Tory Culture Wars turn to reading lists. What price Really Useful Knowledge?
In the paper of choice for Tory Culture Wars-the Sunday Telegraph-Universities Minister Michelle Donelan seems to think that decolonisation of the curriculum is..censoring history’.
Ms Donelan, according to her Wiki entry, has a BA in history from York although what period of history is not clear. What does or does not appear on reading lists is usually left to the lecturers that set them and so invariably has a level of personal preference as well as professional expertise.
When I did my first degree (a very long time ago now) I didn’t pay much attention to reading lists. I’d usually skim through a key text so that I could visit the University library and find some articles and books more to my liking. From memory the only person who actually paid attention to reading lists on my politics and history course was a Tory from Buxton. Perhaps this explains Ms Donelan’s comments.
Historically though the argument has been about in many areas an almost systematic exclusion of radical and left wing texts from many reading lists
Michael Rosen has rightly reminded in recent times of the alternative English Literature study plan that appeared in Trevor Pateman’s Counter Course (1972). Rosen used the pseudonym Joe Spriggs who I presume was some kind of well-known Arsenal player of yesteryear.
Counter Course had a whole series of alternative reading suggestions across University curriculums.
My own take has been over the years to promote what radicals in the 1830s called Really Useful or Spearhead Knowledge. That is education that looks at what really goes on in a market capitalist society, why and what might be done about it. A paper I gave on this 10 years ago is linked to below:
Really Useful Knowledge 1830-2010
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