so maybe I just don't 'get it' but I really think this is completely unsuitable for Children due to the context. I am not a strict parent at all but Guns , Knives, Swords and Violence have no part in my family life and I will not allow my ds to play cod and stuff like that, in fact we have had numerous arguments about this.

Personally, I get the humour in it and think it would be fine on a staffroom wall but aibu to think it is not suitable for children?

Here is the poem:

The Lesson

Chaos ruled OK in the classroom
as bravely the teacher walked in
the nooligans ignored him
his voice was lost in the din

'The theme for today is violence
and homework will be set
I'm going to teach you a lesson
one that you'll never forget'

He picked on a boy who was shouting
and throttled him then and there
then garrotted the girl behind him
(the one with grotty hair)

Then sword in hand he hacked his way
between the chattering rows
'First come, first severed' he declared
'fingers, feet or toes'

He threw the sword at a latecomer
it struck with deadly aim
then pulling out a shotgun
he continued with his game

The first blast cleared the backrow
(where those who skive hang out)
they collapsed like rubber dinghies
when the plug's pulled out

'Please may I leave the room sir? '
a trembling vandal enquired
'Of course you may' said teacher
put the gun to his temple and fired

The Head popped a head round the doorway
to see why a din was being made
nodded understandingly
then tossed in a grenade

And when the ammo was well spent
with blood on every chair
Silence shuffled forward
with its hands up in the air

The teacher surveyed the carnage
the dying and the dead
He waggled a finger severely
'Now let that be a lesson' he said

Roger McGough :

I don't think it really matters. It's a poem.

Children see death and destruction all around them. Have you watched news round?

My 11year old is learning about the holocaust and About sectarianism. Far more disturbing than this poem.

Boffin your plan sounds fantastic and what a great choice. I would love my kids to be in your classroom. Do primary school teachers have the freedom to come up with ideas like this and create half termlt plans around poetry. My understanding was they don't hitch is such a shame because your lesson ideas would be great fun

Sorry so many typos.

It's an interesting one. If you read it in an upbeat, bouncy way (like you would a limerick) it's almost impossible to read it without smiling at the sheer extremity of its theme. However, if you adopt a menacing tone and slow it down, it reads very differently. Very clever.

Given that Roger McGough is a poet of such acclaim, I imagine he knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote this and would be delighted at the broad response and debate this piece has elicited. I also imagine he is as horrified as the rest of us at the dreadful events of Dunblane , Columbine, Sandy Hook and all the other abhorrent acts of violence against schools throughout the world.

I don't consider this poem to be appropriate for Year 5 children, in view of its humorous take on violence, but I appreciate how, if sensitively taught, it can raise issues for discussion on a social as well as poetic level.

What is concerning is that the pupils have been asked to learn this poem without (apparently) any introduction to, or discussion of, its meaning and purpose, and with no idea of why they are being asked to perform it.

Time for a quick word with the Teacher.

It isn't vile, or trying to be hip, or in poor taste, or making violence funny or trivialising it.

It's satire. It needs to be taught carefully and sensitively, IMO, but it should be taught.

Basically, I'm joining the queue to agree with whatthese.

Crystalgall, they do have the liberty to do this but not everyone has sufficient training or confidence, so many stick to safer paths that are less work to implement, and less risky in terms of impressing nervous head teachers. These are difficult times.

I should add Crystalgall that my DS3 (6) did a great project on the Fire of London with the rest of KS1 (over 100 kids) at his school, where it culminated in them designing and creating their own 16th century houses out of cereal boxes, and then laying them out in the pattern of how London was then, in the school field. Then a teacher set the miniature city alight and they watched their own little Fire of London right there. Apparently the effect was very shocking as they had no idea this was going to happen.

Other schools have done this kind of thing (DS's experience was on a much bigger scale).

For me the effect was potentially slightly tarnished by the report that shortly after their 'oohs' and 'aahs' the school caretaker had used the experience to demonstrate how to use a fire extinguisher, launching into a lecture on the effectiveness of carbon dioxide in dealing with small fires, and how Elf n' Safety are very important. I like a bit of interdisciplinary teaching and I appreciate we don't want small arsonists getting ideas, but I think you need to pick the moment

I'm with everyone who says it's not inappropriate, not at all.

Monty (if you're still reading this thread) - The reason I said that there were many other people on the thread who were poetry lovers was to make the point that you can be a poetry lover and still find this poem, no matter how well written, a failure in the modern age. It fails as a comic poem - which is how it is intended - because many of us now feel the subject matter no longer provokes laughter, as real school massacres are reported with depressing regularity on the world news. This is involuntary, by the way - no-one is setting out to be a spoilsport or po-faced. Different ages find different things funny and attitudes are inevitably conditioned by the events of the time.

I took your post to mean that, if the poem was clever and well-written, a poetry lover would appreciate it despite the subject matter. Sorry if I misunderstood you - it was getting late when I replied.

I think it's awful. Totally inappropriate.

Absolutely love it and it makes me laugh that parents can't see this as a demonstration of art, wit and satire, irony etc but at the same time either Molly coddle them or expose them to violent games and television programmes. The irony!

My sons love bloodthirsty history and they also watch newsrooms and play some war games and monster games.

DD is 8 and will happily read quite gory stuff, but would be a bit at this.

Absolutely love it and it makes me laugh that parents can't see this as a demonstration of art, wit and satire, irony etc but at the same time either Molly coddle them or expose them to violent games and television programmes. The irony!

What on earth makes people think that the posters who are saying they think this poem is inappropriate for younger children are the same posters who expose young children to violent games? Genuinely, you actually think that we give our kids 'Call of Duty' at ten?

I hope my kids also learn that: just because someone is a well-respected and acclaimed poet/artist it doesn't mean - a. all their poems are automatically 'successful' and b. it doesn't mean you're an idiot if you don't like them.

That's the thing though, it probably won't touch many people because it IS so gory and unrealistic, it'll make it seem like a very distant un-reality so probably the good effect that could be got from it won't happen, and on top of that it's really not sensitive in the context of the trend in 2015. IMHO

it's not well written either so is carried by the content, which in turn is awful (n.b. I am not saying ''upsetting'' necessarily as I totally agree that kids shouldn't be wrapped in cotton wool)
there's just sooo much else that's better!
If they want to read it in their own time, fine, I would let a kid of mine read that. Endorsed & set by the school? Weird and unnecessary. Not like it's a classic.

Weird and inappropriate choice for that age group. I found it uncomfortable reading in light of actual violence at schools - I don't find that kind of humour very appealing.

I love poetry but think it is inappropriate for year 5. Particularly the guy shooting himself in the head. I would be unhappy with my own year 5 learning this. Also there are so many other funny/lovely poems to learn.

What on earth makes people think that the posters who are saying they think this poem is inappropriate for younger children are the same posters who expose young children to violent games?

^^This. As I and others have repeatedly said in previous posts, I will not be exposing my ds to those games/ films or whatever either - which are also considered 'art' in other circles. I'm not one for 'mollycoddling' either - of ds asks a question he receives a full and frank, but age appropriate, response.

I just believe that one of the saddest things about modern day culture is that we have become so desensitised to graphic violence that its depiction seems almost cartoonist. Our children's innocence (not ignorance) is a gift we should be prepared to preserve.

cartoonish

dd3 doesn't play any computer games. I think she's seen the HObbit and didn't like it as it was too violent.

But that's the whole point of the poem

That's a subtle, grown up response to a poem that's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

Its dated, unfunny and unpleasant.