Boring Shakespeare?

[Theland]

With so many kids in dire need of numeracy, literacy, I.T. & scince skills in order to procure employment, would it not be beneficial to leave the teachng of Shakespeare for kids who wish to study his works rather than it being compulsory? The time saved could be better spent.

[FredPuli43]

Shakespeare's plays work but not in simply reading them, which is what our schoolchildren do, but it in performance by a good company. What would you expect to get out of reading a script for Hancock, Dad's Army, or Miranda? They are nothng without the skill of the performance,seeing them brought to life, but they would be easy to read, at least. But his sonnets are another matter. Even a bad reading gets something out of them. Children should be introduced to Shakespeare through those.

[Duncer]

The English teacher I mentioned earlier had us analyse the lyrics of Led Zep in class.

Was he right or wrong? Who cares; he got us on board.

[Infomaniac]

If he got you on board he was absolsutely right.

[Duncer]

He had to leave as he took up with the 17 year old captain of the hockey team. Great teacher though. He also opened my eyes to the politics of NI.

[paddywak]

For the first two years at Grammar School I thought Shakespeare crap. That changed in the third year with the appearance of Miss Livingstone a teacher who not only had a great passion for the Bard but also the ability to pass the feeling on.As was said earlier a lot has got to do with the teacher. I like him or not Shakespeare is a master of the language but these days kids seem to think that that Text speak and slang is "propa" English

[craft1948]

My English teacher was absolutely brilliant but was herself not a great fan of Shakespeare's plays, but I agree about his sonnets. I think we were the first year to not have to do a Shakespeare play for 'O' Level, we did Sheridans The Rivals...........

[Duncer]

Innit?

[Theland]

The point is, kids need to be interested in a subject, and Shakespeare is akin to the King James Bible, almost a foreign language to most kids.
When those same kids can't get a job, and are thrown on the scrapheap, many of them may have regrets for not working harder in school, or even, regret not studying more relevant subjects. Good comments by the way.