Poulcheria Papadopoulou

Why we need literature in today’s classrooms Let’s start by posing a fundamental question: how is one to learn about and marvel in experiences, cultures, and ways of life of the past if not through literature? In my view, there’s no answer to that. You simply cannot know how you came to be where you are and who you are without literary accounts. You cannot understand your own language, not to mention other languages and their development within a historical context, if you don’t read literature. Of course, it’s not only a peek into the past that you get through studying the works of the likes of Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell and many more influencers of the British classics, but you can get a deeper understanding of how the English language evolved in terms of word morphology, punctuation, syntax, grammar, and phonology. As Sally Law, the principal teacher of English at Marr College in Scotland, wrote in The Guardian ‘we’re equipping them [the students] with essential skills for the real world.’ Simply using the English language as we read it in today’s modern version is not enough to understand its complexity. As I mentioned above, literature also contributes as to one’s identity. Grasping the changes from past to present concerning behaviour, norms, ideas, and perspectives allows one to apprehend what, how, and why things have transformed. It is very well-known that history repeats itself and through studying about the past, one understands what to avoid in the present in order to preserve a sustainable future. If there are, therefore, a lot of benefits to the studying of literature, why is it not further promoted and encouraged in education in the UK? And for that matter, why are other art subjects less and less appealing to students? Unfortunately, due to policy changes in education the amount of students that follow a more artistic path has dropped to its lowest in a decade. English literature, which is better studied in its entirety, is mostly introduced to students as part of supporting and the learning of the English language without much attention being paid to the content of a literary work. This, of course, has as its ultimate goal to help students achieve a good grade on their GCSEs. However, a considerable amount of the enjoyment and heritage that these texts provide is lost. Students study not for the pleasure of it, but rather as an obligation to pass, not really seeing or being present in the moment. It is unfortunate that the study of such a subject should only be there for passing exams.