I teach the megastar’s lyrics. Adding contemporary material to school curriculums won’t dumb down – it will inspire, says academic Elly McCausland
‘I’ve heard that Taylor Swift only writes about ‘boys and breakups’. I hate to break it to you, dear reader, but most of the literary canon is about boys and breakups.’‘I’ve heard that Taylor Swift only writes about ‘boys and breakups’. I hate to break it to you, dear reader, but most of the literary canon is about boys and breakups.’into classrooms.
‘If bringing Kurt Cobain into the classroom gets us reflecting on what material is deemed fit for education and what isn’t, it will spark important conversations about gatekeeping.’Who is William Shakespeare anyway? In an age that seems increasingly distant from the days of the Bard, it is vital that we keep relevance at the front of our minds when it comes to education.
I’ve faced a fair amount of snobbery and backlash. I’ve heard that historical literature should “remain strange” and not be sullied through comparison with something as frivolous as pop music. Swift only writes about “boys and breakups”, so how can she possibly be considered literary? One Flemish journalist wrote scathingly: “It’s an auditorium, not a kindergarten.”
When I ran an anonymous poll in the first class, asking students why they signed up, there were recurring themes: “innovative, out-of-the-box approach”; “to see how classic literature is interacted with today”; and, my favourite, “to get lit with English lit”. If bringing a little more kindergarten to the classroom means creating a space where students can be playful, experiment and ask questions, then perhaps we should all be doing so.
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