On public 'apathy'
I was just reading a piece by a teacher who was complaining that pupils are missing out on an all-round, inclusive English Lit education because of the texts recommended by Michael Gove and his government. This near-total exclusion of works written by Black authors and poets in the curriculum surely has, and will continue to have, a negative effect, not only in terms of empathy but also on inspiring non-Black people to support them at times like these in particular; it also means that the march towards progress is deliberately derailed.
The continued emphasis, in the curriculum, is on the small and quaint literary worlds created by Dickens, Eliot, Austen et al. Now, I happen to love many of their books but, in general, their discussion and theme is the smaller stuff of life (love, marriage, family, provincial life etc). While these things are undoubtedly important to an extent, aside from Dickens' consideration of the poor and the very young, these literary worlds are exclusive; I would in fact argue that the novels are chosen not because of the life-lessons they offer but because they oblige their readers to be insular, and to think in an insular manner - like the teaching of British history in our schools, there are vast 'spaces' - the absence of lives unlike our own - wilfully left empty by design. Is it any wonder if older generations, ingrained with much the same teaching (dictated to teachers by politicians' 'recommendations') and with decades of anti-'other' propaganda, aren't inspired to protest? Thankfully, and often courtesy of much-maligned social media, young people today appear to have a social conscience which is exemplary, despite the obstacles placed in their way by those who rule over us.
