A level Lit

[Piggywaspushed]

Anyone got any ideas or thoughts why the decline in popularity of Lit? Is it just the cult of STEM? (no offence STEM ists)

At my school, the numbers for next year have twice as many doing economics as A level lit, 3 times as many doing maths and 3 times as many doing physics and psychology...

Politics has fallen off, too, but history remains very popular.

Large comp - high achieving - lots of A level choice. Usual issues of MFL being dead on its feet.

[Piggywaspushed]

How lovely.

We used to do this for Shakespeare, back in the 'good old days'

[echt]

We teach films for English (Rear Window) but in Literature they are only used for Text Transformations, so seeing how Apocalypse Now is an adaptation of Heart of Darkness. For the last ten years, films have been literature in Victoria. Now they are not.

I kind of see what they mean. I was when I the Importance arrived in Au and first taught films as literary texts, but OMG what a thrill to teach Casablanca, Chinatown, Far From Heaven and Mary and Max. I'm a bit peeved they've been re-classified, rather in the same way that Pluto isn't a planet any more.

[Piggywaspushed]

You teach films?

There is a stock cupboard problem for lots of schools which Gove made worse by changing the new spec so much that most books in stock cupboards - Shakespeare aside- bit the dust..

[echt]

I'm in Au, and thinking about OMAM's enduring popularity, isn't it also because of schools having to provide texts that the budget and what's in the stock cupboard that governs text choice as much as what's on the syllabus. I've not taught it in years and would love to. The major objection I've had is that "it's not relevant", as if that was the defining characteristic of the worthwhile.

Here the parents have to buy the texts, and all exam texts last only four years before biting the dust. It's knackering but exciting. Next year, i.e. next week, I'll be teaching Heart of Darkness; A Taste of Honey (retro or what?); Coriolanus; A Room Of One's Own; Apocalypse Now; Rear Window and 1984.

[Piggywaspushed]

I agree Fatniss and I think Steinbeck would too.

Anyway, Gove's objection to OMAM wasn't based on feminist principles; this much we are certain of.

[FartnissEverbeans]

I can see the appeal/convenience for repeat teaching, but I would have thought teachers would have been as sick of that book after years and years of it as I am after I've taught the same text 3 times!

I must have read Of Mice and Men about fourteen times and, although I do get a bit tired of it at times, it's different with every class. I can't remember teaching it to a class who didn't love it - I've even seen groups of bottom set boys go all teary eyed at the end. So although I might get a bit tired of the text itself, I don't think I'll ever get tired of teaching it.

Also, I've developed some really beautiful resources over the years and would probably cry if I had to scrap them all. Thankfully we still teach it to Y9 even though it's not on the GCSE spec any more.

Also the whole 'rape myth' part of it is what I teach. It's quite interesting - the kids always start out hating Curley's wife and then slowly realise that she is one of the most vulnerable, powerless characters in the whole text. Even when she's dead the men are still hurling insults at her. Poor girl, nobody cares.

The students are actually marked in their ability to link the texts to their social and historical contexts - that includes commenting on sexism, racism etc.

[ouchthathurtsabit]

There will always be work for people who are educated and interested in the world, even superficially, as long as they can write a grammatical sentence. Just maybe not in laboratories. And perhaps not the best starting salaries.


Agreed!

[OCSockOrphanage]

There will always be work for people who are educated and interested in the world, even superficially, as long as they can write a grammatical sentence. Just maybe not in laboratories. And perhaps not the best starting salaries.

[PinguDance]

I didn't know I had it so good with the synoptic exam! I once heard an English Lit degree described as 'an extension of a hobby' by an English Lit grad so you are indeed up against that sort of attitude. On the other hand, I know 3 national journalists my age who all have Eng Lit degrees - two of them have wealthy parents and none of them went to Oxbridge. So it still has that going for it, sort of.

[ouchthathurtsabit]

I’m an English lang/lit graduate and I think a lot of this stems from society. STEM subjects apparently lead to better paid Careers and English is seen as ‘useless’ 😢

[OCSockOrphanage]

Aaah... explained. It sounds quite similar in its logic.

[Piggywaspushed]

No, the synoptic unit was just the final unit of 6 in the early days of AS/ A2.

[OCSockOrphanage]

Was the synoptic exam formerly the S paper? I enjoyed that at school, but thought it had disappeared?

DS is doing FLW this year, but John Fowles seems to be out of fashion generally.

[Piggywaspushed]

I guess it'll start working its way to degree level :at the moment English is still hard to get into .

I do hear you on OMAM but, nope, never tired of teaching it! It's party because it's a joy to read aloud :kids will just sit and listen and I love the rhythmical qualities of the dream passages. The students love Lennie and respond with genuine (if somewhat in need of steering) emotion to the ending.

[SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace]

Just come back to this - I mentioned what my dd thought were the reasons a few pages back. She personally is not averse to analysis at all, and enjoys both Maths and English (is currently trying to decide which she wants to do at university) - but definitely felt that a lot of people at the end of year 11 felt they'd had enough.

I'm a lecturer in English lit - the reason we all hate OMAM is obviously all the rape myth stuff, but also the kinds of things students think of as amazing symbolism and foreshadowing as learnt from that text (Curley's wife has RED nail varnish, symbolising a) danger and b) she is a whore, according to the Universal Dictionary of Colours in Books). Tried doing Grapes of Wrath with first years and they said they were all so Steinbecked-out that the thought of another, longer, Steinbeck really turned them off.

I can see the appeal/convenience for repeat teaching, but I would have thought teachers would have been as sick of that book after years and years of it as I am after I've taught the same text 3 times!

I digress

It's not surprising perhaps that in the current climate whatever is perceived to lead to a specific career, and to be 'worthwhile' is winning out. It's sad - and personally, for me too!

[Piggywaspushed]

pingu I think that was back in the halcyon days of what was called the 'synoptic exam' : I did 'post colonial lit' as a loos theme but it was basically teach them any text you like... lovely! That's when I taught White Teeth which has also fallen out of fashion, even though it now seems very prescient.

FLW and The Collector do seem to have fallen by the wayside along with some once fashionable poets.

Personally, I like Atonement and the film was great but can see what you mean : Kite Runner definitely fits into that kind of category (the creative writing degree type writer). I have read other McEwans and they leave me cold.

[PinguDance]

We also did a weird sort of 'general' exam where you didn't have set texts but just had to read loads of different stuff and then the exam asked you vague questions and you had to answer using whichever examples you wanted. Can't remember it very well but it was quite fun - we had a great lesson on Victorian erotic literature where we all had to write our own examples after reading bits of Fanny Hill!

That was good module for me because it really suited those of us who read a lot outside of set texts, quite a nice way to acknowledge a general love of books and reading in the marking.

[PinguDance]

This thread has been really interesting! It's moved on a bit now but the discussion of the set texts reminded me that I did Death of a Salesman twice (GCSE and AS level - went form secondary to sixth form college) and hated it both times, so did the entire class (both times) and both the teachers. Interestingly the fact the teachers openly said they thought it was a bit crap made the lessons more engaging than if they'd pretended to like it (both 'cool male' teachers though). It gave us a lot more material to work with in the exams.

A Levels were c. 10 years ago and I also did Keats, Gatsby, King Lear, Edward the Second, and Tess + The Handmaid's Tale in a comparative coursework bit although we could choose to do alternative texts if we wanted. That doesn't seem too bad compared to the texts mentioned as currently popular - they sound very uninspiring. Atonement seems to have been written for the express purpose of featuring in an A Level syllabus, although I felt the same about The Handmaid's Tale; they're both full of THEMES and the story and characterisations comes second. Where's the French Lieutenant's Woman gone? That was also done in my sixth form and general very popular.

[noblegiraffe]

You would say that, you're down the bottom end of the graph!

I saw a list of the best-paying degrees a while back and the top ones were in various types of engineering (with civil engineering the highest) so I'm surprised that engineering comes below maths. I think it was lifetime earnings rather than 5 years post-graduation.

[Piggywaspushed]

Money isn't everything, I guess.

[Piggywaspushed]

They can't all graduate and become Bankers though??

[Piggywaspushed]

Didn't think of Banking! Of course!

[YellowPrimula]

Banking, actuaries ( awful exams though) , underwriting, accountancy ( starts relatively low but climbs, more exams ) ,

[Piggywaspushed]

... which plenty do!

What is it that mathematicians are doing post degree that is so well paid out of interest?