When asked why students today should still learn Shakespeare, the AI language processing tool ChatGPT snips back promptly:
“Shakespeare’s works are still relevant today because they explore universal themes such as love, jealousy, ambition, and power that are timeless and applicable to contemporary society. Learning Shakespeare helps to develop critical thinking and language skills, as well as a deeper understanding of the English language and its evolution.”
There it is. Even what could be the fastest growing app in history renders a clear argument for Shakespeare’s relevance in today’s classrooms. Yet, Ontario’s largest school board voted to snuff out the master of English language and install a mandatory Indigenous social studies course in its place.
The fall of Shakespeare
The relevance of Indigenous studies is not in question; there are Native studies and Canadian history courses aplenty that address this need within the existing curriculum. What is notable is that we are now on the road to replace three out of the four mandatory high school English credits with destreamed, applied courses. Students of all ability levels are folded into a single class, leaving those who would like to pursue an academic stream stranded.
The reality of this de-streaming process is summarized well in a comment posted in the Toronto Star:
“Speaking to a grade 9 English teacher this past weekend – de-streaming is an unmitigated disaster. Some of the students can write a novel and others struggle to produce a single sentence, let alone a paragraph. Everything is completely dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. None of these students feel better about themselves. There is nothing to be learned about critical thinking in our world of incessant accommodation, bite-sized blurbs of twitter, tiktok and worse (as if they are not bad enough), and total abdication of rational conversation among opposites. This is just another move to create obedient citizens rather than those who think critically and question everything through reason.”
The board trustees suggest that all relevant English skills will still be taught, but via the books of modern Indigenous authors. It does not follow that just because the novels are written in the English language, they are masterpieces worthy of study. In my recent post I commented on Shakespeare’s vast vocabulary. He used up to 30’000 different words in his plays and had over 60’000 in his arsenal (he actually coined 3000 English words that are in use today).
When teaching English literature we reach to the classic greats because they were skilled wordsmiths capable of transfixing the human condition onto the page. These classics are challenging, enhance our thinking, and at times require painstaking work, but render lasting rewards of a deepened and complex understanding of humanity. The trustees suggest that the same can be gained from modern books, which are more easily understood by students today. So in philosophy, do we turn to Dr. Phil instead of Plato? In science do we leave behind Newton, Galileo, and Einstein because they happen to be born in Europe? There is a reason why we build on the shoulders of great thinkers and writers in our history.
Student trustee Isaiah Shafqat, who spearheaded the replacement of classic writers with a Native studies course, stated that Shakespeare offers ‘no relevance in today’s society’. It appears that Shafqat is not familiar with what he is scoffing off as irrelevant. His disapprobation reminds me of a young person patronizing a grandparent, assuming that their knowledge and life experience is outdated. Responding to the TDSB’s plans to drop the bard, Heather Mallik wrote in her column: “The world is complicated. No one explains it better than Shakespeare. Human nature doesn’t change…Shakespeare is eternal.”
Shakespeare’s universal themes of love, pain, victories, and failure have remained the same over the centuries. In some US penitentiaries inmates who pursue educational opportunities are regularly introduced to Shakespeare’s plays? For example, the tragedy of Julius Caesar, which involves murder, political treachery, and justice, is used because the plot is relatable to people in prison.
When Hamlet asks “To be or not to be?”, he is asking whether it is worth bearing the suffering life offers, a question raised by the current debate on medical assisted suicide.
During a time when few people outside of London would ever have seen a black person, Shakespeare introduced Othello, a tragedy of passion and jealousy that includes a mixed-race marriage in the 17th century. The Tempest was written at the peak of colonization in 1610 and beautiful lines are given to Caliban, who is symbolic of those whose lands and cultures were taken away. I could go on, but will rest my point that Shakespeare remains relevant for those who care to attend to his characters and themes.
The rise of ChatGPT
Removing Shakespeare may seem on the surface like simply taking a dusty book off the shelf. Yet the elimination signals a further labefaction of the educational edifice. A removal of supporting pillars, a weakening of the mortar that binds the foundation, a direct path to ultimate ruination. I am not overstating the case (take a look at Death to Academic Language for further evidence of crumbling). The dumbing down of English curriculum, and the concurrent substitution of social studies courses beating to the DEI drum, emaciates students’ ability to express themselves with nuance, accuracy, and confidence. The withering of complex language will progress, while the parroting of approved platitudes will be praised.
In 1984 Orwell predicted: “By 2050, earlier, probably – all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed.” It seems we are ahead of schedule, relegating Shakespeare and other classics onto the dustheap, and are marching steadfastly toward the aim laid out by Newspeak, “to narrow the range of thought. In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
Yet, sadly this loss will not be much noticed or mourned, but will instead till the ground for ChatGPT and other AI language processing tools. In case you have not yet heard of ChatGPT (it launched last November) – this chatbot has sprung forth like a puffball overnight to become the most downloaded app in history. It was developed by OpenAI and is trained on just about everything written on the internet, including social media posts, news articles, and Wikipedia, and has learned the structure and patterns of human language. Within a couple of seconds ChatGPT can respond to your query and produce anything from a poem for your grandmother, to computer code, to comparing Brutus and Caesar’s leadership qualities in Julius Caesar.
Some school boards are frantically restricting access on school networks, professors are redesigning courses to include oral evaluations and handwritten content assessments, and university professors are signing up to AI detection software in the thousands. Yet AI language processing apps may also be welcomed with open arms by educators who, instead of expounding on Shakespeare’s linguistic marvels, will be encouraged to ‘integrate ChatGPT as a useful classroom tool’. In an article by Harvard Business Publishing, the authors suggest that we adapt rather than resist ChatGPT. Ironically, a few entries below their article on Google is a YouTube tutorial on how to use ChatGPT to write an essay to get into Harvard.
I believe that AI technologies such as this one do not allow for integration. They are an invasive species that will eliminate the motivation to actually master knowledge and lead to further deterioration of language skills. Importantly it turns students into users, not producers. One insightful university student commented that, “If you’re a student and you’re looking to use AI technologies to do your assignments for you, then you are proving that you are replaceable by these technologies. This is not the time to let them do the work for you. You need to prove that you can do something they can’t.”
While the dumbing down of curriculum has long started to weaken education, AI technologies will compound and accelerate the degradation of language skills in students. Homeschooled students will face this demise of language with more resilience if they continue to be trained in a rich, historic cornucopia of literature, academic and creative writing, and critical thinking skills. Students who are able to create content independently, write in refreshing and distinctive voices, will be the ones who flourish and set themselves apart. The ground may be tilled for ChatGPT, but you can decide what seeds you want to sow.
Here are resources that our family has used, which offer alternatives to the traditional school system and provide excellent, rigorous literature courses:
CLRC – Classical Learning Resource Centre – great variety of classically-oriented courses (Logic, Rhetoric, Great Books, Mythology etc.) as well as courses in classic British and American literature.
The Potter’s School – extensive selection of academic writing and literature courses, including AP and dual-credit college courses.
Memoria Press Online Academy – high-quality instruction in Latin, logic, classical studies, and literature.
For those who would like to use homeschooling resources to introduce classic literature to their students:
Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts Curriculum. MCT is a comprehensive, multilevel curriculum designed to provide children with a thorough understanding of the English language. This curriculum stands apart in its approach to language, grammar, poetry, and classical vocabulary development.
Logos Press – British Literature -covers classic English authors from Beowulf to P. G. Wodehouse. Includes both the unabridged primary sources and the complete reference tools that teachers and students would need during a year-long British Literature class.
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Read More When asked why students today should still learn Shakespeare, the AI language processing tool ChatGPT snips back promptly: “Shakespeare’s works are still relevant today because they explore universal themes such as love, jealousy, ambition, and power that are timeless and applicable to contemporary society. Learning Shakespeare helps to develop critical thinking and language skills, as Uncategorized Humanitas Family