The Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, has told the BBC that students do not know the Bible or tales of ancient myths and legends and that this make teaching literature hard.
This reminds me of an incident during a long-ago Ofsted inspection. The subject inspector (who followed me around like a shadow for a full week) came to my lesson on Monday period 1. It was a dark overcast day and the students were looking at the language and style employed by Martin Luther King in his March on Washington Speech. The sixth formers were loyal and wanted to do well, but struggled with the Biblical references. I tried to move around what was quite a big group and encourage them, but like Alistair Campbell, they didn't "do God".
Eventually the inspector moved around the room and settled on one student. We shall call her Sarah. He asked Sarah where some of the phrases came from. "You may recognise them from Handel's Messiah", she said. The inspector smiled. He was happy that she knew "something". He beamed when Sarah added that in fact they were references to the Bible. He almost collapsed when she quoted Chapter and Verse. Sarah was a strong Catholic and the only student who knew what the hell King was referring to. The inspector left a happy man.
Some years later Sarah wrote to me. She had gone off and done great things and thanked me for my support. The letter started with "You probably do not remember me..." - but I will never forget the Christian who saved this atheist from an Ofsted Inspector's wrath. That lesson set the tone and the final report cited the lesson as good practice.
Maybe all Mr Motion needs is a Sarah in every class - not only to raise the "God Quota" but also to lift his flagging spirits with a thank-you letter some years later.
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