Michelle's Reflection 4

State of Literature in my school

The number of classes taking Literature at upper secondary at first glance seems to give a rather optimistic view of the state of Literature in my school as compared to other ‘neighbourhood’ schools. Out of the 15 upper secondary classes, 6 classes are taking Literature. But if one takes a closer look at the numbers, it is worrying.

Classes taking Literature

Secondary 5: 1 of 2

Secondary 4: 4 of 7

Secondary 3: 1 of 6

As the numbers clearly indicate, the number of Secondary 3 students taking Literature is drastically fewer than those in Secondary 4.

            Literature is taught mainly by using worksheets and getting students to copy the teacher’s answers on to the worksheet. The worksheets are also used as a means to get students to practice the PEEL format. Depending on the teacher, students might or might not have the opportunity to analyse the text on their own before copying the teacher’s answers. Some teachers provide the Point and Evidence relevant to the question and all students have to do is try to explain the evidence to support the point. Other teachers ask many guiding questions to get students to come up with their own point, pick a relevant quote and explain the point. Generally, however, students still expect teachers to flash answers on the screen and they are lost when they are not told explicitly what to write in their worksheet.

            What I found appalling in secondary 2 Literature which I am teaching is that it is not compulsory for students to buy the text. Moreover, the text being used is an abridged version of Merchant of Venice. As many students do not have the text, it makes it almost impossible for me to get students to analyse the text on their own. Often, I have no choice but to provide the exact quotes so that students who do not have the text can copy them. Essentially, this means that students probably just have to know the plot summary and memorise the quotes that teachers pick out.  An abridged version of the text also means that the text is not appreciated in its entirety. For example, act 2 scenes 2, 3, and 4 of the original text are collapsed into a mere 4 pages.

            The problem of students not having the text and teachers finding it difficult to teach secondary 2 students a Shakespearean text led to some teachers choosing to show videos of the play in class instead of getting students to read the text.

Debate about drop in number of Literature students

The main causes of the drop as argued by the media are the increase in choice of subjects and the emphasis on grades. Many more reasons can be attributed to the drop in number of students taking Literature but the overarching reason I would argue is the pragmatic nature of our society. Many mindset changes have to be made before any changes can be made. Anyone who wants to do Literature will surely be met with questions as such – “Why are you taking a subject that is difficult to score in?” or “What are you going to do in the future?” As a society, we have lost sight of the value of Literature and also education. In a pragmatic society such as ours, education is mainly seen as the key to having a better job in the future, to earning more money, and to climb the social ladder. Education is also seen as a place where values are inculcated, but this is often secondary to academic grades. And if we are to say that values education is also important, we might also argue that that is why we have social studies and character education classes (CCE), so why do we still need Literature? Thus, to change the situation we first have to ask ourselves and articulate what the value of Literature is, and also change our pragmatic mindset.