Michael Rosen, the outgoing children's Laureate, - he retires tomorrow, last week had some trenchant criticisms of the way children are taught English literature.
Children, he claimed, in many places are being taught from work sheets, with bits of stories or books pre-digested, rather than being encouraged to read and discover the glories of literature and language themselves. Hundreds of thousands of children seldom even attempt to read a whole book.
He would have to admit that other, apparently more attractive, pursuits are winning the battle, - videos, electronic games, TV, sport, etc., and parents do not seem to be encouraging their children to read.
If this problem were addressed, there would be no need for the second best, spoon-fed, worksheets. And GCSE questions, and even A level, could be based on understanding, rather than regurgitating what has been drilled into them and committed to memory.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment