Good Reads

Are schools afraid of teaching high culture?

Are opera, classical music, Shakespeare, Dickens and paintings which rely on symbolism thought of as too difficult to teach?

Kirsten Peter
1 min read

One of the (many) things wrong with our education system is that we have, as a nation, come to fear quality and excellence. We no longer seem to want to share with our children and young people the very finest cultural achievements.Instead we regard opera, classical music, Shakespeare, Dickens and paintings which rely on symbolism and/or mythology and much more as “too difficult”. Or we say they’re obscure and, worse, irrelevant. The prevalent view is that these things, especially opera (partly because it’s expensive) are just for “toffs” so we don’t need to worry or insult our children with them.