How English is taught?
My experience of learning English as a native speaker.
Subjects like Physics or Maths, are taught in a 'value free' environment. However English, seems to have taken the place of Religious Instruction in schools as subject through which the Authorities wish to impose their values.
The decision to teach Physics and Maths in a "value-free environment" is also the expression of a value.
@ Lippy
I had a similar experience with the subject German in school as a native speaker. It was more about discussing (politically left) morale than actually learning orthography or literature.
That's definitely true. When I was at school they either taught feminist texts, or racism related texts. It's obvious what they were trying to do.
Only a feminist and racist person would have a problem with that. So, Damian, for example, might have a problem.
Teachers and students alike prefer to concentrate on content.
It's much easier to talk about the meaning of a text than to analyse its rhetoric, style, method, and structure.
You can see the results in any online discussion of literature: complex texts reduced to a slogan.
<Analysis of a poem>
That is a very good example of crude content-related analysis.
In the exegesis and test for the poem "Before you were mine", for instance, there is no attempt to understand the writer's use of rhythm, assonance, etc., while the analysis of form is limited to the observation that the poem consists of four 5-line stanzas.
In effect, the "test" demands an elaborate paraphrase; as if the writer had only chosen those particular words through some unfortunate verbal disability, and required the help of a kindly GCSE student to find a more effective form of expression.
I totally disagree with you. There are some things that are not mentioned or explained. For instance there is a reference to the 'Moors Murderers', which anyone growing up in Manchester in that period would appreciate. There is also a reference to 'skid marks'.
I suspect you have failed to navigate the website. What about this analysis?
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Think about the title. We may often hear adults saying 'I remember my childhood well', so it is significant that Duffy has deliberately twisted this to We Remember Your Childhood Well. The grown-ups definitely present themselves as in control.
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A technical term is used and explained. The GCSE English exam is aimed at fifteen year olds. So I am surprised in some ways that they are using a poem that touches on some adult themes. I am sure that teachers often know more than they let on, and they also have close links with social services.
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Onomatopoeia is used to describe the voices, "Boom. Boom. Boom." (line 12), which would have drowned out any attempt by the child to put their own point of view
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Yours sincerely
Lippy
(None of that lip!)
<What about this analysis? ... >
It's inaccurate. Adults don't "often" say "I remember my childhood well", unless they're Maurice Chevalier.
< A technical term is used and explained. The GCSE English exam is aimed at fifteen year olds. >
Learning about onomatopoeia is the literary equivalent of learning about refraction in Physics or multiplying with decimals in Maths, i.e. primary school stuff.
If the material is "aimed at fifteen year olds", you have to wonder what exactly they've been studying for the last 4 years. (The alphabet?)