I’m in agreement with Nadhim Zahawi here.
Removing poems by Philip Larkin and Wilfred Owen from a GCSE course has been described as “cultural vandalism” by the education secretary.
Nadhim Zahawi criticised the decision by exam board OCR and promised he would be speaking to its bosses.
The examining body said it made the changes to the GCSE poetry anthology to offer more diversity.
“Larkin and Owen are two of our finest poets,” the Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon tweeted.
“Removing their work from the curriculum is cultural vandalism. I will be speaking to the exam board to make this clear.”
He’s right. However, there’s an important point here. The subject is English literature. This is a rich subject. It is also diverse as over the centuries, we have produces some fantastic writers who have produced a rich seam of culture of which we should be rightly proud. I’ve no problem with bringing in newer writers if that’s appropriate and they’ve added something to the mix, but that’s not what is happening here, is it?
The changes, first reported by The Times, are aimed at “offering more poems by contemporary and established poets of colour”, OCR said.
It added the new poets would also include disabled and LGBT voices.
So, not because of literary talent, but because of race and sexuality. What a surprise. Diversity of course means excluding dead white poets.
Wilfred Owen was:
a product of his time and lived experience
one of the greatest war poets
a tragic loss late in the war
a man scarred by experience with mental health issues
quite possible a closet homosexual (caveat – I have no evidence for this other than what I can find on the Internet so it’s possibly wrong)
Why doesn’t he fit in the LGBT category?
Why doesn’t he fit in the disabled category?
Oh of course, he’s a white male from the Age of Empire, so let’s be honest about why he is being dropped.
Always disliked Larkin. That dislike coming from having to study his depressing verse at A level. Better to include Byron, Wilde or Kipling, superior wordsmiths all.
As for the insistence on including alphabet soup ‘poets’, I’ve yet to read a one that comes anywhere close to being worthy of inclusion in an exam level course. Their English just isn’t good enough.
Anthem for Non-Binary Youth
What Tik-Tok vids for these who aren’t binary?
Only the monstrous anger of Facebook.
Only the twittering mobiles’ rapid posting
Can patter out their lived experience.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of caution save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing friends;
And parents calling for them from sad shires.
With sincerest apologies to Wilfred Owen and the generations that sacrificed themselves for our freedom. May they never be forgotten.
Nadhim Zahawi objects in words only
As we’ve seen with CRT etc he tells them to stop. They don’t. Nothing happens
Same with Javid and NHS masking. Patel and turn back illegals
They’re in power and powerless as too weak to do anything other than bully subserviant public