Sociology one meets Othello.(Education)

IN APRIL 2006, the way Shakespeare is taught at SCEGGS, a Sydney based independent girls school, was cited in the Australian as an example of the way the more traditional approach to literature has been subverted. Instead of valuing the play Othello for what it suggests about human nature and the impact of emotions such as love, betrayal and jealousy, senior school students have to respond to the play using a Marxist, a feminist and a racial perspective.

This is not an isolated example. The revised New South Wales English syllabus was introduced in 2001 and, as noted by Barry Spurr, an English academic at the University of Sydney, the new course embodies many of the characteristics of politically correct English. First, the definition of what are considered "texts" worthy of study is exploded to include:

 
   communications of meaning produced in any 
   medium that incorporates language, including 
   sound, print, film, electronic and multimedia. 
   Texts include written, spoken, nonverbal or visual 
   communication of meaning. They may be extended 
   unified works or presented as a series of related 
   pieces. 
 

Second, Spurr makes the point that, in an attempt to make English contemporary and relevant some of the texts chosen for study have little if any literary value, and students are forced to study literature in terms of socio-political themes such as consumerism. In addition to how Othello is now taught, Year 12 students in New South Wales are also made to deconstruct Tim Winton's novel Cloudstreet in terms of multiple perspectives, including: genre, gender (feminist), socio-political (Marxist), cultural, post-colonial, spiritual and psychoanalytical. Literature was once about stimulating the joy of reading and learning to respond with discrimination and sensitivity; as a result of the new English, students are now made to adopt a range of politically correct perspectives and much of what should be valued, such as the moral and aesthetic qualities of classic literature, is lost.

While some might be surprised that literature is now deconstructed in terms of "theory"--including critical literacy, postmodernism, feminism, post-colonialism, queer theory, racism and Marxism--the reality, since the early 1990s, is that "theory" has infected the Australian curriculum at both primary and secondary levels, to such a degree that many students now leave school ethically challenged and culturally illiterate.

One of the more virulent forms of "theory" is "critical literacy", a favourite of the Australian Association for the Teachers of English (AATE) and government-sponsored curriculum writers across Australia. Historically, one of the main functions of English has been to teach literacy, defined in a straightforward way as the ability to read and write at the required level. More recent definitions of literacy, such as found in the federally funded report Literacy for All: The Challenge for Australian Schools, expand this more traditional view to include:

 
   the ability to read and use written information, to 
   write appropriately, in a wide range of contexts, for 
   many different purposes, and to communicate with 
   a variety of audiences. Literacy is integrally related 
   to learning in all areas of the curriculum, and 
   enables all individuals to develop knowledge and 
   understanding. Reading and writing, when 
   integrated with speaking, listening, viewing and 
   critical thinking, constitute valued aspects of 
   literacy in modern life.