• Michael Gove 'axes To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men from GCSE syllabus' because he "really
    132 replies, posted
[quote=London Evening Standard][b]Michael Gove has reportedly axed American classics Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird from the GCSE English literature syllabus.[/b] [b]The Education Secretary "really dislikes"[/b] John Steinbeck's classic tale of farm labourers George and Lennie, Of Mice and Men, and is keen to increase the number of British works studied by pupils. The Sunday Times reported that one of Britain's biggest exam boards, OCR, said: [b]"Of Mice and Men, which Michael Gove really dislikes, will not be included. It was studied by 90 per cent of teenagers taking English literature in the past. "Michael Gove said that was a really disappointing statistic."[/b] OCR added: "In the new syllabus 70-80 per cent of the books are from the English canon."[/quote] [url=http://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/michael-gove-axes-to-kill-a-mockingbird-and-of-mice-and-men-from-gcse-syllabus-9432662.html]Source[/url]
I studied of mice and men in English GCSE I enjoyed it
So is Gove some nationalist asshole?
Of Mice and Men was great. Hated Shakespeare though.
[QUOTE=Arctic-Zone;44903739]So is Gove some nationalist asshole?[/QUOTE] He's the Education Secretary, even though he has never worked in education and is -by and large- a tit.
Of mice and men is easy though
I remember when I had to read Of mice and men 5 or 6 years ago for my English GCSE. It was a good book I don't see why Mr Gove is so anal about removing it because it is not British. Not a surprising move anyway as everywhere I have gone be it school or college every teacher I have talked to has hated him. Michael Gove is just a shit stain on the education system that should be removed.
[QUOTE]axes To Kill a Mockingbird[/QUOTE] The story is pretty influential text about the oppression of the black populous 60 years ago. We read it in year 10. The themes are still pretty relevant, if you ask me.
Woah weird... Both are great books!
I read some pretty shitty books back in school but I thoroughly enjoyed Of Mice and Men.
Of Mice and Men was a great book though. If anything they should get rid of Shakespeare. Have you ever sat through a class and tried listening to chav's read it in ye olde Englishe and get it hilariously wrong everytime? 'Oi Romeo, Oi Romeow, Whare you at you Romeo'
gove what in the fuck are you doing
i'm convinced the tory cabinet is played by a bunch of character actors trying to make the goofiest and shittest cabinet minster characters ever
Read both of them during GCSE english, is he having a laugh they were great and I remember the stories to this day. Probably the only reason I did relatively well in English was because I enjoyed these.
So, if I'm understanding this correctly, we're removing these two great books from the GCSE syllabus because they're not British and the education secretary doesn't like them very much. When has that ever been a good argument for bettering education?
hey fuckass [video=youtube;0la5DBtOVNI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI&feature=kp[/video]
That's stupid, To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the best of the high school English books we 'had' to read.
Good. Of Mice and Men was terrible.
Thank god I absolutely hated Of Mice and Men.
[QUOTE=Gubbinz96;44903808]Of Mice and Men was a great book though. If anything they should get rid of Shakespeare. Have you ever sat through a class and tried listening to chav's read it in ye olde Englishe and get it hilariously wrong everytime? 'Oi Romeo, Oi Romeow, Whare you at you Romeo'[/QUOTE] I think that schools just teach Shakespeare the wrong way. His plays are fantastic comedies and people don't realize it. Hell, my favorite play is his first one, where the story is about a man who bakes his daughter into a fuckin' pie. It's amazing dark comedy but we treat it like it's some high class sophisticated shit when the plays back then were always aimed toward the lower class. [editline]25th May 2014[/editline] Romeo and Juliet is a dark ironic comedy and people don't realize it. Hell, the ending itself is a giant givaway to that fact.
To Kill a Mockingbird was the only book I enjoyed reading in school
[QUOTE=Lium;44903974]Good. Of Mice and Men was terrible.[/QUOTE] much rather sit in your room reading Bible passages and frothing at the mouth
Dude, what the fuck? Mockingbird is a great book. If anything I'd axe it so that kids would read it and enjoy and take something from it it rather than rejecting it because it's part of a shitty English Literature exam system which is all about testing your memory and writing speed, not your actual understanding of literature. I'll admit to hating it during my GCSEs myself, for that exact reason; I hated everything we did because it was part of English. Still, we shouldn't get so riled up by Gove. He's a professional dickwad.
Mice and men was boring as fuck
So he's removing the only good ones?
They probably should remove Shakespeare (I actually like it) because you're supposed to be studying [I]modern[/I] English.
[QUOTE=Reds;44904139]So he's removing the only good ones?[/QUOTE] Sounds about right. I quite enjoyed Of Mice and Men. To Kill a Mockingbird was also pretty good. The rest were absolutely arse.
I finally got to finish studying TKAM last week and I grew to hate it due to having to study it for so long, but the book itself is great and an extremely important piece of literature. Very strange removing it.
What's up with the shakespeare hate? That guy was a fucking incredible playwright. I thoroughly enjoyed Macbeth, Hamlet and R&J. Plus, Of Mice and Men is a great book too.
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;44903996]I think that schools just teach Shakespeare the wrong way. His plays are fantastic comedies and people don't realize it. Hell, my favorite play is his first one, where the story is about a man who bakes his daughter into a fuckin' pie. It's amazing dark comedy but we treat it like it's some high class sophisticated shit when the plays back then were always aimed toward the lower class. [editline]25th May 2014[/editline] Romeo and Juliet is a dark ironic comedy and people don't realize it. Hell, the ending itself is a giant givaway to that fact.[/QUOTE] GCSE English is all about finding shit in the text that doesn't mean anything and trying to make it mean something. You pick out a phrase and then link it to something unrelated because it gives you the grades. I mean my teacher flat out said there are no wrong answers as long as you back up your bullshit with quotes since anyone can interpenetrate things differently.
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