to think Coram Boy is not a suitable book for year 7s

[vegetaria]

My 11 year old had night mares last night and is afraid to go to sleep tonight.

For anyone who doesn't know it is about a man who buys unwanted children in the UK in the 1700s, and sells them into slavery if they are above 5, or kills them by burying them alive if they are younger, and it describes several scenes of babies being buried alive and other harrowing events

Its the class book at the moment

I feel really sorry for this English teacher and the heads caving to hysterical demands from parents. I’ve been teaching for 27 years and have three adult children. I am shocked by the level of ignorance and entitlement on this thread. It is a text that has been/is taught in many schools. If you try to avoid all references to anything upsetting in Literature you won’t be left with much. There is so little autonomy for teachers in so many schools now and so much teaching has become so mechanical. I just thank my lucky stars that in my school, while the individual child’s sensitivities would be addressed, we would not be undermined by management in this way. Lots of graphic and upsetting stuff in Shakespeare and Dickens too.

@vegetaria - I don’t for a second believe it that you complained to the exam board and had the complaint upheld either. They are not ‘morons’ as you claim although I do have an issue with how narrow the curriculum has become post-Gove. You sound, frankly unhinged in the way you are posting.

Just like to add that Coram Boy is not at all 'crap' and is a thought provoking read. Those who want to ban books and pull the rug from under the teacher's feet would be far better focusing on their own methods of education their offspring of how to be part of the real world which can be challenging, difficult and rewarding!

I really hope the Head hasn't just caved in to spurious complaints.

OP you've said you teach. May I ask in what setting?

You should read up on the history of Coram Fields and it's Foundling Hospital. I haven't read the book you refer to but presumably it's history based. Frankly OP, you need to do some growing up yourself. Bad things can and do happen and the past was a miserable place for many, especially children. Today's children should be aware of this and it's parents and educators responsibility to make this happen.

Are there any adopted or foster kids, refugees' children, etc. at the school? In the neighbourhood? Don't they deserve literature that builds bridges between them and children privileged to live Enid Blyton lives? Don't privileged children deserve to develop empathy under thoughtful guidance and with a shared story?

Is this the first book that your son has read at school with darker themes? In primary my kids studied The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Goodnight Mr Tom, Holes, Horrible Histories...

It's impossible to come up with a list of books that nobody will have an emotional reaction to. I can't comment on the specific book on question but as a teacher with psychology qualifications, I am sure that you could provide the head of English with suitable texts. I totally agree with the GCSE set texts being problematic because they are chosen by politicians and more about national pride than promoting ideas and debate but I guess it's a stepping stone to the A-level which is probably equally rigid.

At my kids primary, they study World War 2 in year 5 or 6 and I thought that it was good how they focused on rationing and evacuees because those 2 aspects help kids imagine what life was like for children rather than the usual narrative of focusing on battles.

I was reading Stephen King at 11, and I'm sure it made me very resilient!

(I'm not about to stick It on a reading list for year 7, though...)

I've read the Kindle sample of Coram Boy and it looks like the sort of thing I would have enjoyed as a child. It's beautifully descriptive and rich with interesting details. That said, I don't think children should be forced to read books that traumatise them and there should always be alternatives.

No wonder there is a mental health crisis in schools if this is what they are being forced to learn about

What absolute trollop.

Not a good start. You have a total right to your opinion on whether a book is suitable for your child but you know get your facts straight.

I think a lot of “critically acclaimed” children’s literature is horrific misery lit - pretty much anything by Michael Morpurgo, who is some kind of sadist, frankly.

Honestly more absolute nonsense.

The book is not a recent publication. It's been around for a couple of decades. The content is not inappropriate for children of 11 upwards. They are its target readership and it has received awards in that category. It's been taught in many schools and adapted for the stage.

Yes, some of the things in it are scary and sad. So what? Are you going to only let your child read about happy things? Assuming you do want your child to read baby books at the age of 11, why should other kids have to be deprived of excellent children's literature as a class read? Good books are not straightforward and your daughter needs to be exposed to books with difficult themes and complex issues. She's going to trail behind other kids in terms of literacy and emotional development if you don't let her grow up a little bit.

Have you read Goodnight Mister Tom? That's a renowned children's novel that's been read in schools since it was published around 1980ish. It was also adapted as a children's film by ITV in the 90s starring John Thaw and that too was critcally acclaimed. It's on loads of reading lists for kids of your child's age. Anyway (spoiler alert) the main character is an wartime evacuee who has been severely neglected and abused by his mother. When he is summoned back to London from the countryside and disappears, his host, Tom, becomes worried about him and goes to find him. He does indeed find him, but he has been abandoned by his mother and locked in a cupboard where he is holding his baby sister, who has died in his arms a couple of days previously. Oh, and later in the book his best friend is killed in an air raid.

Yes, it's sad. Yes, it's upsetting. But books are SUPPOSED to evoke an emotional response. It is OK for children to be shocked, saddened, scared or disgusted by what they read sometimes. That is how fiction works. It is perfectly possible to present terrible things in an age-appropriate way. Goodnight Mr Tom does that, and so does Coram Boy. They're both brilliant books.

Your daughter had a nightmare. So what? She'll get over it. It's not a big deal. She's learning to process fear safely. It's normal.

The head didn't say the head of English was new and inexperienced, other students and parents have said so. I didn't speak directly to the head, just to someone else who was passing the message on, as it has already been decided

So gossip? Have you seen her CV?

I guess just this HOD is just another victim of the wave of inexperienced teachers being promoted years too early as there are no candidates for the jobs. I'd lay odds they have never had a baby. I'd lay odds that they are from a privileged background thinking they are being "edgy" by introducing traumatic themes,

More gossip and supposition.

Honestly OP you don't help yourself.

Good reads recommends it for children 9-12 so I think your lad might just need to toughen up a bit.

Oh dear

OP, I'm sorry that your son has had such a strong reaction to what appears to be an age-appropriate children's book. Have you considered whether some sort of counselling would help him to process what has happened with his cousin and build his resilience?

Lots of children's books contain "difficult" themes that could be triggering for certain children in one way or another, depending on their individual experiences - perhaps even most children's books. While I understand the concern for children like your son who have very fragile mental health, the research shows that children generally benefit from reading and talking about "dark" themes, and it would probably be detrimental to their mental health to wrap them up in cotton wool to such an extent that they were never exposed to anything which might prove upsetting for somebody. It would be a shame for the majority of kids to lose out if schools had to sanitise the curriculum to such an extent that only 100% happy themed books could be read and talked about.

However, I can see most people on here agree with me, which is very reassuring, so thankyou for those who have been supportive, it gave me impetus!

No Don't think so.I think you've imagined that.

I think you're on a roll OP. I would be very annoyed if other parents dictated what books my children could study. I'd prefer to take my lead from the actual teacher. Though you have a very low opinion of teachers.

Sounds like you've based a lot of your 'facts' on gossip and speculation.

This sounds like the kind of book I would have devoured at that age. My parents let me read whatever I wanted and I read widely.

Clearly your son is a bit fragile for that but I don't think you should be making demands that affect the whole class.

Agree. If the Year 7 kids were reading Fifty Shades of Gray or something, I would agree, but this is a children's book, aimed at around that age group. I would be upset if teachers had to restrict potential reading material for the whole class to content that couldn't possibly upset anyone. The choices would be so limited, and the kids would miss out on so much great literature!

I bet there are a lot of class parents from OPs son's class who have something to say about what these complaining parents have apparently initiated.

Lots of eye rolling going on.

I'd be quite cross if my child's exposure to award-winning, age-appropriate, thought-provoking, historically accurate literature was limited by a precious parent. I would trust the school, the English dept and the teacher before a random parent.

Well, yes, especially if they've had to abandon it before they have finished reading and talking about it.

I would hope that they're allowed to finish it and discuss it if they haven't already done so. The kids whose parents have complained could perhaps be taken out of class by a TA to do something else while the rest of the kids finish the unit?

I can't think of a single work of great literature that wouldn't upset an over-sensitive outlier. There is variation in sensitivity in any human population. Why should the extremes of the bell curve be catered to at the expense of the majority? If As others have said, if I was a parent, I would be furious if my child were being deprived the chance to discover and study critically-acclaimed works of literature because a classmate of theirs was over-anxious.

Many children crave to read books that move them in good ways or bad ways. It's a raw human desire. This is anti-intellectual nonsense akin to destroying a beautiful Italian sculpture so nobody else can see it just so it doesn't offend your eyes. Teachers do take into account the age of children when they set texts. They base it on the majority of that age group pitched to the average sensibilities of that age group - it's not like they are studying A Clockwork Orange at age 11 on the Curriculum (even though many young teens would have no problem with that!).

Great works of literature are great because they deal with themes like the human condition, overcoming adversity, heartbreak, tragedy, betrayal, revenge, war. Some are meant to evoke feelings of sorrow, revulsion, contemplation, disturbance, horror etc. I have read many novels in my life that have made me weep, be frightened, feel extreme sadness or despair - they were all wonderful books. I loved feeling those emotions. It's exhilerating. Those are normal emotions that come with discovering new things in life. I want to feel those emotions. The human population wants to feel those emotions. If they didn't, they wouldn't be such popular and loved great works of literature. They are formative to growing up and discovering things about yourself and the world.

Children and young adults throughout history have always read books with all sorts of themes some may find horrifying. Everything from The Iliad to Shakespeare's plays to Frankenstein to Treasure Island to Crime and Punishment to Tess of The d'Urbevilles is bound to upset at least someone. That's what literature is. These books are taught in curriculums all over the world. Most of the great classics contain material much darker than the book you are complaining about. Should children never be exposed to anything? Should they not learn about the atrocities of the Holocaust or great famines or war crimes? Should they not learn about genetic disorders or cancer or nuclear disasters? Should they not learn about slavery or the barbarity of ancient civilisations or how women were treated throughout history on the account it may upset one or two class members? There would be virtually nothing to teach.

And I believe the public consensus on the mental health issue in children is equated to children being massively over-coddled, everyday normal unpleasant teen emotions and experiences being pathologised as "extreme trauma", children having no resilience or exposure to discomfort or difference of opinion and parents overindulging and encouraging kids anxieties. The mental health crisis isn't being caused by children being exposed to critically-acclaimed and age appropriate great works of literature.

OP you've said you teach. May I ask in what setting?

order of the phoenix era hogwarts possibly.

@gnarlypumpkin - it’s so subtle the students don’t know it’s happened in most cases.

@blackbird77 - couldn’t agree with you more!