The teaching of Shakespeare’s plays in the grammar school, particularly in forms taking courses leading to the General Certificate of Education Examination, Ordinary Level, has its critics: some allege unsympathetic, biased and insensitive treatment of the plays; others assert that the plays should not be in the curriculum at all, on the grounds that not only are the classroom methods used unsuitable, but that the language and conventions of the plays themselves are too difficult for immature minds to grasp. All contend that irreparable harm is being done.

Why, in fact, are Shakespeare's plays included in the curriculum?

Education, properly conceived, demands not only the acquiring of skills, the assimilation of knowledge, the training of thought processes, but the leading of pupils to respond to works of art and thereby to increase and refine their understanding and enjoyment of artistic achievement. English Literature is the only subject, in schools where there is no classics side, that can consistently give this particular training. Music, Painting and Drawing are normally treated in a different way, they are more dependent on special skills and so are less accessible to children.