Why I want to study To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men
Michael Gove’s attitude to American classics have caused quite a stir – one outraged teen reviewer takes him on
by scoutingforbooks
It is not old news to us that Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, seems to be trying to make our education just like his. His department recently decided to narrow down the books that we are going to be able to study for our GCSEs, removing American literature from the twentieth century syllabus. It seems that the classic works of Harper Lee and John Steinbeck are not up to the ‘British standard’ and Britain is not as multi-cultural as perhaps it seems.
Two of the books being taken away from our classrooms are To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men. One is a book about the Great Depression in the 1930s, a book that us teenagers would get because we have lived through a financial crisis and understand what depression means; so many are struggling to get part time work and watching friends and family suffer too. It also shows racial discrimination and sexism, and how they are wrong and should not roam free in our society. The other is a book of justice that cannot be defined by just a few mere words; it made me feel a better person just for reading it. Understanding that what had happened to Tom Robinson was not proper justice makes you realise how justice cannot always be served, and how intolerance is passed down from generation to generation.