Chatting to my mother just now brought back a wealth of memories of my late school career. As noted in previous posts, I am forgetful of a lot of things, but it seems my mum is still sharp as a razer when it comes to books and learning.

The conversation was prompted by the fact that my son Tom is doing his HSC English exams tomorrow and Thursday. It is interesting to compare notes on what was studied then and what is studied now, which necessarily must change. 

There are many more novels, poems and plays about than when I sat the HSC in 1976, though some titles will continue to defy the winnowing. Orwell, Shakespeare, Slessor, Shaw, Miller, Donne, Keats and Plath, for example, have survived the cut. Many other fine authors, or composers in the jargon, are represented. I was delighted to see Lawler's Summer of the 17th Doll, included. A blast from the (recent) past, indeed.

I recall answering questions on Hamlet, Coleridge, Keats and 1984. There must have been a couple of others, though I have forgot! I might dig down in my notes from the time, wherever they are, and find out what I actually did study for.

Looking over the English syllabus, there is much to like. If you get past the trendy reworking of key terms, the teaching of the subject looks a whole lot more interesting, and challenging, than it did when I studied it and then subsequently taught it. It is more imaginative and open-ended, whilst at the same time being somewhat more challenging. You have to be able to deal with multiple texts at the same time. That takes practice.