The Bard, banned from Britain

From the Daily Mail, July 11:

"Shakespeare will be ditched from secondary school tests under plans being considered by ministers, it emerged yesterday.

"Teenagers would no longer sit formal tests on the country's most renowned playwright under a shake-up of English Sats for 14-year-olds.

"They would instead be assessed by their teachers on their understanding of the plays after performing them and studying their 'wider cultural context'."

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Okay. The Daily Mail loves to cherry-pick issues, sometimes, and even more loves to headline stories that probably don't deserve as much hysterical attention as they're given.

But read the whole thing.

"New-style Sats tests being trialled in 400 schools with a view to nationwide introduction from 2010 do not include a Shakespeare section.

"Instead, the Government has produced new materials to help teachers assess pupils' understanding of the Bard without the use of tests.

Read this again: "(Teenagers) would instead be assessed by their teachers on their understanding of the plays after performing them and studying their 'wider cultural context'."

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@#$% "wider cultural context." This is a synonym for "How we want you to see it."

"Lively discussion" my @$$.

Shakespearean studies involve a deep search into many levels of human truth. The complexity of Shakespeare's observations defies some "teacher" assessing adolescent "understanding."

I'm so angry about this I want to go out and hurt someone. But I won't.

The Bard said: "I like not fair terms and a villain's mind." ("The Merchant of Venice")

Neither do I.

(via A Missourian at An Advocate for the Republic)