Poetry. Is the banning of Carol Ann Duffys poem "education for leisure" right?

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Children All Over the Country Have Been

 Fooled Into Thinking

Poetry is Dangerous

That’s right. A simple poem has been slashed out of the AQA Anthology. Why I hear you ask, well simply because it was too violent. That’s right a poem being violent. I have decided to put this issue on my hit list and resolve it once and for all.

Mrs Schofield who is an invigilator at Lutterworth Grammar school in Leicestershire, Sparked this mammoth of an argument, she decided to complain to the AQA exam board. The AQA exam board drastically removed the poem from all anthologies across England. The exam board were advising schools to destroy the books so they are not read by students.

This issue is extremely important and it has still not been solved, there are still many forums on the internet discussing these issues. The main audience I believe is teachers and student’s because it directly affects them, as they are studying or teaching this kind of material day in and day out.  

 The poem is about a mentally disturbed person who kills their animals, calls up a radio show claiming that he could have been a “star.” The person seems to be generally unstable and the poem ends with the feeling that you are about to be stabbed “I touch your arm” It feels like someone is behind you and you are not anticipating them, to me it feels rather scary if you are walking along and someone a stranger maybe, comes behind you touches your arm. Mrs Schofield describes the poem as an absolutely horrendous piece of work.

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Knife crime has spectacularly increased since 1999. According to conservative party statistics there are five brutal knife crime attacks every week! I find that fact deeply disturbing, don’t you? That means that there could be an attack on all 5 school days or maybe even two on one school day!

Knife crime in the current climate is at an all time high, the media are raising the awareness of knife crime daily, in newspapers and on the television. Everyone fears knife crime and are completely aware of it. Many youths are involved with post code gangs and ...

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The Quality of Written Communication is average. I would advise not to use so many exclamation marks though. Though not hugely frequent, a maximum of one should be used, if at all, as they often give an air of immaturity or exasperation when writing the argument, and this is something that needs to be avoided because arguments are meant to be objective to some degree (hence it is a requirement that there is an appreciation of an opposing argument).

The candidate displays a number of techniques that are required for an effective argument - statistics, powerful language, rhetorical questions, Second Person address etc. although it would be prudent to acquire knowledge of more of these techniques, such as the voice of authority and appreciation of a counter-argument that does not contradict itself - "Knife crime in the current climate is at an all time high, the media are raising the awareness of knife crime daily, in newspapers and on the television. Everyone fears knife crime and are completely aware of it. Many youths are involved with post code gangs and purchase weapons and even in some cases use them. 42% of 14-15 year olds claim that they had been directly affected by knife crime. That result is staggering it shows that nearly half a group of thirty two students have been affected by knife crime!" This entire section does not make an argument against the banning of Carol Anne Duffy's 'Education For Leisure'; in fact all it appears to do is give ammunition to the opposing side of the argument. This should be avoided as it ruins the effectivity of the argument and does not show a good level of consistency with this paragraph in the middle of what would otherwise be a sound argument.

The task here is one on Writing to Argue. The candidate demonstrates a vague understanding of the requirements of a good argument but some may call to question the validity of the argument outside extremely sensationalist media campaigns and/or the exam criteria. Reading it objectively, the argument appears far too dramatic to be taken seriously, even with an unbroken focus on the task set. It is important to maintain rationality when undertaking these "Writing to" tasks, as many questions can carry marks with feasibility. Naturally, statistics and such can be whipped out of the air but they also need to be rational, so claiming that "42% of 14-15 year-olds" have been affected by knife crime may be slightly sensationalist. This will by no means penalise greatly, but it is good to exercise rationality when it comes to statistics.