Why Shakespeare? A student perspective
Recently folk at the English Companion Ning discussed the question 'Why teach Shakespeare?' from the teachers' perspective. A week or so ago, my two Year 10 classes (in Canberra) joined with Jenny Luca's Year 9 class (in Melbourne) to discuss the same question from a the students' point-of-view.
Here is a summary.
... because of its relevance to modern life (Charlotte)
I can't think of any good reason (quite a few students!)
... because the English Department is either lazy or unimaginative (Adrian, being provocative but stimulating too)
... to develop and broaden our interest in literature (Angus)
... because I love Shakespeare (Linda)
... to further consolidate themes and ideas taught in English classes (Josh)
... because it speaks to our age group [we're currently studying Romeo and Juliet] (Christian)
... to learn about love (Mayank)
... to find out where our language came from (James)
... to prepare us for Years 11 & 12 (Max, Kurt)
... to separate the students planning to do Advanced and Standard English in Year 11 (Angus)
... because it has a timeless quality (Nick, Christian)
... because it is magic, it makes me smile and it captivates my mind (Sam)
... to understand and appreciate why there's so much respect for Shakespeare (Amber)
... to understand the links between our culture and the play (Amber)
... so you can get better at analysing symbolism and studying techniques (Jack)
... because you can learn about life from studying classics like this (Laura)
... to become competent at extracting meaning from texts (Gurtej)
... because we are now old enough to be able to handle a challenging text (Eliot)
... because it is so famous, and there are so many references to it in modern culture (Rachael)
... to broaden our knowledge of the English language (Alex, Nick)
... to learn about other times and other lives (Taylia)
... because the twists and turns fo events that lead to pure tragedy is great (Elsa)
... because it's a challenge (Will)
... because the play has everything: drama, comedy, action, suspense (Jo)
Soon after these thoughts were posted on our Ning, I made cards out of the summaries, and in one of my Year 10 classes I got each of the students to 'adopt a card', which they then used as a starting point to explain their point of view.
We had a terrific discussion, with those saying that studying Shakespeare was a waste of our precious time more prominent than the above summaries would suggest. Then, after I'd listened to all the very eloquent arguments on both sides, I announced to the class:
Well, I've listened carefully to what you've all been saying, and frankly those arguing that there are better ways we should be spending our time have been surprisingly convincing. Therefore, starting from next lesson, we're going to abandon Romeo and Juliet and do other types of English work. That's it. That's the end of our time with Shakespeare.
There was a shocked silence in the room.
Some of the boys looked genuinely upset, others disbelieving.
Of course I then told them that I'd been joking and that they might each reflect on their gut reaction when they heard the 'news'.