Questions I'd like to ask Michael Gove on poetry

The face of autocracy and mediocrity in education

British Minister for Education’s plan to make it compulsory for 5 year olds to learn to recite poetry by heart, along with other traditional conservative ‘virtues’ such as prioritising spelling and grammar, threatens to create a whole generation unable to think for themselves – and consequently, more likely to vote Conservative in the future!

What has reciting other people’s poetry got to do with creativity?

Who will decide what poems (almost certainly by long dead poets) are to be drilled into children’s heads? 

Why does Gove believe he knows better than professional educators what our children need?

The same question applies to spelling and grammar. Better to give those who have to write and read English (a handicap even for those without dyslexia) a break and spend money on switching to phonetic spelling instead. This bricolage language is long overdue for a makeover – and for me, less use of the spellchecker.