Classics deemed boring – turned away!

Apr 22 2007

I came across this article over a month ago and it sat in my "favorites" folder since then because I kinda forgot about it. But the other day I was going through all the links I had stored to try to clean them out, and I saw this article again.

The gist of the article is that schools in Britain are turning away free classics books because they figure students will find them boring and difficult! I couldn’t believe it when I read the story.Here’s a short excerpt:

Around 50 schools have refused to stock literary works by the likes of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens after admitting that youngsters also find them boring.

If students are finding these works boring and difficult, then the schools are not doing a good enough job teaching them. I admit, even I can find Shakespeare boring if the professor just stands in front of the class and lectures for an hour – and renaissance literature is my concentration for my degree program!

The teachers of these young pupils need make the classics "come alive" by engaging the students in discussions and relating these works to current events (every Shakespeare play can be related to a current event in one way or another).

No student should be denied the enjoyment of reading these books. A little time and effort is all that’s required to get used to the language that writers like Shakespeare or even Charles Dickens used. Furthermore, students need to be taught to read first for enjoyment and getting the basic plot down, essential characters, etc, and then worry about the academic criticism later.

Hopefully these schools will see the errors of their ways and accept these free gifts. Please read the article for yourself at:

Schools refuse gifts of ‘boring classics’