Our thanks to Gerry for this. In the words of the blithering idiot:
Ms Smith said said: ‘Can you remember what you studied for your GCSE English Literature exam? Macbeth? Lord of the Flies? Of Mice and Men? To Kill a Mockingbird?
‘For a long time in my near 20-year teaching career it felt as though English curricula in UK schools were stuck in a rut, with the same texts being wheeled out time and time again and unchanging exam board syllabi propping up a reading list that was pale, male and stale.
‘That’s not to say that there isn’t a place for Shakespeare, Golding et al, but, as a recent report by End Sexism In Schools pointed out, nationally 77% of novels studied at Key Stage 3 (Years 7 to 9) are authored by men, with 82% of KS3 novels featuring male protagonists: an alarming imbalance. [J4MB: The imbalances are only ‘alarming’ to ideologically-driven idiots such as Ms Smith. If books were selected solely on merit, the imbalances would be FAR higher.]
‘That’s why, for the last five years, the Alleyn’s English Department have been committed to a thorough – and ongoing – overhaul and genuine diversification of our English curriculum in the hope that every child in our community will come to see themselves, and the rich and varied world around them, represented in the texts they study and that, by doing so, they will be equipped with the empathy and confidence to challenge and dismantle sexism, racism, homophobia – indeed, discrimination of any kind – when they encounter it.’
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