Helen Mirren says Shakespeare should not be taught in school

[kobewife1]

Helen Mirren: ‘I don’t think #Shakespeare should be taught in schools’: https://t.co/Ks73tQdMcw
- Paul Budra (@PaulBudra) November 25, 2020
Oscar Winner Helen Mirren said via a Zoom conversation with Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Gregory Doran that Shakespeare should not be taught in school since "drowning through" the plays in class

Comments

[poor_medea]

I'm a university lecturer in English, and I absolutely agree. The WAY Shakespeare is taught in schools (particularly the UK) just makes students hate it, and I then have to spend years clawing them back from that. They spend a year on one text, analysing every single word, and yet they still fail to understand what the play actually means. Similarly, I don't think they should read Austen or much of Dickens at school.

[xellabelle]

I completely agree. The way English Lit was taught in my school made me not like English as a subject. Even though I got an A* I didn’t really understand any of the lines in Romeo and Juliet, we were just told that’s what it meant and what it implies and I just wrote it in my exam. I don’t what the solution is but I think 15 is just too young to understand Shakespeare fully in the way that it’s currently taught at school, it was only after university that I went back to Romeo and Juliet and discovered my love for it after actually comprehending what the text meant.

[therearewords]

You're speaking my language.

[chrisdesu]

Does that mean it actually shouldn't be taught? Maybe it means it just needs to be taught better?

[poor_medea]

I agree with Helen Mirren, that Shakespeare should be taught through performances (probably filmed ones). It's good to be exposed to it, but it shouldn't be the centerpiece of the English Literature education in school, because the language is REALLY hard to come to terms with, even if you've spent years studying it.

[nanachic]

I think Helen is saying it shouldn't be *read* in school and she's right! Shakespeare wrote plays not novels. They're meant to be seen and performed. They're almost never taught that way and it sucks.

[wintourseason]

I agree too. I tutor English and have always been a voracious reader/writer but Shakespeare is an unbearable slog just reading it. Once I started seeing his work actually performed (shout out to the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC!) it was like a switch flipped and it made sense finally. I love Shakespeare now.

[poor_medea]

That's so great to hear!

For awhile part of my job was supervising student trips to performances of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, and watching them really GET IT for the first time was so rewarding.

[futrefilmdirctr]

The way I was taught Shakespeare as a theatre major: Production Styles of Shakespeare class.

Dug deep into a handful of plays. Studied text a d the examined stage/screen to flesh out what about Shakespeare is “timeless“ and examine themes. Also, at the beginning of the class, we had to pick our favorite Shakespeare play and write a treatment and stage two scenes from the play.

Loved it so much.

[slinkydinks]

I honestly think there's too much of an emphasis on classics early on in US grades 6-12. It's often not relatable content, written using "elevated" or antiquated language, and strictly speaking white/euro-centric perspectives. There is a plethora of modern literature that is more engaging and relevant to our society that can still be analyzed, teach vocabulary/literary devices, and present diverse voices.

[poor_medea]

I agree SO much. They can come to love classics in university, when they have more of the tools (reading comprehension, critical thinking, historical context, etc etc) to understand what they are reading. I think so many kids are put off by the language of 19th century texts, and so they never read old stuff again, and they miss out on so much!

[nanachic]

I don't think the grade level is an issue so much as the "elevated" sense you speak of. If high school teachers treated Shakespeare more like South Park and less like Masterpiece Theatre, kids wouldn't find it so difficult.

[freeze_i_say]

ia but we did Macbeth when I was 15 and the whole class was riveted - we had to learn soliloquies off by heart and I am so glad we did. It taught me a lot about language, about pacing, about characterization, about how to commit things to memory.

[frenchmoodle]

I teach middle school English, and we're required to teach Midsummer. I just try my best to only read the most important scenes, plus show clips from various films, and then they choose one scene to memorize and perform for the class.

They really enjoy it because we spend weeks outside rehearsing in costume, and they are allowed to perform their scene any way they want as long as they speak the original Shakespeare... many tell me the unit makes them want to take drama at the high school! I'm hoping they leave 8th grade with a good memory of Shakespeare.

[tanglespiders]

Similarly, I don't think they should read Austen or much of Dickens at school

I think they need to be taught with films or miniseries, a lot like how plays need performances, so you can get a feel for the tone, but otherwise I agree. If I had had to read Middlemarch or Moby-Dick in high school, they wouldn't be two of my favorite books.

I have no desire to ever read any more Dickens after reading a Tale of Two Cities in 9th grade.

[poor_medea]

I have no desire to ever read any more Dickens after reading a Tale of Two Cities in 9th grade.

And that makes me so sad, because Dickens is an absolute delight! Laugh out loud funny and poignant to boot. But if you read it in 9th grade, of course you're not going to like it.