... to think that Shakespeare should be taught in schools?

[LorelaiVictoriaGilmore]

Just that really. I had a massive argument with my sister this afternoon about a number of things to do with the education system in the UK but this is one of the key points we disagreed on. I think it is good that Shakespeare is taught in schools because there lots of kids who do get something out of it and there are kids who may go on to university to study drama or English literature and it would be a shame if they got to 18 and had never been taught Shakespeare. My sister thinks it shouldn't be taught in schools because lots of kids will never 'get' it and never use it. She thinks that those kids who do want to go to uni to read English literature or drama will discover it on their own. I can sort of see what she's saying, especially given the number of kids who leave school without good literacy skills... but I still think I'm right! AIBU?

There are loads of things that are done in school that some kids will ‘never get’. Like the 1500m or the potters wheel.

Potter's wheel?? What school did you go to? We never had anything half that fancy!

Anyway, I'd be in favour of teaching it but maybe in a cut down way. Take the kids to see a play or watch a video performance, but don't have them try and study it in detail. It was rubbish at my comprehensive and made worse by the fact that there was a bizarre decision taken to put all the subjects into sets apart from English. So I was sat next to a boy with severe learning difficulties who struggled with even basic English watching him being forced to try and read out a Shakespeare scene to the class. I think a lot of people didn't get anything out of it and it loses a lot of its impact being read from a book anyway. I would be surprised if anyone enjoyed studying it in that setting.

Sadly the new GCSE will result in Shakespeare being taught to exam rather than for enjoyment.
Personally I would get all children to be able to go and watch a play in the theatre as Shakespeare intended and do a workshop on it.

My kids havent done any Shakespeare. Its all modern stuff plus a couple of classic books.

I liked Shakespeare at school but a lot of kids hated it. Have taken my then 12 yr old to see a live screening of RSC doing '12th Night' and he loved it.

Horses for courses and if more modern books get them interested in literature and discussing the issues in them then its all good.

LRDthefeministdragon
Words that Shakespear invented
www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/comedy_5_1.html

Aw shucks, wrong link. I’ll try again

Ok, so it’s can’t do tech, but the link I’ve lost says shakespear added over1700 words to our language.

I think teaching Shakespeare in schools is good for the kids, it's a good way to expand their knowledge of the English language and his plays still stand the test of time (proven by the amount of movies based on or inspired by his plays).
I do think that we should also be introducing more modern literature into schools however, there is always such a focus on 'the classics', but why not use more current authors also?

Shakespeare is universal, & that includes his language!

I teach different Shakespeare plays from years 7-13, & in my experience it's nearly always the best unit of the year.

The way I was taught Shakespeare myself (grammar school in the '80s) was pretty dry, & I only fully appreciated how brilliant he was once I lucked out with an amazing teacher.

We do a better job with him now, I'd hope - analysing his language in manageable chunks rather than drearily reading the whole text round the class. Discussing the human dilemmas he poses, which are still hugely relevant.

& above all teaching the plays AS plays - comparing different interpretations & modern influences.

If you can't get year 9 or 10 to fall in love with R&J, or year 13 with Othello - you're doing it all wrong!

I have alwayd thought the real problem with studying Shakespeare at school is the way it is done. If you talk to the most avid readers who read complex and difficult books even amongst them PLAY reading is only enjoyed by a few. Watching performances is enjoyed by many but not reading the scripts

Plays are difficult for most people to read and Shakespeare's language makes it even harder.

At GCSE level plays should be studied as plays - reading them can be done later at degree level. Study them by watching them being performed - with modern technology watching excerpts and analysing them Is perfectly possible.

At this stage stick to reading novels that were written to be read and watch plays that were written to be watched.

Shakespeare definitely has a place in the English curriculum, but not to the exclusion of more contemporary authors. I know there is a balance these days but the emphasis still seems to be leaning towards Shakespeare.

His impact on the development of our language absolutely can't be ignored but I think it could be taught more generally, more reflectively, rather than with the in-depth study and tedious dissemination of his plays and texts.

It was taught at both DC’s schools, and I believe it should be taught.

At DD’s school, there was a mention of “excerpt-based learning”. I am no expert in this but it seemed to involve giving them the plot, a couple of scenes, and some key quotes.

I was aghast that my child, and in fact any child, should be denied Shakespeare. I had to go in and see the head.

They dropped the idea. Possibly they were dropping it anyway.

I teach Drama. We do it in Year 7 and 9. Kids love it. Seriously.

So I was sat next to a boy with severe learning difficulties who struggled with even basic English watching him being forced to try and read out a Shakespeare scene to the class.

So, this is pretty much my sister's argument which I do understand. But she basically told me that I was a massive intellectual snob and totally out of touch with reality for thinking that there are more kids who get something out of it and that you can't take something off the syllabus because there are kids who will struggle with it.

I'm not sure, but isn't it a myth Shakespeare added so much to the language?

I have this poster in my classroom.

Studying Shakespeare is really not beyond the capability of the average teenager, and what he has to say about the human heart is just as relevant today as it was all those centuries ago. But now it requires a little bit of perseverance and work to understand it at first, and so many teenagers, brought up in a world of instant gratification, Love Island and TOWIE, where everything is communicated via tweets or emojis, aren’t willing to make the effort. So it’s “like SO boring” (insert teenage eye roll here) when what they mean is: it’s more challenging than they like anything to be.

My A Level students almost universally prefer Chaucer to any of their other pre-20th century texts, btw, once they get the hang of the language.

Cbeebies have done two shakespeare plays with a mix of modern and old language. Its good to start them young I think. DD certainly loved them and I have ended up reading bits of Midsummer Nights dream to her. Will be getting her the box set recommended when she is a bit older and can read.

I personally loved doing Shakespeare at school and college, less so Chaucer and frankly I would find Irvine Welsh tedious. I guess it is difficult to please everyone.

I did Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest at school. The year 7 to 9 teacher was good, but the 10 to 11 one was brilliant - a dead ringer for Richard Burton's voice, and a keen thespian! He used to stroll around the class, declaiming the text, and drawing out our ideas and comments. We also went to see a stage production, film version, and had a travelling theatre come to the school. It was fantastic, - I was enthralled, and judging from the audience, so was everyone else.
Shakespeare wrote his work to be performed, and I think just treating it as a book to plough through really detracts from the experience.

So yes, I definitely think it should be taught, but not all schools have the staff or ability (theatre trips etc) to do it justice.

Glad to hear that Chaucer is on the A level list. A friend of mine has an English Lit degree from the 1990's and has never read him. I was amazed!

I absolutely loathe Shakespeare. I did GCSE Macbeth. I saw a production of MND, slightly better than reading about it.

I think it is important that Shakespeare is taught to a bunch of uninterested 15 year old. It is a key lesson that nothing in life will ever again be as fucking tedious as some dull middle aged teacher explaining the significance of the soliloquy from The Merchant of Venice.

I think it's important to actually watch the plays - in all the various different forms (stage/films/contempary/traditional etc) and learn what the stories are (by reading book versions like Usbourne ones) and even performing the plays. But reading aloud the scripts in class and analysing each scene and character is sooooo boring.
This is for all plays taught in schools not just Shakespeare. They are plays, not novels.

Never studied shakespeare and don’t think I missed out on anything

I never had to do Shakespeare at O Level and I’m glad. We did books such as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (which led me to read all of his novels in subsequent years and consider the rotten core of humankind). We also did a cracking set of modern poems (with only one Sasson) from an anthology called ‘This Day and Age’. Ebay did a sterling job of turning up an old copy of this a couple of years ago, which took me right back to being 16 again. Our Head of English was brilliant at conveying complex, mature themes to a bunch of teenagers and chose set works he though would flick our switch (and they did).

I studied 5 Shakespeare plays in the second year of my Music and Drama degree, comparing various stagings of all 5. That was quite enough! I really enjoyed the recent Macbeth film though, superbly acted.

It is definitely the way it's taught. It's drama and should be taught as such. We teach "Active" Shakespeare and the RSC trained all our teachers and it's brilliant. The students love it and because they are up and about and acting they feel a massive sense of achievement. Shakespeare isn't "difficult" if done in this way and immensely rewarding!

I teach Shakespeare to my special school class of pupils with severe and profound learning difficulties every two years. It is the highlight of school for them!

Depends how it's taught. Every bastard year I have kids tell me they hate Shakespeare and it's in another language and what's the point cos they're going to work on.their dad's building site or get an apprenticeship at local car factory (good luck with that one in a couple of years), but they all enjoy the story and starting to work out the text.

It is getting harder though-most of my kids don't even watch tv or films, so they struggle with the whole idea of stories and plots.

I've taught macbeth 16 times and still love it. I can't usually read things more th Han once. My proudest moment was when a sporty gcse student who just 'don't get macbeth' saw a connection to Scarface and the penny dropped. He stayed on for 6th form, did English and when to uni. All his plans changed.wipes a little teAr. Stirring music begins to play