I read an interesting article written by an English tutor and published in the Telegraph this week.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7817602/English-Examinations-Have-they-got-easier.html
The article discusses the changes in the English syllabus and raises a number of issues about what our children are being taught. What I find the most worrying is the distinction in texts between the privately-educated and comprehensive pupils. As a tutor, I believe it is vital that pupils are exposed to as wide a range of texts as possible. One risk of categorisation is that pupils' knowledge is confined to narrow bands and as a result, pupils do not obtain a breadth of understanding of literature.
I believe that all pupils need to read Shakespeare and Dickens at some point during their school career but also that modern literature is not abandoned either. Examinations need to allow schools and individual teachers choice in what the pupils study but all teachers must be aware of the risk of teaching "categories" in a way which is detrimental to pupils because their opinion of literature is based on a narrow band.
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