A disastrous idea from BoJo

Boris Johnson holds forth in the pages of the Telegraph, unveiling his latest bright idea. Headlined as

an education policy to gladden diehards, enrage trendies - and preserve the glory of English literature

it is, on closer inspection, just a call to have children learn poetry at school.

Boris! No!

Think about it. The sun is shining, Jonny and Jenny are bored and are staring out of the window wishing they could run around outside. What better way to put them off poetry for the rest of their lives than to order them to learn the first twenty stanzas of Grey's elegy, with the threat of dire punishment for non-compliance.

Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?

I mean, who gives a stuff? The sun's shining! What person of any sensibility or love of nature would want to be inside reading a book?

My children love poetry. They pick up poetry books for fun (yes, for fun) and recite verses to unsuspecting visitors to our home. This is a particularly popular activity when it's raining or when there's nothing better to do.

The glories of English literature are being preserved, in homes all over the country. English literature is safe there, unmolested by the dead hand of the state.

Leave it alone.

Comments

[Kit]

I was chatting to a teacher at our local secondary school about the upcoming increase in the school age to 18. She said that we can barely cope with the 14 year olds, given up on them by 16, and frightened at the thought of having 18 year olds in the school. (The school currently has a full time policeman on duty and staff carry attack alarms.)

And Boris wants to teach them poetry....

[Sebastian Weetabix]

Perhaps they should teach them to read & write first.

[James P]

Boris Johnson as Fotherington Thomas? (Hello trees, hello sky). Who'd have thought it.. :-)