Don't Restrict Our Kids' Reading

It's been a fraught weekend for British politics. As well as the repulsive right wing protest party UKIP cleaning up in the European elections, our Secretary for Education Michael Gove has decreed that the literature syllabus is "not English enough." With this in mind, stalwarts such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men (which Gove personally dislikes), The Color Purple and The Crucible are being banished from our children's reading list.

There are no words for what a monstrous imposition this is. Without these works, we're left with a hopelessly one sided curriculum bearing no relation to most kids' lives. I love Shakespeare, but the flat and uninspiring way it's taught in schools means many come away with the impression it's "boring". The satire of Austen still sparkles, but what window to the outside world does it provide?

By eliminating modern American books, they're
also getting rid of strong female characters, people of colour and thorny issues they can get their teeth into. We mustn't forget that in some cases, the books they study at school are the only books they will read. Can you blame them for not engaging with fiction when there's nothing for them to identify with?

Don't restrict our kids' reading, Mr Gove. They deserve better than that.