GCSE poem dropped after knife fears

[cocaine]

An exam board is removing a poem about a knife-carrying violent loner from its anthology for GCSE English because of fears over teenage knife crime.

The AQA exam board has decided to withdraw the poem Education for Leisure written by Carol Ann Duffy.
The exam board is writing to schools to advise them to destroy the copies of the anthology - and says it will send replacements not containing this poem.
The poem begins with the line: "Today I am going to kill something. Anything."
It describes the thoughts of a disturbed, isolated individual who feels underappreciated and undervalued and who kills a fly then a goldfish. The poem concludes with this angry loner going outside with a bread knife.


More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7594566.stm

How pathetic is that?

[Leetzgirl]

I was like oh okay about knifes, but then i read about the last 2 lines and i laughed so 'ard

[SUPERhanna.]

nearly as pathetic as ''baa baa rainbow sheep''

[Heart Break Kid]

lol i studied that :P
they also wont allow erm assassin for an exam entry coz it gives the inpression of ppl going out murdering ppl
Loooool

[Pyroka]

I loved that poem! Thats pretty silly, it really got the imagination going for me. Bloody shame that.

[Yoshimitsui]

Surely a poem like this is more likely to make young people realise the effects of knife crimes. Withdrawing it is just stupid.

[luke-p]

That's really stupid, but they keep the one about the weird woman that cuts someones head off after screwing them (Well that's what I got out of it, can't remember the poem name :')). Yeahhh, good choice.

I really liked that poem it was easy to analyse... Withdrawing it because it had a knife in is pathetic

[Heart Break Kid]

ooooooh salome that was funny that xP

[benjamin]

i remember doing that poem, it was weird

[redtom]

Are teacher told us this yesterday, she said we had a choice if we wanted to do it but we would be the last year to do it if we did, but she said it was pretty pathetic having it banned.

[Nereo]

More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7594566.stm

How pathetic is that?


Did you put the last two lines in yourself? If not then it really is stupid :P

[NitronGalactus]

I remember studying this, afterwards it made me feel like I want to go stab and rape an old lady.

[-Xiangu-]

Lols we have studied that poem. What a load of bull. It's good to study tbh if it raises debate as it gives you more to analyse.

[Technologic]

I love that peom, my teacher is sick, she picks all the ones involving death and murder for us to study ehehee

[Misawa]

Cannot wait to get out of this absolutely **** country.

[Swearwolf]

i did that poem for my gcses years ago

[Virgin Mary]

I doubt the people who stab each other are inspired by poetry.

[FlyingJesus]

Studied that in AS and it's not about knife crime at all :S it's about how people can go from pulling the wings off flies to cutting worms and all that up and up until they feel the need to kill bigger things - it covers psychological deviation, not knife crime as such. The teachers who have called for it to be removed are obviously useless English teachers who don't understand this. Also most of Duffy's poems in the anthology this appears in are pretty grim, why single this one out?

[Hiro]

I loved that poem! Thats pretty silly, it really got the imagination going for me. Bloody shame that.

Exactly, it was one of the best poems in that book..
Exam boards are just stupid anyways.

[PaintYourTarget]

I used that poem in my GCSE exam. I can still remember what the great majority of it was meant to mean, well in my head anyway.
It's a shame, it was a good poem.

[N!ck]

That was one of the few poems I actually knew enough about to write decent comparisons lol. Good poem.

[Fehm]

Ahah, wow. Id like to read the poem ^^ i bet ts good :p aha
xD

[Minstrels]

Dammmmm! That's a ******* poem! Beats all the crap I have to study about poverty and and ****. Dam, I think I would even ENJOY studying that poem. :rolleyes:

And that my friend, is why education gets such a negative reaction. Minus all the good shiz, add it with stuff about poverty. Boring.


Today I am going to kill something. Anything.
I have had enough of being ignored and today
I am going to play God. It is an ordinary day,
a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets.
I squash a fly against the window with my thumb.
We did that at school. Shakespeare. It was in
another language and now the fly is in another language.
I breathe out talent on the glass to write my name.
I am a genius. I could be anything at all, with half
the chance. But today I am going to change the world.
Something’s world. The cat avoids me. The cat
knows I am a genius, and has hidden itself.
I pour the goldfish down the bog. I pull the chain.
I see that it is good. The budgie is panicking.
Once a fortnight, I walk the two miles into town
for signing on. They don’t appreciate my autograph.
There is nothing left to kill. I dial the radio
and tell the man he’s talking to a superstar.
He cuts me off. I get our bread-knife and go out.
The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm.

[stephen008]

Thats stupid lol

[Loqo]

That's pathetic! Ha!

[AndrewByrne]

Thats just silly :\