They won't discuss it because they are wrong. Hardy's voice as a writer was one of the greatest in the English language since Shakespeare. There is a reason he is studied, not just in England, but around the world.
They are unwilling to discuss their decisions because they have nothing to say. Their minds are empty parking lots as cars of thought evade them looking for an intelligent place to stop. Sadly, no suitable spots are to be found.
Another nail in the coffin of British culture. Delete the past. The eloquence of Hardy's writing, the record of country life in his times are invaluable historical and cultural references. It would not be as easy to read as modern books, but will expand student's vocabulary and knowledge.
Do we now ban Dickens because he is as hard to read as Hardy. Great stories and wonderful descriptive segments have made this man a great author. Perhaps good things deserve a little more effort. Of course that is not the point and the motivation stinks. Why do we always allow these cultural bullies to dictate to us ? Well, nuts to them as I shall continue to read what I like to read.
Talking of German authors I'd rather see the entire works, translated to English, of Hermann Hess (eg The Glass Bead Game) than one of those wretched BLM/LBGTQ stories glamorising drugs, violence and debauchery.
We need a huge book burning now. Burn all the Marxist, degenerate and Woke garbage thats destroying our children's minds and wreaking our country. Thats all the German Nationalist-Socialists burned. How right they were!
Ironically it was the right who burnt books in the 30s, now metaphorically its the left. Unfortunately the books and authors they are trying to diminish are powerful empathic writers. Larkin may have toyed with racism, but his work is profoundly sensitive and moving. I have absolutely no idea why they would remove Hardy, other than the fact he's a English writer who happened to write at the time of the British Empire.... very odd.
I can understand replacing Hardy with George Elliot because you can't have every author every year but replacing an author with another author because they're black, Asian or gay because of representation is BS.
Maybe this is what some people want us to believe, but most things are not just black vs white. To turn everything into culture war benefits no one except the populists. The lady who said that we need to look at the new in view of the old is spot on.
@@RHKO The deliberate removal of statues, books, place names, historical figures, censorship and forced language has only taken place in authoritarian regimes. History always change, but should do so organically, not ideologically pandering to activist groups.
They are not just burying Thomas Hardy's words, but the whole of England's past. Our brave new world must be stripped clean of memories to make way for the voices of our future; those aggressive, churlish & ungrateful voices from all corners of the world. Those wanting to seek a new life in a cultural desert which can be replanted with their own voices, memories & cultural diktats.
Doesn't seem like a big deal - getting rid of Hardy - but this is a watershed in the inexplicable but seemingly inexorable cannibalisation of England's cultural heritage. End result is a country that's dumber, bleaker, more homogenous. It's sad.
It is a big deal. Thomas Hardy is an example of the enlightened and progressive ideas which made this country stand out. It's sad that obscure bureaucrats make decisions about our cultural heritage. We need to teach young people the rich fabric of our society by showing these inspirational works from the past together with the excitement of the new.
"Doesn't seem like a big deal - getting rid of Hardy-" Are you completely and utterly stupid? Even if you aren't into TH he is one of the greatest of British literary minds from the past. Getting rid of him (and others) will do a great amount of harm culturally speaking. They're also trying to get rid of Wilfred Owen.
This started in the late 90´s when we started teaching Poems from Different Cultures. As an English teacher, all I can say, using my vast knowledge of the language and its myriad of subtle descriptive terms is, they were mostly 5hit!
I hope the British exam boards will keep Thomas Hardy's novels and retain his heritage to be cherished..He was one of the greatest English literature writers of all time..it's part of the English culture and history..
Remove the history, remove the country, bit by bit we are losing heritage. When all heritage is gone , both the good and the bad, what will they then replace what they replaced heritage with?
Maybe a reasonable concern, but the idea of what “British Heritage” means isn’t immutable. I’m old enough to remember the classroom map with all the pink on it and the the uproar in the country caused by Suez and in the Conservative party when it formally announced that it was “no longer the party of Empire”. Right up till the late 60s it was easy to find people who thought that the whole essence of being British had been trashed with the end of the Empire. As a child I we had a retired neighbour who had worked for the Raj in India and in colonial administration in Africa who was utterly dejected as independence progressed across Africa in the 1960s. But almost no one now thinks that “Britain without Empire is no longer Britain” as he did. All countries are the same - their conception of themselves changes because it has to, because history doesn’t stand still.
@@davidpaterson2309 I don't think that it's the ongoing development of the country that's the chief concern here, it's the active erasing and shaming over our history and culture by those that seek to substitute it for their own.
Thomas Hardy is my favourite writer. He not only produced great novels, each with a wonderful storyline, filled with fascinating, memorable characters, but he, more than any other writer, was able to invoke a sense of place. He peopled it with individuals, both ordinary country folk, and the gentry, who were very much part of, and were influenced by, the landscape. His was an England, yes, largely disappeared, that still speaks to us across the years, and reminds us of what we were, both good and bad, and what we have lost. Perhaps that is the real reason he must be banished. Hardy represents the very soul of England and the English, and for those now seeking to eradicate our national character, replacing it with a international one, ie, without roots or love of country, destroying our culture is the place to start. They talk of making way for new voices, a more diverse face that they claim represents Britain now. Well I would suggest that only a society hell bent on destruction throws out its best in order to make way for the new, and often mediocre, simply to appease a monority. But the likes of Hardy, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, represent the very pinnacle of our cultural achievements, and thence they must be banished. The cultural vandals are on the march, and like the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution, they seek to replace/ destroy anything that the new world order believes ties us to our past, and reminds us how little of merit and lasting value is being offered in return.
I'd say few people enjoy Hardy nowadays. And according to you English literature has been going downhill since the 1860s. Don't think many would agree with you.
@@julianshepherd2038 I have never stated English Literature has been going downhill since the 1860s, only that certain writers achieved a standard few have attained, and, further, they are timeless. You don't throw away the good stuff merely to make way for the new, surely you should try to accommodate both. As for modern literature, the type promoted to replace the likes of Hardy, have you actually read and compared them?. As a former teacher I can tell you that several are, frankly, both simplistic in content, and worse, badly written. I would suggest that some have been added to the curriculum mainly to fulfil the required quota, ie, are by those of black, ethnic minority, or LGBT individuals, and not because of their own particular merit.
They ARE inclusive in that they describe abject poverty and hopelessness of the poor and the fact that white English country folk WERE slaves and women were treated abominably..we can't have the truth now can we....
@@MsBaroque That's the one. I find her writing atrocious! Just long-winded lamentations with no rhythm, interest or verve. Awful. I doubt she would be internationally acclaimed is she a white author.
A love story, which speaks to everyone and is so deep in sensibility and emotional intelligence ,to so many things Where do the people who make these decisions live? Urbanised towns and cities, without any understanding of the complexity of living in the English countryside and the cultural responsibility to the people,, beating in the heart of its dna? This as imbibed by the people who are born or live there, to nurture and sustain it.
I was in trouble for teaching John Masefield in the 90s. I was told he was not relevant. The literacy advisor became very influential and had a good job and pension. She knew nothing about English literature. I feel really wounded about Thonas Hardy....as a Channel Islander who knows that books were burned by occupying forces during WW2
Our indigenous culture is being marginalised. The novels of Thomas Hardy are some of the most beautifully written & emotionally literate in the English language, there has to be a place for heritage as well as modernity.
WHO is making these treacherous decisions and who is allowing them? HOW DARE THEY? WE MUST COMPLAIN. What is the GOVERNMENT DOING TO STAND UP FOR ORDINARY BRITISH PEOPLE.
@Emma Stewardson. The great majority of " ordinary British people " have neither read a classic or have the slightest interest. Those who care are in a minority and frequently don't understand what they read anyway: they're as stupid as the ' woke'. Read whatever you wish. Everything is still available: which is not true of the past. Hardy did not write his works for the man in the street - he wrote them for the gentry who could afford them - merely using the common man/woman to line his pocket. Shakespeare wrote his plays ( not poems) for the commoner and they were not to be read, but acted. His audience was probably far more erudite ( but illiterate ) than Hardy's and the majority of " ordinary people " of today. Having said all this I do detest the crap churned out by the woke, today.
His work is a testimony of a progressive and caring mind, ahead of his time. It stands within the enlightened and humanistic legacy Britain has given the world.
For those who are not aware....The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have a huge financial stake in our education system, they virtually own the whole thing. Hardy's Dorset is absolutely priceless, it's an AONB and rich in tradition and history.
@@julianshepherd2038 I can believe that Thomas Hardy being removed from the syllabus and replaced with "diverse" garbage is a fact. Sadly, all too common these days...
Can GB News interview who's behind this and let's see them on camera and explain why they think their ideology of the great British cultural clear out works?
I would love to see who these people are but the will hide away, they have no genuine reason to do this apart from hate of this great Country and all it has achieved and represents.
Our history and achievements will always be there. Just because misjudged decisions wish to deny them doesn't alter a thing. The sad thing is that generations of young people will be unaware of their nations history and therefore more ignorant. It is there to be discovered though.
This is surely the intention? Remove from sight to the present generation ( hooked to phones and laptops) the writing of one of our country's most influential social warriors. Thomas Hardy, brought the richness of the English language, in his craft as a writer, to depict the lives of the British people, especially, the rural poor. Their struggle and moral, dilemma, especially for women. The majority in abject poverty Many enslaved to their position and place of birth, provided with a rudimentary education, but always encouraged to read and learn, at every opportunity ,from the literary richness of skills provided to them by reading from books, written ny masters to their art. Remove people from their history and you remove from them, their sense of belonging and right to the hard earned wisdomn,gleaned by their ancestors, to their identity and heritage.
It can be erased easily enough, as they purge books and history lessons, re-do all our museums, pull down statues, re-name everything, and instill a fear of even remembering our colonial past
This shallow short term gratification must stop. I am English...I live in England....I am at least 5 generations English. Why would I want to see our valuable and world acknowledged contributions to literature, the arts and even modern English society sacrificed and cancelled in preference of some under achieving toerag from Londistan or anywhere else!! Wokeism is our national enemy and should be treated as such. Change should be accepted and incremental unless vital. Whole generations of English/British/Commonwealth citizens would be poorer without our classics and their societal influences.
@Keith Littlebury. I'm a bit late to this 'news', but wish to draw attention to the fact that the Education Minister to whom the MP wrote is - NOT British. He is an immigrant to the UK and is an IRAQI KURD born in BAGHDAD..
Heartbreaking to see this once great country's history & culture being desecrated & destroyed by marginal factions within it that don't represent the vast majority..
This proves that that students are getting lazy...they think they know everything.....so why go to school? As an English Lit student of the 70's I am grateful for the exposure to all classical writers...some I liked, some I didn't but I learnt and made up my own mind...something sorely lacking today - a learning mind!
I agree. I hated English at school, having to read stories that I did not enjoy. However, in hindsight they had much impact on my vocabulary and articulation of language.
The suspicion will remain that the removal of Thomas Hardy's works from some examination syllabuses is a move to placate the woke brigade. It is yet another blow to the English literature heritage of which I am so proud.
@@luisbustamante9869 What's the alternative explanation: pupils who don't hear English spoken at home much find the author too difficult, Hardy's books do not possess literary merit, the themes don't resonate with British teenagers in 2020, teachers find the content too difficult to teach..in any event I'm absolutely disgusted how life is changing for the worse, of which this is just one symptom.
The government needs to come down hard and set an example , exclude this exam board from being used in UK state funded schools. This will send a message that enough is enough of this woke nonsense.
As someone who learned to speak English as a second language, this is actually shocking for me! Hardy's mastery of the English language was nothing short of amazing, anything he wrote is just impossible to translate, into any language! He needs to be read in the original English to get the feel and tenor of what he was trying to express, he was like a painter with words! That young people in England are no longer required to read Hardy is beyond sad!
The intention is to undermine our cultural heritage. Hardy's great novels are superb works of creative art of the highest order and full of insight and empathy into human nature. You can easily imagine many of his characters existing in the modern world. They are also a fascinating record of 19th century rural life. His description of the sensation of standing on a hill at night and experiencing the earth rushing through the cosmos is one of my favourite passages of literature ever.
I have to say that growing up in New Zealand meant that Thomas Hardy was not on my syllabus at school. I read Jude the Obscure and Tess of the D'urbervilles at about the age 25 and 30 and probably enjoyed them more for having more life experience myself - both books made an amazing impression on me. This may not have been the case if I had been made to read them for school.
for my English A level they gave us 'Heart of darkness' and 'the Handmade's Tale' - gcse we covered 1984, brave new world and fahrenheit 451...almost like they were preparing us...
@@taraelizabethdensley9475 the film Apocalypse Now was based on it - though the book written in early 1900s. It's the darkest summary of humanity you could ever imagine...quite a shocking book really to imprint on impressionable 17 year olds...I mean, at the time, I lapped it up - thought it was superb (and as writing goes, it is) - but - 30 yrs + on, I see the insidious message of hopelessness...hardly a positive and encouraging start for a young adult...that's my point...at that age you can so easily take the wrong turn...and I did...
That is a tragedy. We did one of his books for A level. I read many many of his novels and they transported me back to that time and gave me such insight into those days and most of all of Dorset.
Just because you are gay and / or need a wheelchair doesn't mean that you are smart or can write literacy masterpieces. This is like replacing a Constable painting with a banana duck taped to a wall and then asking students to critique it
The fact that these censors could not justify their decision condemns them. I have been reading and rereading Hardy for 50 years and although I have reservations about the quality of his prose, which is excruciating at times, he had a vision of life that was extraordinary. Remember what Edmund Gosse said about him: “What has Providence done to Mr. Hardy that he should rise up in the arable land of Wessex and shake his fist at his creator?”
A very sad day when, in my humble opinion, England's finest novelist is sidelined by a bunch of mentally challenged individuals who, for reasons completely beyond me, have their opinions acted upon. We all know "normality" will return to our fractured lives when we eventually elect a government who will stand firm against the madness, but that may well be a decade away. Until then I will continue to advocate Mr Hardy's work to one and all, and speak out against the assault on our culture.
I am disabled myself and do not object to disabled and African/Asian writers. However they should not be published by any UK publishers if they criticize our culture.
Schools think that they own your kids. It is time parents reminded them that they do not. Schools are run by public servants paid by the taxpayer. Parents can use the internet to communicate, network, unite, and empower themselves to influence schools to use a parentally approved exam board and syllabus.
Hardy is one of the greatest writers in the English language. Not just great novels, but great poetry too. Such a stupid decision to take him off the syllabus for writers who can't hold a candle to him.
I'm curious as to how someone is appointed to such a powerful position as those heading the OCR, deciding on the syllabus to be taught to all impressionable young minds across our once proud nation? There would appear to be a small but powerful minority determined to either sweep away or re-write all of our history. I'm personally becoming downright sick and tired of a small, powerful minority of people imposing their perverse, small-minded, blinkered cultural views on the majority of British society. Our culture, our literature, our values and our customs have been admired and copied across the world. It has long passed the time when the majority need to speak out, starting with how do we identify those seeking to undermine our culture in the OCR and how do we proceed if we are to replace these self-interested, anti-British, control-freaks from their positions of power? We urgently need a return to common sense values, the right to freely voice our different views without fear of reprisals, and a return to decent moral values. A good place to start would be how exactly do we replace those anti-British traitors at OCR?
Well first you have a privileged upbringing, then you pretend your a communist, after that you attend a Marxist higher education establishment, finally you turn into a dik with an insatiable urge to destroy beauty....hope that satisfies your curiosity Michael x
I guess that Hardy's writing fails to fulfil the examining board's minimum requirements in terms of expletives, obscenities, LGBTQ lead characters as well as failing to acknowledge the Mayor Of Casterbridge's white privilege and using a patronising title in describing Clym Yeobright as the 'native' in 'The Return Of The Native.'
This is so so sad...I agree with what the lady has said: By all means, add new authors, not instead of the old ones, but along with them. She was 100% in what she's said. I don't understand why the UK is getting rid of its great writers? It's like one by one, a foundation, upon which your country has been built, one of the important cultural fabrics of your society is being erased. 😔😔.
This is madness. As an American I love Thomas Hardy; his writing makes me feel like I’m really in the beautiful English country side. I’m proud of my English ancestry and no one can take that from me.
This is horrid. Hardy wrote about the least privileged and his work is translated beautifully to the people society has forgotten about today. What a travesty.
Exam board or not, Hardy’s literature will be forever remembered as genius. For the most part the replacements and the exam board will be forgotten inside a decade. That’s called Karma.
How UTTERLY disgusting. These people who have taken it upon themselves to ''ban'' one of our greatest writers should, I hope, be eventually punished in a way that Hardy would have approved. (See ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' and the punishment meted out to Lucetta.) They are disgusting people - shallow, unlearned, narrow-minded and ignorant. How on EARTH do people like this get into places of influence?
This smacks of indoctrination not education! It should be on the context, the actual literature not on someone's sexuality or skin colour. Totally agree with having new with old side by side.
Thomas Hardy - one of our greatest writers. This was very upsetting to hear. Thomas Hardy was a truly fine writer who could capture life and social circumstances of people in Dorset at the time he was writing. Sadly, all I am seeing is our culture being dumbed down. Our history, and culture bring deleted. We must stand by our traditions and understand our past. I gave found great solace in the writings of Thomas Hardy. I am unaware of new writers who are on this level, and whi capture the human experience in the way he does. t There is so much we can learn from Hardy. This is a very worrying development
In South Africa I studied Hardy at school. He really understood power and control and the world in which he lived. He taught me about errors of decision. I lived his literature and his world.
I haven't read any of Hardy's novels yet but I have far from the madding crowd at home and I'm going to read it soon. Surely the reason you study pre 20th century literature in school is because if it is still relevant after all this time it means it is genuine literature and worth understanding because the points it raises are universal and the writing is beautiful. No point reading something written in the past 25 years as how do we know how worthwhile it really is as literature if it hasn't even stood the test of time.
I did the book for O-levels. I also recommend the Julie Christie - Terence Stamp movie. Then find the 1960s hit record, "Waterloo Sunset". A line about Terence and Julie, returning via Waterloo for the weekend after filming in Dorset.
I first read Mayor of Casterbridge when I was about 19. My next book was Tess of the D'Urbervilles. What a brilliant book and what brilliant use of our language. I hadn't seen any of the films so didn't know the outcome. At the end of the day, the Government is in charge of all this. They should be saying you can't remove renowned and celebrated authors, they are required, they are part of our heritage and culture. You can't remove them to try and delete our history. This woke agenda has gone on far too long, someone in authority needs to remove it from anything that has any influence on education at all levels and anything that damages or misrepresents or hides our history from children and the rest of the population.
I am Dorset born and bred. Its an amazing story. There will never be a remake of the film better than the Julie Christie Terence Stamp Peter Finch one. It was stunning.I have read all his books and poems. A man in touch with the realities of his day. I hope you enjoy the book.
His work is rather relevant to today. He often wrote of the people left behind during the industrial revolution with themes very similar to life for people being left behind by the swift societal changes we are experiencing today.
Whose children? I think this another indication, if one is required, that they are no longer yours. Many of our comments here read like they belong in 1930s Germany. We are being rehoused into a ghetto and our possessions are being forcibly removed; someone should complain. They/we know where this is leading, and it isn’t Dorset. Read Howard Jacobson’s ‘Peeping Tom’ and weep.
They are not happy though are they. Seems they bring all the problems of their indoctrination, often through their own political choices and infighting.in the countries they have left , many without any previous ties to the UK, through the UK door and then say to ALL, the crushed middle and poor in our country, this is all your fault and you will be made to pay! Communism with a pen, instead of a boot!
The classics will always be the classics. They've stood the test of time and new writings have not. The only time that the list of classics should be updated is when new classics prove to have stood the test of time. So 100-200 years from now a writer alive today could be considered to have created classic works deserving of study. But aside from that no modern writing should replace a great classic writer in education.
This would be the equivalent over here in Ireland of removing Yeats , Joyce or Beckett from the sylabus. Absolutely contemptable. What's next for these people, will they go for Dickens of God forbid Shakespeare
The fact that they are unwilling to discuss their decision speaks volumes.
who are the new writers Stan lee at Marvel
They won't discuss it because they are wrong. Hardy's voice as a writer was one of the greatest in the English language since Shakespeare. There is a reason he is studied, not just in England, but around the world.
Well said Chris, 👏
They are unwilling to discuss their decisions because they have nothing to say. Their minds are empty parking lots as cars of thought evade them looking for an intelligent place to stop. Sadly, no suitable spots are to be found.
Professor kahinde Andrews of Birmingham Lol
Another nail in the coffin of British culture. Delete the past. The eloquence of Hardy's writing, the record of country life in his times are invaluable historical and cultural references. It would not be as easy to read as modern books, but will expand student's vocabulary and knowledge.
Do we now ban Dickens because he is as hard to read as Hardy. Great stories and wonderful descriptive segments have made this man a great author. Perhaps good things deserve a little more effort. Of course that is not the point and the motivation stinks. Why do we always allow these cultural bullies to dictate to us ? Well, nuts to them as I shall continue to read what I like to read.
I recall having a Thomas Hardy book in one hand and a dictionary in the other.
How was the great Gatsby and and Of Mice and Men British culture? They were books on the English syllabus
@@emmanuelrobert208 They sat along British authors not instead of.
@@hetrodoxly1203 You know this isn't happening? Who are they putting in its place? British authors!!!
“Those who begin with burning books, will ultimately burn people ” Heinrich Heine
They’re certainly changing the face of the country in ways that will definitely do us - the natives - much harm.
Talking of German authors I'd rather see the entire works, translated to English, of Hermann Hess (eg The Glass Bead Game) than one of those wretched BLM/LBGTQ stories glamorising drugs, violence and debauchery.
We need a huge book burning now. Burn all the Marxist, degenerate and Woke garbage thats destroying our children's minds and wreaking our country. Thats all the German Nationalist-Socialists burned. How right they were!
Ironically it was the right who burnt books in the 30s, now metaphorically its the left. Unfortunately the books and authors they are trying to diminish are powerful empathic writers. Larkin may have toyed with racism, but his work is profoundly sensitive and moving. I have absolutely no idea why they would remove Hardy, other than the fact he's a English writer who happened to write at the time of the British Empire.... very odd.
@@mikethebloodthirsty In the 30s it was the Far left who were doing the burning.
Who are these people trying to destroy English culture? Worse who are these people allowing them to do so.
The answers are....communist...and Marxist
Yes and ignorant white middleclass Liberals
Frankfurt school early 1900's - UK, 60's, Stuart Hall and company.
ethnic minorities with a huge chip on their shoulder.
I don't know, who can't you mention in even a slight question without being removed or shadow band?
I can understand replacing Hardy with George Elliot because you can't have every author every year but replacing an author with another author because they're black, Asian or gay because of representation is BS.
It's almost as if we are being replaced....
@@evolassunglasses4673 we are
Yep. I agree. It is absolute BS
Maybe this is what some people want us to believe, but most things are not just black vs white. To turn everything into culture war benefits no one except the populists. The lady who said that we need to look at the new in view of the old is spot on.
It is indeed BS, but it's PC and that's what matters to so many now.
Our history is being changed rapidly in this insane country.
History was always changed, what are you on about?
not changed destroyed
erased
This country is a disgrace , no backbone whatsoever , shameful.
@@RHKO
The deliberate removal of statues, books, place names, historical figures, censorship and forced language has only taken place in authoritarian regimes. History always change, but should do so organically, not ideologically pandering to activist groups.
It's not so much what they remove, it's what's they replace it with is the bigger problem.
Diz Poetry - Benjamin Zepha diggery something. Overrated crap!
Spot on.
You can't compare shit to sugar if the sugar is banned !
Will they remove Charles Dickens next.
@@johnturnley6972 They will remove William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer.
Minority rule = A system of government in which the governing party of a country represents only a small proportion of the overall population.
No, UK is ruled by twisted pride called "more compassionate than God". "We are so inclusive. We are so loving. Aren't we great?"
They don't represent anyone, it's just a means to an end, once they get what they want, they'll dump these tools.
@@bign3ck just change "represents" too "Panders too" then.
@@bign3ck The left walk on a causeway of corpses created by their previous ideals.
.. That's cuz the rest of the public are cowards.. they disgust me, frankly
They are not just burying Thomas Hardy's words, but the whole of England's past. Our brave new world must be stripped clean of memories to make way for the voices of our future; those aggressive, churlish & ungrateful voices from all corners of the world. Those wanting to seek a new life in a cultural desert which can be replanted with their own voices, memories & cultural diktats.
Doesn't seem like a big deal - getting rid of Hardy - but this is a watershed in the inexplicable but seemingly inexorable cannibalisation of England's cultural heritage. End result is a country that's dumber, bleaker, more homogenous. It's sad.
Dumber makes it easier for politicians.
It's not that nice. A people with no culture have no roots. A tree with no roots is easy to dispose of.
It is a big deal. Thomas Hardy is an example of the enlightened and progressive ideas which made this country stand out. It's sad that obscure bureaucrats make decisions about our cultural heritage. We need to teach young people the rich fabric of our society by showing these inspirational works from the past together with the excitement of the new.
It is a big deal. More history being erased by the lousy mob.
"Doesn't seem like a big deal - getting rid of Hardy-" Are you completely and utterly stupid? Even if you aren't into TH he is one of the greatest of British literary minds from the past. Getting rid of him (and others) will do a great amount of harm culturally speaking. They're also trying to get rid of Wilfred Owen.
This started in the late 90´s when we started teaching Poems from Different Cultures. As an English teacher, all I can say, using my vast knowledge of the language and its myriad of subtle descriptive terms is, they were mostly 5hit!
😂👍🏻
most eloquently put
Frankfurt school - UK, 60's, Stuart Hall and company.
I hope the British exam boards will keep Thomas Hardy's novels and retain his heritage to be cherished..He was one of the greatest English literature writers of all time..it's part of the English culture and history..
That's exactly why they want to 'memory hole' him and all his great works! So noone will remember he was one of the greatest writers.
There is no such thing as a "British" Exam Board, you should have studied more.
@@williambelford9661 Pedantic much?
@@markperrin8098 pedantic and accurate are not synonyms 😉
@@williambelford9661 Um, OK.
Remove the history, remove the country, bit by bit we are losing heritage. When all heritage is gone , both the good and the bad, what will they then replace what they replaced heritage with?
Maybe a reasonable concern, but the idea of what “British Heritage” means isn’t immutable. I’m old enough to remember the classroom map with all the pink on it and the the uproar in the country caused by Suez and in the Conservative party when it formally announced that it was “no longer the party of Empire”. Right up till the late 60s it was easy to find people who thought that the whole essence of being
British had been trashed with the end of the Empire. As a child I we had a retired neighbour who had worked for the Raj in India and in colonial administration in Africa who was utterly dejected as independence progressed across Africa in the 1960s. But almost no one now thinks that “Britain without Empire is no longer Britain” as he did. All countries are the same - their conception of themselves changes because it has to, because history doesn’t stand still.
' ... what will they then replace what they replaced heritage with?' The koran. don't say you haven't been warned.
@@davidpaterson2309 I don't think that it's the ongoing development of the country that's the chief concern here, it's the active erasing and shaming over our history and culture by those that seek to substitute it for their own.
Anglophobes are endemic in England.
DO NOT EMPLOY grads from this university or any other woke uni.
I wouldn't let them clean toilets, this is F***ING insane.
Ok - I will not. If any tribunal asks me why I didn't hire them - I'll just say they weren't diverse enough.
@@Pensivata or inclusive
Show me a university that isn't woke...
Universities are mostly woke that includes Graduates,under Graduates and Lecturers.
The U.K. Slowly being taken apart piece by piece .
Such a drama Queen
@@RHKO Such a snowflake.
Thomas Hardy is my favourite writer. He not only produced great novels, each with a wonderful storyline, filled with fascinating, memorable characters, but he, more than any other writer, was able to invoke a sense of place. He peopled it with individuals, both ordinary country folk, and the gentry, who were very much part of, and were influenced by, the landscape. His was an England, yes, largely disappeared, that still speaks to us across the years, and reminds us of what we were, both good and bad, and what we have lost. Perhaps that is the real reason he must be banished. Hardy represents the very soul of England and the English, and for those now seeking to eradicate our national character, replacing it with a international one, ie, without roots or love of country, destroying our culture is the place to start. They talk of making way for new voices, a more diverse face that they claim represents Britain now. Well I would suggest that only a society hell bent on destruction throws out its best in order to make way for the new, and often mediocre, simply to appease a monority. But the likes of Hardy, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, represent the very pinnacle of our cultural achievements, and thence they must be banished. The cultural vandals are on the march, and like the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution, they seek to replace/ destroy anything that the new world order believes ties us to our past, and reminds us how little of merit and lasting value is being offered in return.
They weren't diverse or inclusive ergo they have to go.
I'd say few people enjoy Hardy nowadays.
And according to you English literature has been going downhill since the 1860s.
Don't think many would agree with you.
@@julianshepherd2038 I have never stated English Literature has been going downhill since the 1860s, only that certain writers achieved a standard few have attained, and, further, they are timeless. You don't throw away the good stuff merely to make way for the new, surely you should try to accommodate both. As for modern literature, the type promoted to replace the likes of Hardy, have you actually read and compared them?. As a former teacher I can tell you that several are, frankly, both simplistic in content, and worse, badly written. I would suggest that some have been added to the curriculum mainly to fulfil the required quota, ie, are by those of black, ethnic minority, or LGBT individuals, and not because of their own particular merit.
They ARE inclusive in that they describe abject poverty and hopelessness of the poor and the fact that white English country folk WERE slaves and women were treated abominably..we can't have the truth now can we....
@@julianshepherd2038Funny as you're the one with 0 likes 🧐
The irony is that even non Anglo-Saxon countries study Hardy, Larkin and Wilfred Owen...
This is what happens when you employee people with gender studies degrees.
Not racially or alphabet divergent enough for them ! It'll be replaced by some marxist 'racial & pride' type extremist.. Mark my words.
He was replaced by some Somali author...kid you not.
@@purplehaze8557 Hi. Was he really. Lived in Dorset, so Know he lived in the Dorchester area.
@@purplehaze8557 Is it Warsan Shire? She's brilliant. She was London's first Young Poet Laureate, and her work is internationally known.
@@MsBaroque That's the one. I find her writing atrocious! Just long-winded lamentations with no rhythm, interest or verve. Awful. I doubt she would be internationally acclaimed is she a white author.
He wrote "Far from the Madding Crowd" very apt book for todays problems. The Guardian rated 10th on the greatest love stories of all time.
Its the reason they did this. Can't be told their a mad criwd
I sad that they will removed this great novel ..i have studied this novel for my English literature for my 'O' level..
Great film.
It's not diverse, so it has to be eradicated.
A love story, which speaks to everyone and is so deep in sensibility and emotional intelligence ,to so many things
Where do the people who make these decisions live? Urbanised towns and cities, without any understanding of the complexity of living in the English countryside and the cultural responsibility to the people,, beating in the heart of its dna? This as imbibed by the people who are born or live there, to nurture and sustain it.
His poems are even better than his novels
Yes, Tove, and the Moomins agree.
I was in trouble for teaching John Masefield in the 90s. I was told he was not relevant. The literacy advisor became very influential and had a good job and pension. She knew nothing about English literature. I feel really wounded about Thonas Hardy....as a Channel Islander who knows that books were burned by occupying forces during WW2
Our indigenous culture is being marginalised. The novels of Thomas Hardy are some of the most beautifully written & emotionally literate in the English language, there has to be a place for heritage as well as modernity.
"Great" Britain falling harder than ever.
It'll be even worse in October.
Turning into Gay Britain
Yeep.
When they refuse to talk, that silence is DEFENING
NEVER trust those who refuse to defend their claims.
“They had nothing to say”. How appropriately phrased.
WHO is making these treacherous decisions and who is allowing them? HOW DARE THEY? WE MUST COMPLAIN. What is the GOVERNMENT DOING TO STAND UP FOR ORDINARY BRITISH PEOPLE.
Nothing....ever
@Emma Stewardson. The great majority of " ordinary British people " have neither read a classic or have the slightest interest. Those who care are in a minority and frequently don't understand what they read anyway: they're as stupid as the ' woke'. Read whatever you wish. Everything is still available: which is not true of the past. Hardy did not write his works for the man in the street - he wrote them for the gentry who could afford them - merely using the common man/woman to line his pocket. Shakespeare wrote his plays ( not poems) for the commoner and they were not to be read, but acted. His audience was probably far more erudite ( but illiterate ) than Hardy's and the majority of " ordinary people " of today. Having said all this I do detest the crap churned out by the woke, today.
Your government is doing it to you. It has been taken over by a single group.
There will NEVER be a writer like Hardy😔
Perhaps it's to intelligent for ethnic minorities to comprehend 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
His work is a testimony of a progressive and caring mind, ahead of his time. It stands within the enlightened and humanistic legacy Britain has given the world.
@@bobrail733 too
@@bexsta9175 🧐 *ignores that autocorrect is a thing
Except, of course, Anthony Trollope, whose time will come once the ignorant 'censors' notice him (because, of course, they know little about him...)
I studied Thomas Hardy's 'Return Of The Native' for A Level, a wonderful book and an amazing writer. Sick of this bloody stupidity.
For those who are not aware....The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have a huge financial stake in our education system, they virtually own the whole thing. Hardy's Dorset is absolutely priceless, it's an AONB and rich in tradition and history.
How can they... our education system (in the UK) is government funded? Please explain...
Bill Gates reminds me of James Bond villain trying to control the World.
Those 2 need to F off.
@@douglasherron7534 your in the wrong place for facts.
@@julianshepherd2038 I can believe that Thomas Hardy being removed from the syllabus and replaced with "diverse" garbage is a fact. Sadly, all too common these days...
why should someone who practices bizzare sexual practices get precedence over others??
Tell that to grooming gangs all over Britain
Because the people in power, the elitists and the decision makers all partake in said bizarre sexual practices.
Because it demonstrates how politically correct you are?
Because many of those in authority carry out those practices and so wish to have them promoted.
Because the Devil rules the world and this is what he wants.
What is wrong with referencing ‘Empire’ absolutely nothing. It was an incredible time in history. Stop apologising ffs
So the only criteria for replacing 'old' writers/poets is being disabled, non white, or lgbtq+, not the quality of the work?
Can GB News interview who's behind this and let's see them on camera and explain why they think their ideology of the great British cultural clear out works?
I would love to see who these people are but the will hide away, they have no genuine reason to do this apart from hate of this great Country and all it has achieved and represents.
That's insane. One of the best English writers our planet ever produced. What a travesty.
Our history and achievements will always be there. Just because misjudged decisions wish to deny them doesn't alter a thing. The sad thing is that generations of young people will be unaware of their nations history and therefore more ignorant. It is there to be discovered though.
This is surely the intention?
Remove from sight to the present generation ( hooked to phones and laptops) the writing of one of our country's most influential social warriors.
Thomas Hardy, brought the richness of the English language, in his craft as a writer, to depict the lives of the British people, especially, the rural poor.
Their struggle and moral, dilemma, especially for women.
The majority in abject poverty
Many enslaved to their position and place of birth, provided with a rudimentary education, but always encouraged to read and learn, at every opportunity ,from the literary richness of skills provided to them by reading from books, written ny masters to their art.
Remove people from their history and you remove from them, their sense of belonging and right to the hard earned wisdomn,gleaned by their ancestors, to their identity and heritage.
It can be erased easily enough, as they purge books and history lessons, re-do all our museums, pull down statues, re-name everything, and instill a fear of even remembering our colonial past
And thus more easily deceived and manipulated.
@@janicebirch7522 In other words we will end up with a very sick society full of emotional cripples.
@@kitsiewr If it gets that bad our leaders will be no better and at the same level as Hitler, Stalin, Mao and all the other tyrants.
_"They have nothing to say"_
Indeed.
This shallow short term gratification must stop. I am English...I live in England....I am at least 5 generations English. Why would I want to see our valuable and world acknowledged contributions to literature, the arts and even modern English society sacrificed and cancelled in preference of some under achieving toerag from Londistan or anywhere else!!
Wokeism is our national enemy and should be treated as such. Change should be accepted and incremental unless vital. Whole generations of English/British/Commonwealth citizens would be poorer without our classics and their societal influences.
this is why I've never understood this country's loathing towards the French. They wouldn't stand for it. We have become a limp society
AYE PAL . PARIS WOULD BURN FIRST . BUT IT'S ENGLAND'S HATRED NOT SCOTLAND'S (BRITS)
"These voices are loud"
And they're always bitching about something until you give in to their demands...then they get louder.
I love Thomas Hardy. Such beautiful language.
It's about time there was a government department to stop this happening
@Keith Littlebury. I'm a bit late to this 'news', but wish to draw attention to the fact that the Education Minister to whom the MP wrote is - NOT British. He is an immigrant to the UK and is an IRAQI KURD born in BAGHDAD..
Is it not Government Departments driving the changes? Too late to rely on our government to help the people who elect them.
@@donaldhoult7713 😩
Heartbreaking to see this once great country's history & culture being desecrated & destroyed by marginal factions within it that don't represent the vast majority..
There’s more to the countries history than a poet
This proves that that students are getting lazy...they think they know everything.....so why go to school? As an English Lit student of the 70's I am grateful for the exposure to all classical writers...some I liked, some I didn't but I learnt and made up my own mind...something sorely lacking today - a learning mind!
I agree. I hated English at school, having to read stories that I did not enjoy. However, in hindsight they had much impact on my vocabulary and articulation of language.
Can I get an AMEN from the congregation!!? You are spot on.
I work in a school , one of the houses named after Elizabeth Gaskell has been renamed after a nonentity.
Who?
The suspicion will remain that the removal of Thomas Hardy's works from some examination syllabuses is a move to placate the woke brigade. It is yet another blow to the English literature heritage of which I am so proud.
It's doubtful this is the cause why this act of vandalism is being carried out. Blaming the woke for everything is self-defeating.
@@luisbustamante9869 What's the alternative explanation: pupils who don't hear English spoken at home much find the author too difficult, Hardy's books do not possess literary merit, the themes don't resonate with British teenagers in 2020, teachers find the content too difficult to teach..in any event I'm absolutely disgusted how life is changing for the worse, of which this is just one symptom.
The government needs to come down hard and set an example , exclude this exam board from being used in UK state funded schools. This will send a message that enough is enough of this woke nonsense.
@whysa4. No chance - far too many of our Cabinet are barely British!
The government will be encouraging this.
As someone who learned to speak English as a second language, this is actually shocking for me! Hardy's mastery of the English language was nothing short of amazing, anything he wrote is just impossible to translate, into any language! He needs to be read in the original English to get the feel and tenor of what he was trying to express, he was like a painter with words! That young people in England are no longer required to read Hardy is beyond sad!
Well said Daniel. If i could choose just one book to take with me to a` desert island it would be "The Mayor of Casterbridge"
The intention is to undermine our cultural heritage. Hardy's great novels are superb works of creative art of the highest order and full of insight and empathy into human nature. You can easily imagine many of his characters existing in the modern world. They are also a fascinating record of 19th century rural life. His description of the sensation of standing on a hill at night and experiencing the earth rushing through the cosmos is one of my favourite passages of literature ever.
I have to say that growing up in New Zealand meant that Thomas Hardy was not on my syllabus at school. I read Jude the Obscure and Tess of the D'urbervilles at about the age 25 and 30 and probably enjoyed them more for having more life experience myself - both books made an amazing impression on me. This may not have been the case if I had been made to read them for school.
for my English A level they gave us 'Heart of darkness' and 'the Handmade's Tale' - gcse we covered 1984, brave new world and fahrenheit 451...almost like they were preparing us...
I've never heard of Heart of Darkness, but have read the others
@@taraelizabethdensley9475 Joseph Conrad. It inspired the flick Apocalypse Now.
@@taraelizabethdensley9475 the film Apocalypse Now was based on it - though the book written in early 1900s. It's the darkest summary of humanity you could ever imagine...quite a shocking book really to imprint on impressionable 17 year olds...I mean, at the time, I lapped it up - thought it was superb (and as writing goes, it is) - but - 30 yrs + on, I see the insidious message of hopelessness...hardly a positive and encouraging start for a young adult...that's my point...at that age you can so easily take the wrong turn...and I did...
That is a tragedy. We did one of his books for A level. I read many many of his novels and they transported me back to that time and gave me such insight into those days and most of all of Dorset.
Start collecting books by authors ho died before 1960. One day they will be valuable.
And we can go into the woods and recite them from memory to people
Is that the sound of the approaching fire brigade?
There’s already a reimagined version of the wind in the willows on audible …. And it was free - how very generous of them …
I studied 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' at school. Reading such eloquent works would be good for the current crop of semi-literates.
Just because you are gay and / or need a wheelchair doesn't mean that you are smart or can write literacy masterpieces. This is like replacing a Constable painting with a banana duck taped to a wall and then asking students to critique it
The fact that these censors could not justify their decision condemns them. I have been reading and rereading Hardy for 50 years and although I have reservations about the quality of his prose, which is excruciating at times, he had a vision of life that was extraordinary. Remember what Edmund Gosse said about him: “What has Providence done to Mr. Hardy that he should rise up in the arable land of Wessex and shake his fist at his creator?”
A very sad day when, in my humble opinion, England's finest novelist is sidelined by a bunch of mentally challenged individuals who, for reasons completely beyond me, have their opinions acted upon. We all know "normality" will return to our fractured lives when we eventually elect a government who will stand firm against the madness, but that may well be a decade away.
Until then I will continue to advocate Mr Hardy's work to one and all, and speak out against the assault on our culture.
Beautiful words. Immaculate literature.
I pity my species and the future generations who will be dead souls.
I am disabled myself and do not object to disabled and African/Asian writers. However they should not be published by any UK publishers if they criticize our culture.
This makes me sad, it hurts my soul. Please make them quit!
Schools think that they own your kids. It is time parents reminded them that they do not. Schools are run by public servants paid by the taxpayer. Parents can use the internet to communicate, network, unite, and empower themselves to influence schools to use a parentally approved exam board and syllabus.
I'm removing every woke book and trans leaflets from libraries throughout the UK.
Sounds like it's time for a boycott. The people need to be heard.
Hardy is one of the greatest writers in the English language. Not just great novels, but great poetry too. Such a stupid decision to take him off the syllabus for writers who can't hold a candle to him.
I'm curious as to how someone is appointed to such a powerful position as those heading the OCR, deciding on the syllabus to be taught to all impressionable young minds across our once proud nation? There would appear to be a small but powerful minority determined to either sweep away or re-write all of our history. I'm personally becoming downright sick and tired of a small, powerful minority of people imposing their perverse, small-minded, blinkered cultural views on the majority of British society. Our culture, our literature, our values and our customs have been admired and copied across the world. It has long passed the time when the majority need to speak out, starting with how do we identify those seeking to undermine our culture in the OCR and how do we proceed if we are to replace these self-interested, anti-British, control-freaks from their positions of power? We urgently need a return to common sense values, the right to freely voice our different views without fear of reprisals, and a return to decent moral values. A good place to start would be how exactly do we replace those anti-British traitors at OCR?
Well first you have a privileged upbringing, then you pretend your a communist, after that you attend a Marxist higher education establishment, finally you turn into a dik with an insatiable urge to destroy beauty....hope that satisfies your curiosity Michael x
Whose who forget their past have no future...remember that well!
I guess that Hardy's writing fails to fulfil the examining board's minimum requirements in terms of expletives, obscenities, LGBTQ lead characters as well as failing to acknowledge the Mayor Of Casterbridge's white privilege and using a patronising title in describing Clym Yeobright as the 'native' in 'The Return Of The Native.'
This is so so sad...I agree with what the lady has said: By all means, add new authors, not instead of the old ones, but along with them. She was 100% in what she's said. I don't understand why the UK is getting rid of its great writers? It's like one by one, a foundation, upon which your country has been built, one of the important cultural fabrics of your society is being erased. 😔😔.
I love the work of Thomas Hardy
This is madness. As an American I love Thomas Hardy; his writing makes me feel like I’m really in the beautiful English country side. I’m proud of my English ancestry and no one can take that from me.
Complete madness! Many modern writers are pale shadows of the likes of Hardy, Dickens, etc.
Did you mean darker shadows😏😏
And many are not.
This is horrid. Hardy wrote about the least privileged and his work is translated beautifully to the people society has forgotten about today. What a travesty.
Exam board or not, Hardy’s literature will be forever remembered as genius. For the most part the replacements and the exam board will be forgotten inside a decade. That’s called Karma.
How UTTERLY disgusting. These people who have taken it upon themselves to ''ban'' one of our greatest writers should, I hope, be eventually punished in a way that Hardy would have approved. (See ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' and the punishment meted out to Lucetta.) They are disgusting people - shallow, unlearned, narrow-minded and ignorant. How on EARTH do people like this get into places of influence?
Their silence, is cowardice personified....
We read Hardy for the Scottish Higher exams .
I loved his work - a Great British voice.
This smacks of indoctrination not education! It should be on the context, the actual literature not on someone's sexuality or skin colour. Totally agree with having new with old side by side.
Thomas Hardy - one of our greatest writers. This was very upsetting to hear. Thomas Hardy was a truly fine writer who could capture life and social circumstances of people in Dorset at the time he was writing. Sadly, all I am seeing is our culture being dumbed down. Our history, and culture bring deleted. We must stand by our traditions and understand our past. I gave found great solace in the writings of Thomas Hardy. I am unaware of new writers who are on this level, and whi capture the human experience in the way he does. t
There is so much we can learn from Hardy. This is a very worrying development
these so called writers having nothing to say about their own writing explains it all they dont have anything to say to most people .
In South Africa I studied Hardy at school. He really understood power and control and the world in which he lived. He taught me about errors of decision. I lived his literature and his world.
I haven't read any of Hardy's novels yet but I have far from the madding crowd at home and I'm going to read it soon.
Surely the reason you study pre 20th century literature in school is because if it is still relevant after all this time it means it is genuine literature and worth understanding because the points it raises are universal and the writing is beautiful. No point reading something written in the past 25 years as how do we know how worthwhile it really is as literature if it hasn't even stood the test of time.
I did the book for O-levels.
I also recommend the Julie Christie - Terence Stamp movie.
Then find the 1960s hit record, "Waterloo Sunset".
A line about Terence and Julie, returning via Waterloo for the weekend after filming in Dorset.
I first read Mayor of Casterbridge when I was about 19. My next book was Tess of the D'Urbervilles. What a brilliant book and what brilliant use of our language. I hadn't seen any of the films so didn't know the outcome.
At the end of the day, the Government is in charge of all this. They should be saying you can't remove renowned and celebrated authors, they are required, they are part of our heritage and culture. You can't remove them to try and delete our history.
This woke agenda has gone on far too long, someone in authority needs to remove it from anything that has any influence on education at all levels and anything that damages or misrepresents or hides our history from children and the rest of the population.
I am Dorset born and bred.
Its an amazing story. There will never be a remake of the film better than the Julie Christie Terence Stamp Peter Finch one. It was stunning.I have read all his books and poems. A man in touch with the realities of his day. I hope you enjoy the book.
His work is rather relevant to today. He often wrote of the people left behind during the industrial revolution with themes very similar to life for people being left behind by the swift societal changes we are experiencing today.
If Hardy had been black there would be no problem, even if his writings were absolute rubbish. Past generations must be turning in their graves.
Just waiting for them to come for Shakespeare.
And here is the down fall of Great Britian we are allowing the minority to tell us how and what to teach our children
This is just another way to divide society rather than bring it together. Well done to that woke!!
He represents the Dorchester folk... so of course he must be removed. Remove, cancel, dispel the "Old Four"...
This is another disgrace I’m really disgusted at this situation where does it end.
When we're in the Gulags
He was such a good writer
If new voices have any merit and if they excel over time then that alone will judge them worthy of a place next to the greats.
No, no new “voices.” No, I do not want to read gays or Africans or Asians. I want to read Englishmen.
It's literally true that his heart is buried in Dorset - he asked for it to be removed from his body and placed in his wife's tomb after his death
Great Cultural Giants replaced by Inconsequential Literary nonentities by the same on the Exam Board!!!
Just remove whatever they put up in place of it..with or without any consent.
Shocking disgusting how the people of this country are allowing this xxxx to occur !
"If you tolerate this
Then your children will be next"
@Bruce Wayne. Most of the youngsters I have met/meet appear to be unable to read at any depth!
Whose children? I think this another indication, if one is required, that they are no longer yours. Many of our comments here read like they belong in 1930s Germany. We are being rehoused into a ghetto and our possessions are being forcibly removed; someone should complain. They/we know where this is leading, and it isn’t Dorset. Read Howard Jacobson’s ‘Peeping Tom’ and weep.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles is my favourite novel ever. These people are nuts. His novels have soul. Our souls are being stolen.
It's disgusting what's happening to make others happy.
Not others !
SO CALLED ETHNIC MINORITIES 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
They are not happy though are they. Seems they bring all the problems of their indoctrination, often through their own political choices and infighting.in the countries they have left , many without any previous ties to the UK, through the UK door and then say to ALL, the crushed middle and poor in our country, this is all your fault and you will be made to pay! Communism with a pen, instead of a boot!
His writing is beautiful. Shame on them! The wokies are out to destroy all that is good.
The classics will always be the classics. They've stood the test of time and new writings have not. The only time that the list of classics should be updated is when new classics prove to have stood the test of time. So 100-200 years from now a writer alive today could be considered to have created classic works deserving of study. But aside from that no modern writing should replace a great classic writer in education.
This would be the equivalent over here in Ireland of removing Yeats , Joyce or Beckett from the sylabus. Absolutely contemptable. What's next for these people, will they go for Dickens of God forbid Shakespeare