Violent films, TV shows and err...poems?. Recently a poem was banned from the GCSE ‘Anthology’ book by the AQA is schools. ‘Education for leisure’ studied by 14-16 year old in England and Wales, written by the poet Carol Ann Duffy. The poem which talks about squashing flies and flushing goldfishes down the bog caused outrage by stating that it would cause fragile teenagers to go on killing sprees. A certain ‘Mrs.Schofield’ complained about the poem, stating that it was ‘Vulgar’ and resulted in the aforementioned ban.
400 years ago when Shakespeare wrote plays like ‘Macbeth’, you didn’t see ‘Ye Olde’ teachers complain and ban it. Is it really so different now? Shakespeare has been studied in schools for years now, which contains blood, gore, and knives and it probably isn’t going anytime soon.
Knife crime is a very big problem in Britain at the moment, with over 277 stabbings per year, that’s nearly 5 per week. This shocking statistic just shows the state at which Britain is in. The main concern is that Teenagers may relate to the poem and carry out the deeds mentioned. Which may end up to something similar to the dreadful ‘Columbine Massacre’ in 1998? 2 years later, 8 year old Damilola Taylor was stabbed in the leg and bled to death. Many people say that this was the spark that started the fire in the media reporting knife crime.
Young people in today’s culture are under pressure to have a ‘hard’ status- especially young male. In a recent survey, nearly half of teenagers have been involved or affected by Knife crime. Violent gangs are also a major issue, many of them glamorise knives and guns as if they were toys. Also, many famous celebrities claim to have something to do with gangs or weapons. Some of these include 50Cent, Snoop Dogg and other famous Rap artists. Probably the most controversial of these involved the singer Katy Perry, of whom posed with a flick knife and held it near her face and took a picture of herself. This caused outrage as many young people are fans of her music and look up to her as a role model, to see their heroine’ wielding a knife would make them think it is right to do so and would do similar things and post them on the internet.
Now, arguments in defence of the poem. Personally, I believe it is ridiculous to ban a poem especially one that is from one of our best British poets. The poem simply mentions the words ‘ Bread Knife ‘. What threat does this pose to Teenagers? If anyone found themselves compelled to go on a killing spree just by reading a poem- they need their head looking at. Isn’t Violence just a way of life? Children as young as eleven have been found to be playing violent video games rated 18. Teenagers and Young children are exposed to violence all the time whether it be in TV, Movies or Everyday life. Besides, this poem can benefit children learning in School as it creates debate and gets children motivated to learn.
By suggesting that Teenagers will Go around slaughtering people simply by reading a poem- is stereotyping them as yobs and hoodlums. This will cause them to spiral in a Self-fulfilling prophecy, which means if you treat someone in a certain way they will eventually begin to think and act like that. Teenagers are smarter than you think, and wont be Inspired to stab people by reading Literature. Most Teenagers aren’t Troublemakers who go around and mug elderly people, just a small percentage- but most people think that they are because of stereotyping.
My Conclusion is that the poem shouldn’t be banned and it is stupid to do so. I can see where the AQA are coming from- having a ‘Responsibility ‘to protect their students, and do what’s best for them. But on the other hand, I think that this is simply just a major over-reaction and shouldn’t be taken this seriously.