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 :

Not about "pearl clutching". We are all thinking about our own children, and our local schools and deciding whether or not we feel it is appropriate. I know that this poem would be triggering for a lot of the kids I've worked with who really have had guns waved in their faces.

Mine love Horrible Histories! And that doesn't make me feel uncomfortable like this poem does. They're all dressed in silly costumes and singing daft songs whereas the poem is very descriptive. I honestly would be taken aback if my kids came home with this.

I learned this poem at primary school too!

crystal - agreed. I'm talking about for 10 year olds. Completely different at GCSE or A level.

ERM....Am still laughing at the post that said that garrotting should be "explained sensitively"...snort.
But seriously, if my dds-8 and 11- heard that, they would be really disturbed by it. Dd2 is v interested in biology and isn't squeamish but gets very upset by violence and that would definitely give her nightmares. i think it is totally inappropriate for a 10 year old. Some children of that age might find it funny, but many would not. Far too graphic and violent for primary school where maturity and sensitivity vary wildly.

My Y5s are doing Strict by Michael Rosen, school setting but not as violent as this poem.

It's a poem of its time, not suitable these days.

I learnt this in school

Just pondering -- how do you cope with your child studying history if you are so set against guns, knives, swords and violence?

That being said, I do not think this is suitable (and I was raised on Strewelpeter). I agree with this comment from Greenninja: It just seems pitched wrong to me, it's not outlandish enough to be funny or cartoonish enough. It just is graphic. Surely there are better examples of all the language and mechanics this aims to cover?

I think our sensibilities have changed as a result of many tragic events in America, and as pp mentioned, there is the possibility of the scenes of carnage being far too close to home for some children.

Well each to their own, but i think it's pretty horrible, and i wouldn't want my children reading it. I can see how it generates discussion, although i don't think it is a particularly clever or classic poem and given the violent and bloody times we are living it, it seems in poor taste. Its almost trying to hard to be hip and cool and to 'appeal'.

www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/04/gcses.english

It's this sort of ridiculous nonsense that I hope doesn't eradicate challenging material from schools.

A poem about a disaffected teenager possibly killing people. By poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

I taught it for years and the kids bloody loved it. It was a chilling and disturbing poem but fantastically written and made for very interesting conversations with the kids.

I'd be really interested to hear what your son thinks of the poem. Maybe take your lead from what he says?

Gosh, I know I'm a bit out of touch, but it's horrible.
That said, a good teacher could probably get a lot out of the kids with it .

onepot. It is a classic poem and it is not trying to be hip and cool

I'm as far from delicate and precious as it gets, but I've grown up in an age that is all-too-aware of school shootings and events like Dunblane and Columbine, and going to school after yet another school shooting and the older kids saying "It could happen here", and I think had I read that poem at ten, it would have terrified me and many others in the class. 13 onwards is okay, I think - ten is too young.

YABU. It's no worse than 'How Horatius Kept The Bridge' or 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' and 10000000000 times better than 'The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck'. I suggest you relax your grip on the pearls and enjoy the fun and vitality of the poem. I bet your DS does. And if it gives him a love of poetry, so much the better.

I think what's most disturbing about the poem in the OP is that it's about someone in authority committing violence on children. Whether satirical or not, a child reader will identify with the child in the classroom.

Actually thinking about it, we read a Welsh poem during GCSEs about a 9 year old girl killed by an English soldier during the time of the IRA, and that was really hard to read. We were all 14/15 and I remember several people in the class crying and everyone feeling quite disengaged with the poetry because we found it too upsetting - it's now been taken off the syllabus.

Again, not delicate little flowers - we're the same class who loved the war poetry module in English Lit and really engaged with it.

What is a nooligan? It sounds like a euphemism for something.

I thought it was a typo.

I'm not as sure as I was that this is ok, actually, now I've read everyone else's responses.

To be fair to the op, she doesn't come across as pearl clutchy. It is a provocative poem though, whether you see that as good or bad provocation, she's asking for our reactions not furiously typing out a strongly worded letter demanding the head's resignation. I don't think that's an extreme reaction really.

I like it. My dd (age 10) would see the funny side and would understand the satire. It might be a bit hard for some kids of 10 to get I suppose. I doubt many would be upset by it though. I agree there's lots of stuff in Roald Dahl, Horrible Histories etc which is very gruesome, but done in a darkly humorous tone like this. You don't need people to be singing and wearing silly costumes for satire or humour to be there. It's not as if a teacher is going to just chuck this poem at the class and say "Here you go. This is about a teacher killing their class. That'd be hilarious wouldn't it?"

crystalgall I totally agree with your comments about CAD. I too loved that poem and the discussions it would spark with my students. I also love The Lesson, a quirky, witty poem. BUT, it is of its time and I can see why people are uncomfortable with the idea of younger children learning it considering events in America in recent years. Oddly enough, it was set as the poem I was supposed to teach on interview a few years ago and it landed on my doormat literally days after an horrific massacre in America (I forget which one) and I was pretty shocked and immediately had a dilemma about whether I should broach the school about their choice of interview material...

Crap poem, there is no way my child would learn it by heart or read it out loud. I would be straight on to the school. They are wasting your child's time with this shit!

Another classic Roger McGough
Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an all night party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death.

There is so much good writing in his work.

I would be horrified if my child came home with this. It's also extremely inappropriate given the numerous incidents (albeit not by teachers) of mass murders etc in schools. Lots of kids know about these sorts of atrocities and this poem is particularly scary if viewed in that context. I get the jokey side obviously but it's actually way to detailed and ghoulish to be funny. It's really horrible. I would be very upset about this.