Great news: ‘A’ Level English exams are being overhauled to reflect the changing ways the youth of today consume and communicate information. So, as well as studying classic writers such as Emily Dickinson and William Blake, the Oxford, Cambridge and Royal Society of Art exam board (OCR) has proposed that it will also feature the book 12 Years A Slave, extracts of Russell Brand’s testimony on drug use to a parliamentary committee, tweets by Caitlin Moran and footage of Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman interviewing Dizzee Rascal on the night Barack Obama won the US presidency – you know, the one where Dizzee said hip hop had won the election and then announced his intention to become prime minister one day. Need a reminder? Here you go…
The move has caused predictable griping, with a source from the Department for Education telling the Guardian: ‘Schools should be aware that if they offer this rubbish in place of a proper ‘A’ level, then pupils may not get into good universities. We will expect other exam boards to do better. It is immensely patronising to young people to claim that they will only engage with English language and literature through celebrities such as Russell Brand.’
Well, we think it’s a great idea. We love a bit of Bronte (who doesn’t), but equally, we communicate and exchange information in such different ways these days, which is rarely reflected or even acknowledged in the things we study before we head out into the Big Wide World.
So, for all your naysayers out there, here are our York Notes on the questions they’re bound to be asking. Just don’t blame us when you copy and paste these answers in verbatim, and inevitably get expelled for the world’s laziest case of plagiarism:
**Question one: how does Dizzee Rascal’s countenance and demeanour impact on Paxman’s style as an interviewer? Was this intentional on Dizzee Rascal’s part? **
Jeremy Paxman is only terrifying when interviewing politicians, whom he clearly disdains. Stick a guileless hip-hop artist with absolutely no axe to grind in front of him and he just loses his shit and his scary superpowers. It’s like Paxman is Samson and Dizzee, as Delilah, has chopped all his hair off. While Baroness Amos looks on bemusedly.
*Or, to put it in exam speak: By refusing to adjust the delivery or content of his message, Dizzee Rascal is demonstrating his contempt for his surroundings, thus placing himself at a higher status than Paxman, the interviewer. *
**Question two: how does Russell Brand use a complicated syntax and humour to give credence to his evidence? **
Russell Brand is very good at using long words to make it sound like he’s making a highly intellectual point, when in truth, he could have said the same thing in half the time. The MPs on the committee remained unmoved, having sat through several hundred hours of Prime Minister’s Question Time between them.
*Exam speak: Russell Brand addresses the committee in a language it will understand and respect to make a serious point on his terms. He also uses a combination of flippant humour, deliberately obtuse language and obscure cultural references to demonstrate his intellectual superiority to the committee. *
**Question three: how Does Caitlin Moran use humour to address political issues in this tweet? **
Oooh, Caitlin Moran’s very good at being funny in not many words isn’t she?
*Exam speak: With only 140 characters and a caps lock at her disposal, Caitlin Moran makes a salient and serious point about the importance of electoral participation, and the danger of extreme marginal parties gaining traction during a period of low-voter turnout. *
That’s it then. ‘A’ level English exam sorted. Or not...
Follow Rebecca on Twitter @rebecca_hol
Picture: PA
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.