The Week Junior UK – 24 August 2019

Nowthat you’veread abit moreabout it,tell us whatyouthink by voting in our

poll attheweekjunior.co. uk/polls.VoteYESif youthink studentsshould choose

the books they study,orNOif youdon’t.We’ll publish theresultsnextweek.

Whatdoyouthink?

Shouldstudentschoosethebookstheystudy?

T

he number of students in England taking English

literature(the study of literature) atAlevel has

fallen from 41,000 to 37,500 this year,according to

the OfficeofQualifications and Examinations

Regulation. English languageAlevel (the study of

how language works) dropped from around 18,000 in

2018 to under 14,000. Some teachers say that new

English GCSEs aretoblame. They say that theexams

arenolonger encouragingalove ofreading and are

too focused onrequiring students to memorise long

passages of text. One assistant headteacher said,

“GCSE English language is sucking the joy”out of the

subject. Some students have suggested that one

solution might be to allow pupils to choose which

booksthey study forAlevel. Do you agree?

Yes–pupils should choose what to study

By th etimepupil sreach Alevel they areold enough

to know what theywant to read, so they should be

trusted to decide what booksthey study.Ifs tudents

aren’t enjoyingatext, it’ smorelikely that they won’t

concentrate as hardduring lessons or perform as well

in exams, or they might not takethe subject in the

first place. Besides, many of the texts set forAlevel

arevery old, and some students might think they are

no longerrelevant to their lives.Forexample, one

author frequently studied atAlevel, Geoffrey Chaucer,

wrote his worksmorethan 600 years ago.The decline

in students taking English is serious–but perhaps

giving pupils the freedom to choose what they study

would see moreyoung people takeupthe subject.

No –pupil sshoul dstudy thesametexts

Studying English literatureisachancetodiscover

stories and poems you wouldn’t otherwiseread –or

even have heardof. Reading different books, some

of which arechallenging, benefits students by

introducing them to somethingcompletely different.

Alevel English literatureisagreat chancetor ead

some of the most important worksever written, and

agood teachercanbring any book to life,regardless

of how old or challenging it is. Other subjects, like

physics or chemistry,donot allow students to choose

which theories orexperiments they study;why should

English be different? Besides, it would be difficult for

teachers andexaminers to mark students’work if

they all studied different texts.

●The number of pupils in the UK choosing

to takeEnglish atAlevel has dropped

by 13%. Thereare worries that the new

style of English GCSE is putting students

off the subject.

●Some teachers have criticised the new

English GCSEs, which wereintroduced in

2017. They say English language GCSE
      has too much analysis of historical texts,
      and the English literatureGCSE involves
      memorising lots of text. One teacher
      said,“English has been made less fun.”
      ●One suggestion to encourage more
      students tocontinue the subject at
      Alevel is to let pupils choose the books
      and poems they study.

Whatyouneedtoknow

The number of pupils studying English

at Alevel has dropped thisyear.

LAST WEEK’S POLL

Last week, we asked if you thought

remakes of old films were

unnecessary.Most of

you say that if a

story isagood

one, then

there’sno

reason itcan’t

be retold.

1

It might encourage morestudents to take

English GCSE andAlevel if they areallowed

to choose which texts they study.

2

Students will be able to choose booksthat are

morerelevant to their lives,rather than books

that werewrittencenturies ago.

3

Why limit the texts studentscanstudy when

thereare so many booksint he world?

1

Students should be challenged toread

different booksbecause that will introduce

them to new authors and ideas.

2

In other subjects, pupils do not get to choose

what they study.English is no different.

3

Not everyone will be able to agree on the

same book, so it will be difficultforthe

teachers andexaminers to mark their work.

Threereasons why studentsshould

choose which books they study

Threereasons why studentsshould

not choose which books they study

GETTY IMAGES

YES NO

65%

NO

35%

YES

WOW!

Therec

ordfor the longest

time spent

reading aloud is

113

hours and 15 minutes. It

wasset

byDeepak Sharma Bajagain

from Nepal, who

read from 17

different books in

20 08.

8

Thebig debate

The Week Junior•24 August 2019

The aim of the Big debatepage isto present two sides of an issuefairly and

objectively,ino rder to stimulatediscussion and allow ourreadersto makeuptheir

minds. The views on the page do notreflect those ofThe Week Junior,and the page

is no tfundedby thirdparties. The page is createdinassociation

with the English-Speaking Union, an educational charity helping

young people discovertheir voiceand realise their full

potential.Formoreinformation, please see esu.org