The English Miscellany

This petition was submitted during the 2010–2015 Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition government; the deadline 30 March 2015. At the time is attracted only 366 signatures, despite being widely circulated as a link on social media. Petition: End of GCSE English Literature for All, 2017 GCSE English Literature from 2017 will require students to remember between 15 and 18 (depending on exam board) poems in an exam in order to 'closely analyse' them. Signatories ask government to consult with the English teaching community as to whether this is the fairest and most meaningful way of assessing students' understanding and appreciation of poetry. There has been no such consultation on this matter to date. Meanwhile the learning of poetry for public recitation is increasingly popular. Moving beyond the controversial rote-learning for exams issue, this blog explores some of the advantages and disadvantages of learning poetry for pu...

In A Manual of the Art of Prose Composition: For the Use of Colleges and Schools (1867), John Mitchell Bonnell explained the value of Extemporaneous Composition;   Debating by the Class; and proposed a list of topics for debate. This is an extract from his book. The following list presents a few of the questions that afford good fields for debate. Does wealth exert more influence than intelligence? Should a criminal be capitally condemned on circumstantial evidence? Are banks more beneficial than injurious? Ought military schools to be encouraged? Should colleges be endowed? Did the French revolution advance the cause of liberty in Europe? Is there any real danger of the over-population of the globe? Is country life more favourable to the cultivation of virtue than life in a city? Is history a more useful study than biography? Is ambition more destructive of personal happiness than avarice? Is it the duty of good ...