(Not the main point, but badgers are the uk’s largest indigenous carnivore, so, if you had to choose one British animal to replace Churchill, that’s the one. Plus, you know, wind in the Willows).
I see you’ve been rereading the republic book 8 (erm. Maybe 9).
@natecommunity.bsky.social
@englishassociation.bsky.social
Changing the requirement for GCSE students to read a 19th-century novel could help to add diversity to the curriculum in English, argues @bobeaglestone.bsky.social
Yeah, me too, I was gobsmacked!
Though, PS nowadays they would just say that there should be no billionaires, not even Bruce Wayne.
When my eldest was about 11,12, reading classic Batman comics, he came to me and said: if Batman wanted to stop crime in Gotham, he should use his money to set up schools and homeless shelters and make jobs, not run around in a Bat suit. I was so surprised I forgot to tell him he was right.
#EnglishCreates: Futures
Today, Prof Nicky Marsh (University of Southampton) introduces this month's theme, 'Communities':
'It is not just that literary culture is sustained by communities... but that communities themselves are sustained by literature'
universityenglish.ac.uk/1-literature...
A bridgertoo far
Sebring love.
(‘Preference cascade’ is a great phrase which I am going to steal).
And, ps, went hand in hand with the weakening of university education departments.
Yes: while opening up that discussion (good thing) it also reduced the standards of evidence (bad thing) and increased the importance of rhetoric over argument (bad thing). And some might add: opened up to bad faith/conflict of interest actors.
Also - about that article - sorry and this obvious point has only just struck me - was Twitter the place to argue about the fundamental methods of teaching our children? Surely that’s what eg journals are for? Twitter is/was a place of popular persuasion not serious discussion, maybe?
#EnglishCreates: Futures
How can reading transform our lives?
Today, Dr Rebecca Fisher (CEO, The English Association) reflects on the two books did just that for her:
'What happened felt like a miracle... The lights had come back on.'
universityenglish.ac.uk/two-books-ch...
#EnglishStudies
I also think that there’s nothing ‘ropey’ in dialogic teaching (and of course research shows this).
As Einstein (is supposed to have) said: not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.
Also: an interesting subtext of that piece (thanks for posting btw) is: ‘we were led by what we could measure, but we discovered that lots of things that we couldn’t directly measure (but kinda knew about) turned out to be really important’
Surely he’s thinking of that bit in Aristotle (in the Nicomachean ethics I think) where Aristotle attacks Plato, prefacing his remarks by saying, friends, sure, but he loves truth more?
Plato‘s cave 2: this time it’s personal
#EnglishCreates: Futures
We kick off our series on Critical Reading with Prof Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway): 'in the increasingly scientised discourse which has so effectively helped to teach decoding, the fundamental holism of reading can get lost.'
universityenglish.ac.uk/reading-is-a...
Isn’t this what universities have legal insurance for?
This is exactly my experience. In the ‘olden days’ every 2-3 months I’d do a trip around the journals room in senate house, some general reconnaissance, speed read a few things and got some things to read slowly, and felt I knew what was going on. Now: not so much.
Thanks-i saw this +I quite like some of her work!
Me too! But not done yet.
I’d love to see this. Please could you send?
Strong agree. I’m under contract for a book called ‘what do we teach when we teach literature?’
