Are we too bound to the classics or is it time to move away?
Shakespeare, Dickens, Steinbeck—many, if not all, of us will have read works by these authors during secondary school. However, the relevance of these texts is becoming more and more scrutinised in the ongoing debate about education.
In The Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto, Keir Starmer acknowledged a need for a change in curriculum to reflect the “diversities of our society, ensuring every child is represented,” echoing the growing call to reassess what we are teaching in our schools. But can we dismiss the importance of these classic texts so quickly, or is there a way to reach a balance in what we teach?
Recent statistics have highlighted the lack of diversity in the UK curriculum, especially in English literature. In 2023, only 1.5% of GCSE English Literature students answered a question on a text by an author of colour, which is a marginal increase compared to 0.7% of students in 2019. This negligible representation fails to reflect the diversity in modern British literature and society.
Whilst the curriculum continues to be dominated by a narrow offering of white male authors, teachers reported to researchers from The University of Oxford that the texts from authors of colour enabled “greater cognitive engagement” on the part of students. This further emphasises how important it is that all pupils see themselves reflected in what they read and that we don’t continue the damaging narrative that only male and white voices matter.
Many of these classic texts often contain problematic language and harmful ideas about race and gender that are increasingly difficult to justify in classrooms. This calls into question if these texts are truly offering pupils something that nothing else can and if we’re simply teaching them because we always have done. What would happen if we chose to teach something else?
Undoubtedly, the narrow curriculum offered in secondary education requires a major overhaul to reflect our modern-day society and values, but should all of the classics be thrown out in the process? “Macbeth” still teaches us about the corrupting nature of power, and “A Christmas Carol” reveals the importance of kindness and redemption, themes that, if approached in an engaging way, are just as relevant to our modern world as they were centuries ago. Simply, we need to change our approach to how we teach and reexamine these through a modern lens, challenging their issues whilst still celebrating their cultural significance and conserving our rich literary history.
It is clear that the current curriculum is failing to engage modern students, and as the regional divide widens, a change is imperative to engage students and reflect the diversity and issues of the 21st century in the books we read. However, this doesn’t have to mean disposing of all classical texts. Instead, by integrating contemporary voices alongside them, such as Zadie Smith or Christy Lefteri, we can better reflect the modern British experience.
“Shakespeare” by joewcampbell is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0