To think it's a shame that To Kill a Mockingbird is no longer taught at GCSE

[liberia03]

At a time when the words of Atticus Finch might help: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”, it seems a shame that this book's not taught any more, alongside any non British writers. Non British writers aren't banned, they're just not part of the exam syllabuses anymore replaced by a 'work of fiction or drama from the British Isles from 1914 onwards'.

Wondering what other books we would like the next generation to learn about or even read before they leave school?

Yes studied TKAMB at school but was age 10/11 (year 6/7) not for O levels. Also at middle school did Animal Farm, Cider with Rosie, Bleak house and others I've since forgotten (long time ago)!

For O levels did Hardy Far from the madding crowd, All quiet on the western Front and Anne Franks diary. Strangely never studied any Shakespeare.

Oh yes Lord of the flies at middle school too. I think we studied more literature at middle school than we did at upper school!

I am an English teacher - those saying it is good to have moved towards more modern novels - the opposite is true. It is all about the British nineteenth century nowadays.

Having said that, Austen is great for our Year 10/11. They watch the BBC version, really get the characters and it is easier and less dry than some of the other offerings. Also, makes a change from the misery and death I have to teach in every other book!

I studied Frankenstein and TKAM and I left school in 2008 (which I've just realised was almost 10 years ago ).

I adore, To Kill a Mocking Bird. But then I only read it because my friends in the English Lit class were moaning about it and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about...(I was in Drama).

We did Of Mice and Men, it had a profound effect on me. My enduring memory is of throwing the book across the room when I got to the end, in floods of tears. But we had been asked to read the first chapter for homework and I couldn't stop.

I remain an avid reader but I believe this is in spite of the educational system not because of it. It's time for some more contemporary reading I think...perhaps some Pratchett, Gaimen or some Coelho?

Let's teach our children to really read....instead of boring them out of their minds. My closest friend was told at school that she would never be much of a reader...because Austen etc didn't float her boat. She is now more widely read than most.

The greatest thing to encourage our children to be readers would be the education system getting over itself.

Yes, echt, however I do believe the f-word is a relic of the Anglo-Saxon language once spoken here so the endurance of such phrases is to be expected, though I'm pretty sure not many of us proclaim "Aye, there's the rub" when tasked nowadays.

What evidence exists of Shakespeare's invention of these words and phrases? Is their first recorded use actual proof of invention? How can we be sure such terms were not commonly used in Elizabethan conversation?

I did rather like the King John snippet though, very evocative. However, to arrive here you have to plough through a great deal of unevocative rambling. My preference leans towards the 60s play The Lion in Winter, I find the story of King John's parents, particularly Eleanor of Aquitaine, far more fascinating, plus it's punchy throughout. This is a theme throughout Shakespeare, you have to dig deep to find the golden nugget. Not to mention you have to tolerate themes of rascism and misogyny which are barely tolerable in the history plays but unacceptable in what pertain to be comedies (and I use the term loosely where Shakespeare is concerned, his humour has not aged well, even if you do claim he invented the knock, knock jokes).

I'm an American, and now more than ever, our kids need to be taught this book.

I didn't do To Kill A Mockingbird at school and I took my O levels in 1985. I think we did Wuthering Heights which I hated, Of Mice and Men which I loved and I'm the King of the Castle which was really thought provoking. I can't remember which plays we did. Generally though I hated most of the books we did for English as although I'm a real bookworm I hated pulling books apart for weeks and weeks, and having to agree with the teacher's interpretation of stuff.

My children both did To Kill A Mockingbird when they were 16 as part of the Canadian syllabus and neither of them rated it at all. dh said they do it because it is very obvious (they are in a completely mixed ability system) so it's an easy text for learning literary criticism. ds was very pissed off at having to study dated southern American racism instead of something more relevant (this year he has studied First Nations English which is largely about colonial racism so a bit more topical for us here). dd also did the Crucible which she found much more thought provoking.

I read TKAMB at school and loved it, but there are many, many texts I love. I was a bit shocked a couple of year ago to find out the set texts had basically not changed since I was at school 30 years before - I think that's unreasonable.

White people sure love TKAMB.

Sleep, that list is not a claim that Shakespeare invented those phrases, but that he wrote them and we still use so many, nothing else.

Where did you get I claim he invented the knock knock joke?

If you find ideas of misogyny and racism unacceptable in art, then much that is very good in other respects becomes unavailable, as do the discussions of misogyny and racism.

I'm an American, and now more than ever, our kids need to be taught this book Agree,
Noticing that even the most mundane books seem to be of a different world now.
In England, still An Inspector Calls is still taught with the lines:
"We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish".

But, I am stil puzzled as to why literature can ever be chose according to the location of a writer's birth.
The only time in history I can think of this sort of thing happening before was in USSR and America in the 1950s.

White people sure love TKAM
I know what you're saying and I agree. It's the same for the realities of what happened, and is happening and "The Boy in the striped Pyjamas"
Is the Bluest Eye taught in US schools? Or Beloved?

The only time in history I can think of this sort of thing happening before was in USSR and America in the 1950s

Dictate a reading list, dictate what history is taught...

Memorable lines can have an impact. Or they can start a discussion. We need to have discussions and to think critically. To see different POV.

The f word is German in origin I believe

OP, I read somewhere when this issue first came up that 90% of GCSE English classes did Of Mice and Men. So To Kill a Mocking Bird was only ever studied by a very small percentage of children anyway.

kesstrel Of Mice and Men is now off the GCSE syllabus in England. Gove disliked Steinbeck apparently.

TKAM has a million flaws, not least appropriation, but I just think at a time when apartheid seems to becoming government policy in so many countries, we could at least teach our children to believe in a better way. And to fight a way through with eloquence, as so many great people have done. (Looking at you Barry)

I happen to think that Steinbeck is brilliant, alongside, Achebe, Austen , Dickens, Shange, Hardy, Wilde, and absolutely the wonderful Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose Purple Hibiscus, a study of totalitarianism in Nigeria through the paradigm of an abusive male parent seems chillingly pertinent.

It is off the syllabus.

To officially discourage children the reading of books from writers from around the world, seems to smack of aesthetic unconfidence or political insecurity or something much worse.

But many schools do OMAM in the lower years. It's still taught but not compulsory, which is fine, but the fact that one education minister's personal proclivities have dictated a reading list seems, a bit

The new GCSE syllabus is geared at higher ability. Of Mice and Men was fabulous for lower ability boys (as well as higher) as it captured their imagination. TKAMB is studied in Year 9 at my school.
My biggest concern is the use of pre 20th century extracts in the English paper. Encouraging pupils to read is not helped by reading stuff that is in a different 'language'. Badly thought out

kesstrel, you literally took the words right out of my mouth! That was what I was going to say.

A Christmas Carol is "the new" OMAM. I hate both.

"kesstrel, you literally took the words right out of my mouth! That was what I was going to say."

Literally? Really?

"pieceofpurplesky:

My biggest concern is the use of pre 20th century extracts in the English paper. Encouraging pupils to read is not helped by reading stuff that is in a different 'language'"

Presumably you support the idea of restricting pupils' study of literature to relatively contemporary works. Talk about a narrow view. I despair. There is a wealth of great literature available but let's not try to access it in case it is too challenging.

Cara, if your understanding of the phrase is that it means 'you said what I was going to before I did' then, literally, yes.

DS is doing GCSEs this year, he's doing Frankenstein and An Inspector Calls. I've never read either.

I did GCSEs in 1990, we did Of Mice & Men, Animal Farm, TKAM and the Crucible.

"unflinchingasaphotograph

Cara, if your understanding of the phrase is that it means 'you said what I was going to before I did' then, literally, yes."

You cannot literally take words out of someone's mouth unless a person has - for some obscure reason - cut up some pieces of paper on which actual words are written, and put those pieces in her/his mouth. Those words may then, possibly and very bizarrely, be taken out of the person's mouth by you.
You were speaking metaphorically as opposed to literally...