Michael Gove in a radio interview in 2011 when questioned about the English Baccalaureat.

This is a poem that I wrote some time ago about the wonderful Michael Gove.

A Plea to Michael Gove

Mr Gove, will you please listen to my heartfelt polemic?

What exactly do we mean by more academic?

When you make a call for education with rigour,

I have a problem with this – I’m finding it hard to figure

What do you mean by this?

Do you mean that you want the words in some subjects to be …. bigger?

Because we can find you big words to make our “lesser” subjects show more muscle.

We can show you young people engaged in the hustle and bustle

Of challenging concepts, articulating ideas and creating new meanings.

But somehow I fear you might say that they lack academic leanings.

But please, tell me exactly what you mean by academic?

Do you mean “higher” or “better”? Is this superiority systemic?

You state clearly that success in certain subjects should demand special recognition.

And yes we should applaud you for declaring a passion and a vision.

But why should these subjects be especially recognised?

What hierarchy of knowledge and experience have you devised?

I’m all for the entente cordiale and I’m all for learning about humanity

But consider for a moment – please, excuse me my insanity,

You see there’s humanity in everything – there’s humanity in learning a juggling trick,

The precision of the weight of the throw, the accuracy of the flick.

And when a twelve year old child who finds school a struggle,

Suddenly learns that he can four ball juggle.

That’s empowerment, that’s efficacy, that’s humanity.

And he’ll practice his juggling day after day.

He’ll show dedication and commitment and rigour.

And his self belief and desire will grow bigger and bigger.

And this becomes a platform for his success,

But he only learnt this in PE or Drama – which apparently counts less.

And maybe he’ll never know anything about Edward the Confessor,

But will you tell him why you decided that vocational or the arts or sport started to mean lesser?

Why is the precision of his art,

Less valid than the things that you consider smart?

There’s rigour in learning about working as a basketball team,

There’s rigour in exploring the brush strokes of Eduard Munch’s “The Scream”

There’s rigour in learning a pirouette

There’s rigour in practising arpeggios.

This isn’t some liberal epithet

Of “Anything goes!”

The arts has gravitas, but you seem to just want it as extra curricula.

But there’s something about play that is very particular

Playfulness can feed the soul, the brain and the body.

Playfulness does not mean “soft” – that argument is becoming tiresome and shoddy.

Being playful can mean attacking a challenge from a different angle,

Exploding myths and pre-conceived ideas, and being prepared to wrangle…

New truths.

Truth is, Mr Gove, that the arts is now severely under attack,

So please can you ditch your dreadful English Bacc!