Narrowing the canon

It made me so angry!

As a teacher of English Literature I really enjoyed the freedom I once had to select texts to read with youngsters.  The world was my oyster and there was such a fantastic range of literature to pick from.

I was worried by the arrival of the National Curriculum reading list and avoided many of the items of literature that left me cold.  I did, however,  enjoy the challenge of teaching Shakespeare in new and interesting ways.  I liked the way exam specifications began to open doors for contemporary literature and encouraged my department to try new things...  I banned "Of Mice and Men". Not that there's anything particularly wrong with it,  just that there were other more exciting, challenging texts to teach if teachers would push themselves just a little way out of their comfort zone.

Then I stepped down from being Head of Dept and a new person came in.  And the dictat came out.  "They will all do Of Mice and Men".  Something inside me died.

So as my memento today of one of my last days at work,  you have a corner of a dusty old stock cupboard, one of many I have spent ages cleaning and tidying over the years.