This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/oct/19/this-bonfire-of-the-a-levels-is-torching-our-culture-and-history
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| This bonfire of the A-levels is torching our culture and history | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| First they came for the art historians. And then got stuck into the archaeologists and the classicists before most of us had time to draw breath (Burying A-level archaeology is barbarism, says Tony Robinson, 18 October). And what for? Well, apparently because it’s difficult to set the examination grade boundaries on small-scale subjects. So those responsible for deciding what the brains of future Britons will contain definitively believe that carts come before horses. | First they came for the art historians. And then got stuck into the archaeologists and the classicists before most of us had time to draw breath (Burying A-level archaeology is barbarism, says Tony Robinson, 18 October). And what for? Well, apparently because it’s difficult to set the examination grade boundaries on small-scale subjects. So those responsible for deciding what the brains of future Britons will contain definitively believe that carts come before horses. |
| As a teacher of both classics and drama I have to tell you that a working knowledge of classics might have given pause before we enter into this act of national cultural denial. One ignores the realm and relevance of Dionysus at one’s peril, as the fate of Pentheus, one-time king of Thebes, so graphically demonstrates. But it seems we are now going to be denied the opportunity to read and learn from his story, and so in 10 years’ time that reference will make sense to even fewer people than it does now.Sarah McCormackBristol | As a teacher of both classics and drama I have to tell you that a working knowledge of classics might have given pause before we enter into this act of national cultural denial. One ignores the realm and relevance of Dionysus at one’s peril, as the fate of Pentheus, one-time king of Thebes, so graphically demonstrates. But it seems we are now going to be denied the opportunity to read and learn from his story, and so in 10 years’ time that reference will make sense to even fewer people than it does now.Sarah McCormackBristol |
| • Further to the decision of the AQA exam board to discontinue the history of art A-level from 2018 (History of art A-level axed by last board offering subject, 13 October), I wanted to express concern and disappointment that history of art will no longer be an examined part of the school curriculum. | • Further to the decision of the AQA exam board to discontinue the history of art A-level from 2018 (History of art A-level axed by last board offering subject, 13 October), I wanted to express concern and disappointment that history of art will no longer be an examined part of the school curriculum. |
| The National Gallery has recently been working in close association with AQA to develop a new history of art A-level syllabus, and paintings from the national collections were to provide a significant focus for parts of the course. The study of history of art offers young people a particularly incisive approach to the understanding of both history and of contemporary culture, which is increasingly image-led. It also equips students for potential future careers in the arts, in galleries and museums, and in the creative industries in which the UK currently excels. | The National Gallery has recently been working in close association with AQA to develop a new history of art A-level syllabus, and paintings from the national collections were to provide a significant focus for parts of the course. The study of history of art offers young people a particularly incisive approach to the understanding of both history and of contemporary culture, which is increasingly image-led. It also equips students for potential future careers in the arts, in galleries and museums, and in the creative industries in which the UK currently excels. |
| We must assume that fewer people will now study history of art at university and I am concerned at the impact this will have on recruiting the high-level skills required in our institutions. | We must assume that fewer people will now study history of art at university and I am concerned at the impact this will have on recruiting the high-level skills required in our institutions. |
| Over three and a half decades ago, I took up history of art A-level aged 16. It was most certainly not a “soft” option, but rather a stimulating and challenging one that taught me to think and look critically, to analyse and to reflect. It also set me on my own particular career path. | Over three and a half decades ago, I took up history of art A-level aged 16. It was most certainly not a “soft” option, but rather a stimulating and challenging one that taught me to think and look critically, to analyse and to reflect. It also set me on my own particular career path. |
| I would urge AQA to look hard at options for continuing with the art history A-level. The National Gallery will be there to help.Dr Gabriele FinaldiDirector, The National Gallery | I would urge AQA to look hard at options for continuing with the art history A-level. The National Gallery will be there to help.Dr Gabriele FinaldiDirector, The National Gallery |
| • I can’t agree that “burying A-level archaeology is barbarism”. Archaeology makes great use of the basic sciences: maths, physics and chemistry. Anyone wanting to study archaeology is in a much better position to tackle the subject at degree level with an extra A-level in one of the sciences. | • I can’t agree that “burying A-level archaeology is barbarism”. Archaeology makes great use of the basic sciences: maths, physics and chemistry. Anyone wanting to study archaeology is in a much better position to tackle the subject at degree level with an extra A-level in one of the sciences. |
| Most degree studies with a science base start from scratch to cater for people who have not studied the subject at A-level. I took A-levels in maths and physics at school, and A-level geology 10 years later as a mature student, after which I went back to university to study geology. I was one of the few students with an A-level qualification and we were told by one of our lecturers that the course would “soon catch up”, a claim that was fully justified. My knowledge of the basic sciences was of far more use in my studies than my A grade A-level geology that was soon left far behind.Ken VinesYelverton, Devon | Most degree studies with a science base start from scratch to cater for people who have not studied the subject at A-level. I took A-levels in maths and physics at school, and A-level geology 10 years later as a mature student, after which I went back to university to study geology. I was one of the few students with an A-level qualification and we were told by one of our lecturers that the course would “soon catch up”, a claim that was fully justified. My knowledge of the basic sciences was of far more use in my studies than my A grade A-level geology that was soon left far behind.Ken VinesYelverton, Devon |
| • You report the examination board AQA as justifying its decisions to drop A-levels in history of art and archaeology on the grounds that its “number one priority is making sure every student gets the result they deserve” and that this can’t be guaranteed with these A-levels. What a give-away. My own discipline, history of art, demands imagination, determined looking and multidisciplinarity, and cannot be broken down into pre-digested nuggets. The A-level will tax students, and those who do best will be the best (before we complain about elites, ask if it would be acceptable to select the England football team randomly from people in the street, even though it can look that way). AQA clearly prefers the kind of examination where content can be learned and the efficiency with which this has been done is all that is tested. This rather goes with a polity in which parliament is neutralised, and dissent shouted down. Granted that the English have always hated intellect – where else would you find the threat that you’re “too clever for your own good” – the fact that examination boards are now colluding in a general dumbing-down is regrettable, if hardly surprising.Michael RosenthalBanbury, Oxfordshire | • You report the examination board AQA as justifying its decisions to drop A-levels in history of art and archaeology on the grounds that its “number one priority is making sure every student gets the result they deserve” and that this can’t be guaranteed with these A-levels. What a give-away. My own discipline, history of art, demands imagination, determined looking and multidisciplinarity, and cannot be broken down into pre-digested nuggets. The A-level will tax students, and those who do best will be the best (before we complain about elites, ask if it would be acceptable to select the England football team randomly from people in the street, even though it can look that way). AQA clearly prefers the kind of examination where content can be learned and the efficiency with which this has been done is all that is tested. This rather goes with a polity in which parliament is neutralised, and dissent shouted down. Granted that the English have always hated intellect – where else would you find the threat that you’re “too clever for your own good” – the fact that examination boards are now colluding in a general dumbing-down is regrettable, if hardly surprising.Michael RosenthalBanbury, Oxfordshire |
| • The loss of archaeology A-level may affect fewer than 500 students, but it will have a disproportionate impact on the nation’s prosperity. Most of these students are so enthused by the subject that they go on to study archaeology at university. My own experience is that these same students are among the highest achieving and enthusiastic in their cohort, and many then go on to postgraduate study and become committed professional archaeologists. At the same time, university departments have seen a significant decline in applications to read archaeology over the last 10 years, so we can expect the number of qualified graduates to further decline. But the nation is planning large infrastructure projects – and all need large numbers of archaeologists to satisfy all the planning conditions. It is estimated that HS2 alone could employ every archaeology graduate and still be short of labour. Let’s please have some joined-up thinking.Prof Mark HortonUniversity of Bristol | • The loss of archaeology A-level may affect fewer than 500 students, but it will have a disproportionate impact on the nation’s prosperity. Most of these students are so enthused by the subject that they go on to study archaeology at university. My own experience is that these same students are among the highest achieving and enthusiastic in their cohort, and many then go on to postgraduate study and become committed professional archaeologists. At the same time, university departments have seen a significant decline in applications to read archaeology over the last 10 years, so we can expect the number of qualified graduates to further decline. But the nation is planning large infrastructure projects – and all need large numbers of archaeologists to satisfy all the planning conditions. It is estimated that HS2 alone could employ every archaeology graduate and still be short of labour. Let’s please have some joined-up thinking.Prof Mark HortonUniversity of Bristol |
| • Your readers may remember that the same exam board that is inflicting this assault, AQA, last year proposed shutting down A-level citizenship and actually did close down A-level anthropology, a vital subject that colleagues and I spent 10 years developing for this board. AQA argues that it’s all about numbers of candidates and money, but at a wider consideration it amounts to intellectual vandalism and a serious erosion of the educational offer in schools, quite apart from the loss to our society and culture. | • Your readers may remember that the same exam board that is inflicting this assault, AQA, last year proposed shutting down A-level citizenship and actually did close down A-level anthropology, a vital subject that colleagues and I spent 10 years developing for this board. AQA argues that it’s all about numbers of candidates and money, but at a wider consideration it amounts to intellectual vandalism and a serious erosion of the educational offer in schools, quite apart from the loss to our society and culture. |
| Along with the decline and lowered status in the school curriculum of the arts and performing arts, including music, we may end up going to school just to learn English, maths, science and computers – how strange, and how dull.Dr Barry Dufour De Montfort University, Leicester | Along with the decline and lowered status in the school curriculum of the arts and performing arts, including music, we may end up going to school just to learn English, maths, science and computers – how strange, and how dull.Dr Barry Dufour De Montfort University, Leicester |
| • In your report (Banks need early clarity over Brexit deal, warns thinktank, 17 October) the photograph of Priti Patel occupies 60% of the whole article space while her quoted remarks take up 1.2%. Alongside it, in another report (I was against EU before and after I was for it, says Johnson, 17 October), Boris Johnson’s photo takes up 3% of the article and his quoted remarks 48%. The photographs are distinct in different and important ways – Discuss. | • In your report (Banks need early clarity over Brexit deal, warns thinktank, 17 October) the photograph of Priti Patel occupies 60% of the whole article space while her quoted remarks take up 1.2%. Alongside it, in another report (I was against EU before and after I was for it, says Johnson, 17 October), Boris Johnson’s photo takes up 3% of the article and his quoted remarks 48%. The photographs are distinct in different and important ways – Discuss. |
| This is the sort of question that employs mathematics and geometry along with the disciplines of journalism, literature, art theory and art history. My thanks to the work of John Berger and Richard Hoggart, among others. My studies were combined with art A-level, forming an excellent basis for art school, and the following 49 years of work as a designer, educationist and artist. We need to understand the world that we see, and we need history of art to be studied at A-level.David CockayneLymm, Cheshire | This is the sort of question that employs mathematics and geometry along with the disciplines of journalism, literature, art theory and art history. My thanks to the work of John Berger and Richard Hoggart, among others. My studies were combined with art A-level, forming an excellent basis for art school, and the following 49 years of work as a designer, educationist and artist. We need to understand the world that we see, and we need history of art to be studied at A-level.David CockayneLymm, Cheshire |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |