What on earth?

For those people that wondered if A-Levels were getting easier just take a look at what is being proposed with the choice of texts for English. Out of the window go the classics with Elliot, Forester and Conrad being replaced by a Richard and Judy book club selection approach.

In a quote in The Guardian the Oxford and Cambridge exam board director of qualifications Clara Kenyon said: “The public has a real enthusiasm for literature, as shown by the popularity of initiatives such as the Richard and Judy’s book club which have been hugely successful.”

Most of the books on the R&J list appear to be thrillers, romances and literature with a small ‘L’. Surely the whole point of studying literature is that you have made a decision to delve deeper into the subject and are not going to be put off by texts that might be for the common reader “dull and boring” as Kenyon seems to suggest.

making things more 'interesting' and simple does not mean that it makes it better.