Steven Erlanger writes in the NYT:
LONDON — When government shapes a nation’s literary education, politics inevitably plays a role. That has come clear in the case of the influential and controversial British minister of education, Michael Gove, who was accused of jingoism this week for new syllabus requirements that have led to the removal of classic American works like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Crucible.”
At issue are the minimum requirements for students taking the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) English exam, usually given when they are 15 or 16. Mr. Gove had complained that many taking the test had read only one novel, and, for 90 percent of those students, that was John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”
When first reported in the Guardian, Grauniad readers erupted in fury at the idea of British children reading more British literature.
I’m a patriotic American and all that, but it’s been obvious to me since about the eighth grade that British literature is, on the whole, superior to American literature (especially for young people). That British schoolkids have been saddled for years with mandatory reading of Mid-Century liberal American message novels is just another depressing example of how America’s gigantic victory in The Big One gave us more cultural dominance than our artists deserved. The Brits were on the winning side, too — and wrote some excellent literature based on it, such as Watership Down, an allegory of Operation Market Garden employing talking rabbits — but came out of it feeling worn out and humbled.
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How is, say, R.L. Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” not a good novel to get boys interested in reading?
http://www.unz.com/isteve/the-tedium-of-american-cultural-dominance/#comment-556765
“Some examination boards have chosen to replace some recommended American novels with British ones, like Meera Syal’s “Anita and Me,” a 1997 multicultural coming-of-age tale, ”
I don’t know, Steve. Does this sound better than TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD?
“How is, say, R.L. Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” not a good novel to get boys interested in reading?”
Seems quite fine for that purpose. But, of course, I can think of excellent books for boys by Americans: JOHNNY TREMAIN, HAVE SPACESUIT-WILL TRAVEL, CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY, A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA, THE CALL OF THE WILD, THE SEA-WOLF, A WRINKLE IN TIME, etc
That’s a pretty good list of boys’ books, Syon!
I have to laugh. Of all the American literature, they get that? Come on, drop some Twain and Hawthorne in there! OK, ‘Of Mice and Men’ is good, but…
But…yes. Make ‘em read some British stuff. You’ve got an extra thousand years or so to work with (nobody’s making the average kid read Beowulf).