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ABITUR: ENGLISCH
The American Dream: Myths and Realities
● Values and beliefs ○ Freedom and unlimited opportunities ○ Independence ○ Economic success and prosperity ○ Equality ○ Religion (Christianity) ○ Attitude of superiority ○ Brotherhood (=> speech by Martin Luther King „from slavery to brotherhood“) ○ American people as heroes fighting against Russians, the Chinese and German (presented in Hollywood films etc.) ● Multiculturalism: America as a Melting pot or a Salad bowl? ○ America is a Melting pot as immigrants assimilate/amalgamate into the American culture and abandon their own culture and language ● Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Second Amendment ○ In the 1770s, 13 British colonies were founded (starting with high dependency on Europe, but economic independence increased) ○ Colonies were dissatisfied with the Britains making decisions in London affecting the American people (decisions such as higher taxes which resulted in a refusal of payment) ○ The „Founding Fathers“ (including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Jay) draft the Declaration of Independence which was announced by Thomas Jefferson on 4th of July 1776 as guideline of Constitution in 1778 ○ => It explains why the Thirteen Colonies at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain regard themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states - no longer under British rule ● Bill of Rights (from 15 December 1791) ○ Garanties the protection of individual liberties as well as the basic rights of freedom of speech, religion, the press and the right to assemble ● Civil War and Abraham Lincoln‘s Emancipation Proclamation ○ Signed on 22nd September 1862 ○ Abolition of slavery in southern states ● Manifest Destiny ○ American ideology that the Christian God justified the American expansion of their cultural ideas ○ Westernisation of cultures (=> processes in which societies adopt ideas, behaviours and economic structures from the western world; if these originate in the United States, this process is more specifically called “Americanisation”)
■ Fast Food ● Creation of new jobs in inner cities ● Quick, easy and cheap meals ● Enrichment of food culture due to more unconventional menus ● Reliability as the food is the same in every westernised country ● Displacement of traditional shops and forfeit of food culture ■ The English language ● Increasing diversity due to more words being added ● Enhanced precision of anglicisms ● More pleasant sounding words due to an increased number of vowels ● Enables international communication through a standardised language (English as a “lingua franca”) ● Easiness of pronunciation because of brevity of words ● Less diversity due to replacement of words ● Exclusion of people who do not understand the language ● Use of anglicisms to conceal language uncertainties or are as a sign of unsuccessful identification with one’s own culture ■ Substitution of cultures ● More wealth and prosperity ● More pleasant lifestyle ● Loss of habits, traditions, lifestyles etc. ● Unsustainable consumerism ■ => Westernisation does not equal modernisation! ● Problems / Challenges ○ Gun laws and fascination for the firearm culture ■ Mass shootings in public places (e. schools) ■ The Second Amendment prohibits the federal government from restricting the right to keep and bear arms ■ Police brutality ○ Crime ■ Arson, theft, shoplifting, vandalism, domestic violence and gang violence ○ Conflicts with the indigenous people ■ Native Americans who survived the “Indian Removal Act” (=> diminishing of the Native American population by size and territory from 1830 to 1900) were gathered up and involuntarily moved to reservations ○ Strong ideological and social division ■ Wide gap between rich and poor ■ Democrats versus Republicans ● Diffamation of the opposite side ● Manipulation of the nation by spreading lies and whitewashing these as "alternative facts" (as Kellyanne Conway did whenWhite House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made false claims about the size of the audience at Donald Trump's inauguration) ■ The extreme right-wing terrorist organisation "Proud Boys" that consists almost exclusively of white men and adheres to the conspiracy of them being threatened with extinction, which is why they see themselves as protectors of the state and oppress minorities by force of arms
○ In the Irish War of Independence from 1919 to 1921, the severely disadvantaged Irish labour movement fights against the British government ■ The Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the Irish War of Independence and sealed the emergence of the Irish Free State ○ Second World War in 1939- ○ The UK joins the EU in 1973 ○ Devolution (=> the UK grants other countries a greater level of self-government) ■ The UKs colonies gained independence during the 20th century ■ Scotland becomes independent in 2014 but stays in the UK ○ The UK refuses to introduce the currency of the Euro in 2002 (first approaches of defiance) ○ The UK leaves the EU in light of the Brexit in 2020 ● “Englishness” / “Britishness” and identity ○ The British: “A humble people” (=> modest, unpretentious) - or not? ■ Restraint as a contrast to former international influence ■ Non-violent resolution of conflicts in contrast to the past ■ Problematic fanaticism and sense of belonging, e. in sports ■ Fear of terror, attacks and the population in Europe ○ “Countries of Britain” would be more accurate than “Kingdom” ○ Struggle to identify with the conservative royals ● Monarchy and the Royals ○ Monarch’s power is limited to constitutional duties and representational functions, e. appointing bishops, making visits (overseas) or giving speeches ○ The Queen is the Head of the Commonwealth ■ The Commonwealth of Nations is an association of nations consisting of the UK and several former British colonies that are now sovereign states but still pay allegiance to the British Crown ■ Through this international organisation, diverse countries cooperate within a framework of common values, such as promoting democracy, preserving human rights, free trade, universal access to education and equality of women ○ The Queen as a grandmotherly figure who creates a village-like atmosphere ○ Advantages of veneration, role model function, tradition and stability ○ Disadvantages of high costs, privileges, cult of personality, political irrelevance and injustice of the transfer of power and deductibility ● Multiculturalism: The UK as a Melting pot or a Salad bowl? ○ Great Britain is rather a Melting pot as immigrants do not seem to be very welcomed, as can be seen from Brexit or the Windrush generation ○ Many immigrants cannot identify with the UK and feel like strangers in their own country ● The capital city London ○ Gravitational pull due to attractive career opportunities ○ Politically and economically powerful ○ Hugely crowded and busy ○ High housing prices ● Problems / Challenges ○ Anti-immigration feeling ■ The Brexit and the accompanying attempt to prevent immigration
■ The Windrush Generation ● On June 22 in 1948, a passenger ship carrying 492 Jamaican immigrants arrived in London in light of the UK recruiting migrants from the Caribbean Commonwealth to help rebuild the economy after World War II ● Despite being legal UK residents, over 5000 of them now find themselves homeless and unemployed ● Because the children never applied for travel documents, they are often deported due to Theresa May’s “hostile environment”policy ● => After a public scandal, those responsible resigned and a symbolic "Windrush Day" was introduced, ironically-cynically, however, nothing changes in the situation ○ Jingoism / Chauvinism ■ Belief in the superiority of one's own group combined with the euphoria of colonising uprising but poor countries ○ Brexit (=> “British exit”) ■ The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union at the end of 31 January 2020 continuing to participate during a transition period until 31 December 2020 ■ Scarce result of 51,9% to 48,1% ■ Pros ● GB could free itself from restrictions imposed by Brussels and become economically more successful ● Euro-sceptics believe that Europe’s principle of free movement means too much immigration into the country and insecurity, perhaps even terrorism ■ Cons ● Financial advantages outweigh the membership fees Britain has to pay ● Britain’s influence on financial markets might suffer as well as London’s reputation as Europe’s biggest financial centre ● British farmers might lose out on subsidies, jobs in international companies might be moved and millions of British workers could lose their jobs ■ => In a globalised world isolationism is simply not possible; in this age of globalisation, economies and societies are becoming so interconnected and interdependent that the idea that GB could be completely autonomous and regain the “splendid isolation” it enjoyed when it still had its Empire, sounds phony ○ “Megxit” (=> "Meghan exit" as an allusion to the Brexit) ■ Informal term for the decision to separate from the royals and live an independent life in the United States ■ Criticism of the royals for making racist comments on Meghan's unborn son ○ Fear of terrorism ○ Social and economic division ■ Wide gap between rich and poor ● 1% of UK's richest people own one-third of country's wealth
■ Hybridity ■ Question of identity (Western education) ■ Migration / Discrimination / Racism ○ Neocolonialism ■ Continued economic domination of a politically independentbut developing country through capitalism, globalisation and imperialism(=> subjugation and incorporation of Nigeria into the own sphere of power of another country, e. Great Britain) ■ Environmental degradation ■ “Brain Drain” ● Ethnic groups, tribes and religions ○ Hausa-Fulani ■ North ■ Biggest population ■ Islam ■ Very conservative, women as house slaves ○ Igbo ■ Southeast ■ „Independent free-thinkers“ ■ Christian ○ Yoruba ■ Southwest ■ Christian and Islam ■ Polygamous family model ■ Men have the power ● Languages ○ 520 different languages ○ Nigerian pidgin ● Culture and arts ○ Literature ■ Helon Habila’s “Oil on Water” ● Rufus, a young Nigerian journalist, tries to survive in the middle of the Biafran War ■ Ken Sarowiwa’s “Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English” ● Deals with the lack of perspectives of the teenager Mene, who has career dreams but does not tackle them due to poor education and lack of support; this paralysis and despair results in him becoming a child soldier ■ The news only mention important events, but literature reflects everyday life of average people ○ Films ■ Nollywood as a reference to Hollywood ● Low productions costs ● Films tend to be of low quality ● Piracy as a huge problem ○ Music ■ “Rat in mi kitchen” by UB40 (a Nigerian reggae and pop band) ■ “Inglan is a bitch” by Kinton Kwesi Johnson
● The Nigerian dream (as a reference to the American Dream) ○ Success ○ Being rich ○ Safety ○ Entrepreneurial spirit ● Problems and challenges ○ Unemployment ○ Boko Haram (=> „western education is forbidden“) ■ Kidnapping of girls ■ Poor education ■ Weak literacy rate ■ Crime and violence ■ Boko Haram Huntress Aisha fighting against Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria ● Documented by Nigerian journalist Rosie Collyer ● She rescues people in poor villages attacked by terrorists ○ Oil ■ Biafran War ■ The Nigerian government tolerates the enrichment of the indigenous population by foreign corporations and defends it with its military ■ Contamination/pollution of water ● The contamination of the basis of life creates hunger, which generates desperation that can manifest itself in negligent extraction of the oil pipelines or in the form of rebellion that is brutally suppressed by the Nigerian military ○ Inability to fight corruption ■ Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery ○ Crime and violence ■ Daylight robberies ○ Child labour ■ Caused by high school dropout rates (=> more than 13 million school-age children are out-of-school according to the Voice of America News) ■ Number of working children under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million (according to the International Labour Organization) ■ Break-up of family structures due to job search ■ Strong disadvantage of girls as a „triple burden“ (=> coping with school, side job and house-work) ■ Child soldiers ● High mortality rate ■ Domestic servants ■ Street vendors ■ => Ensures "ripple effect" (=> lack of education ensures lack of opportunities for promotion despite booming economy) ○ Rapid urbanisation ■ Slums ● Floating school Makoko ○ Built on water
■ Term used for when a student interns, volunteers, or teaches in a foreign country through a programme ■ Provides a manageable experiential space to practice and is often rewarded not financially but through certificates or similar ■ A student working abroad may live in a dormitory or apartment with other students or with a "host family" ■ Internship ● Assistance for learning new knowledge and skills in a company; practical activity that one is required to complete as part of one's school career ● Gaining industry experience prepares for life as an employee ■ Volunteering ● Engagement in public functions based on one's own choice to approach this work ● Provides true passion for the work due to its voluntary nature; since one is not forced to work, far more will to participate and take responsibility is formed than in an internship ● How work has changed ○ Industrial Age: More work in industrialised countries, less work in agriculture since the 1700s ■ Since then rise in income but also expenditure ○ Improved social standards ■ Less discrimination trough e. the women’s quota or the fact that people with disabilities are given suitable work to do ■ Minimum wage ■ Statutory sick pay, parental leave, statutory pension,insurance payment and other bonuses ○ Deteriorating social standards ■ More exploitation (especially in developing countries such as Bangladesh) ● Outsourcing of jobs to cheaper countries with fewer restrictions on companies ensures continued existence of inhumane work ■ Less security due to downsizing of workforce ○ Automation of processes ■ Occupation of jobs and replacement of potential human workers by machines ● Higher demand for higher educated workers ○ Great value is put on knowledge (=> Information Age) ■ Creation of new jobs through machines ■ Decrease of production costs ■ Increase of production rate and efficiency (e. due to Henry Ford’s invention of the assembly line) ○ Job mobilisation ■ Creation of start-ups (especially by young entrepreneurs) ■ More flexible hours ■ Freelancers ● Self-employed workers who carry out assignments independently and personally on the basis of a freelance service contract without being employees of the client
● Work independently and have practically unlimited earning potential ● Able to make their own decisions and pursue their own policies ● Inconsistent cash flow ● Do not have any company-sponsored health benefits, such as accident insurance ■ Job sharing ■ Teleworking, e. home office (=> obsolescence of the office?) ● Pro obsolescence of the office ○ HO is a variant of work in the context of the COVID- pandemic, during which non-systemic workers must work from home to curb the risk of infection ○ HO ensures more time to sleep and allows to live according to one’s own biorhythm ○ A reduction in car trips in turn ensures a reduction in CO emissions (=> less damage to the environment; means that it is more climate-neutral) ○ Private and familiar space allows increased productivity due to greater flexibility and peace of mind ○ Less discrimination at one’s workplace means less stress ● Contra obsolescence of the office ○ Offices provide social interaction that is not on par with e. Microsoft Teams conferences as facial expressions and gestures are completely absent (=> isolation might lead to unlearning of social behaviour) ○ Offices provide team spirit; this motivation to work prevents workers from procrastinating ○ Home offices offer a far greater distraction factor due to parallel childcare etc. ○ Telework leads to an increase in workload as employees can be reached at any time via their smartphones (=> one’s work-life balance is being disrupted in case there are no clearly defined limits and private and work life become intermingled) ○ Software gaps in programmes such as Microsoft Teams present possibilities of cyberbullying ○ The legal situation of the home office is unclear since one's own home becomes the workplace itself, which in turn must actually be insured against accidents ● => The office is not obsolete; despite the economic, ecological and mental advantages of home office, it is very susceptible to it’s problems as the digitalisation is progressing far too slowly and bureaucracy is being dismantled far too slowly (=> the office will continue to be relevant for a long time due to its monopoly position as a secure workspace) ● Advantages of globalisation ○ Improved mobility of goods and people, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency ○ Global communication and convergence of cultures
● Amazon's takeover of the supermarket business gives it a kind of monopoly position, which, if it develops further, could ensure in a few years that Amazon has absolute power of determination over current prices in the grocery business as well ● The artificial intelligence behind the recognition of product selection could be abused by analysing the shopping behavior and reselling the data to third parties, who in turn create an interest profile of the customer ○ It could be interesting for them to know when and how often the customer is in the store, which products he is particularly interested in, and where he hesitates for a long time or puts things back ○ This data profiling is therefore critical, as one tries to extrapolate buying recommendations from the behavior, which can steer the customer ○ Elon Musk’s production of Tesla cars (=> downsizing of workforce) ■ “There needs to be no human workers in the production line at all - otherwise one would drop to “people speed”, as every process is dependent of its slowest component.” ■ Dead-end argument against humans “running out of jobs” that despite the ability of machines to learn and reproduce themselves,there will always be a need to supervise/monitor them ● Food production ○ The carbon footprint measures the amount of CO2 emissions associated with all of a consumer's activities ○ Food miles describe the distance food has traveled to arrive at the supermarket; this is a way to measure one's own footprint and thus live more sustainably and responsibly ○ Local/regional food ■ Readily available ■ Costs less ■ Has very few food miles ■ Is sold to consumers directly ○ Not local/not regional food ■ Is shipped a long distance (=> has many food miles) ■ Means less control over working conditions ○ Organic food ■ Includes no artificial ingredients, pesticides or fertilisers or preservatives (=> is not genetically modified) ■ Is less regulated in growth ■ Consists of no antibiotics for livestock ■ Provides more wildlife as well as biodiversity and represents a benefit for animal welfare ■ Is dependent of seasons ■ Provides more vitamins and is thus more healthy ○ Non-organic food ■ Consists of antibiotics, herbicides and pesticides ■ Costs less
■ Allows industrial-size farming and is thus more efficient
Scientific and Technological Progress
● Social Media ○ Advantages ■ Consistent stream of contents / permanent entertainment and possibility of discharge ■ Provides useful information / data ■ Offers close connection with people around the globe ■ Identity formation; help with self-expression and self-creation to make it possible to determine social positioning later on ○ Disadvantages ■ Social media as a time-eater destroying one’s time structures ■ Addiction and intermingling of the virtual world with reality ■ Adaption pressure ● Explicit expression of affiliation, e. through one’s lifestyle or clothing (=> identity is defined by external characteristics) ● Reality-distorting posts cause health-damaging imitation of trends, e. anorexia to fulfill beauty ideals ● Comparison processes can lead to lower self-esteem and depression ■ Cyberbullying ● Harassment using electronic means, especially common amongst teenagers ● Bullying behavior can include posting rumors, threats, sexual remarks, a victims' personal information, or pejorative labels (hate speech) ● Victims of cyberbullying may experience lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation and a variety of negative emotional responses including being scared, frustrated, angry or depressed ■ Cancel culture ● Modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles ● Boycott of an individual who is deemed to have acted or spoken in a controversial manner ● Consequences can lead to loss of reputation and income ● Genetic engineering ○ Definition ■ Genes are the basic units of inheritance - influencinga person’s appearance, abilities, health and behaviour ● They are part of a long molecule called “DNA”, which forms the core of cellular structures called “chromosomes” ○ The DNA contains the “genetic code”, means the genetic information for constructing and operating an organism ■ GE is the direct manipulation of an organism’s make-up
by technologisation (=> exacerbation of the economic divide) ● (Religious dimension) ○ Humans should not play god ○ The disposal of embryos in the course of analysis and selection constitutes a sin ● Artificial intelligence ○ Definition ■ Automation of intelligent behavior and machine learning ○ Intelligent Agent ■ Any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals ○ The AI Effect ■ The claim that certain machine behaviour does not represent real intelligence ■ "Every time we figure out a piece of it, it stops being magical. We say, 'Oh, that's just a computation.'" - AI researcher Rodney Brooks (=> AI is anything that has not been invented/fully developed yet) ○ Examples of AI ■ Self-driving cars ● Vehicles that are capable of sensing their environmentand moving safely with little or no human input ● Visual object recognition requires ‘machine vision’ (=> technology that analyses traffic conditions and guides through traffic with the purpose of transporting the passengers unharmed) ■ Apple’s personal and virtual assistant Siri ● Recording of one’s request ● Sending of the recording to a cloud service over the internet ● Review of the recording and interpretation of the request ● Sending of a relevant response back to one’s device ○ Advantages ■ Rational and accurate decision making reduces room for error ● Important in critical situations that decide on the life of people, e. in medicine or in road traffic ■ Does not fatigue and does not wear out easily (=> increased productivity, efficiency and overall wealth) ■ Creates new jobs and requires supervisors who are always needed ○ Disadvantages ■ The dependency of humans on machines is ever-increasing- this inevitably results in an intensified restriction of freedom ■ Incurs high cost, which means that not all people can benefit from it and in turn others are left behind by technologisation (=> exacerbation of the economic divide) ■ Leads to loss of work ■ Cannot be creative and does not create anything new due to lack of innovation, which man has not programmed into it ● Machines will not perform tasks that are “out of their box” ● Specific examples of technological progress ○ Elon Musk’s brain implant (=> neuroscience)
■ Neuralink is a neurotechnology company with the goal of developing a device for communication between the human brain and computers, called a brain-computer interface (BCI) ■ Efforts are being made to better treat severe brain and central nervous system disorders and to technically enhance the humanbody to keep pace with advances in artificial intelligence development or to combat potentially dangerous uses of artificial intelligence ■ A current prototype is implanted with copper wires in the skull - as already successfully tried on a pig ○ The episode “Nosedive” of the dystopian anthology series “Black Mirror” (=> extrapolation of social media in a totalitarian state) ■ Extrapolation (=> estimation of future technologies by extending known technologies of today’s world) of social media ■ Set in a world where people can rate each other from one to five stars for every interaction they have, which have an impact on their social status (hence there is a Social Credit System) ■ The protagonist is overly obsessed with her ratings and compulsively attempts to be an outgoing and pleasant citizen, resulting in her rating to fall below one star and her being taken to prison due to several mishaps
Utopia / Dystopia
● Characteristics of a utopia ○ Equalitarian, perfect society that does not exist (=> hypothetical) ○ End of all wars and world peace ○ The world and the individual seem comfortable, happy, healthy and safe ○ Formerly connected with socialist ideas, such as egalitarian distribution of goods etc. ● Characteristics of a dystopia ○ Arbitrary totalitarian/authoritarian state that whitewashes its words and actions ○ Observation and surveillance (=> no freedom of speech) ■ Example of Telescreens in “1984” ■ Edward Snowden speaks in favor of privacy and against surveillance: "Privacy is the right to a free mind. Without privacy,you can't have anything for yourself. Saying you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." ○ The world seems hostile, dark, oppressive, cruel and dirty ○ Deals with wars, revolutions, natural disasters and overpopulation ○ The protagonist (usually an outsider) questions the respective society but appears to be powerless ○ Often features extrapolated technologies that only the higher class of society can profit from ○ Example of George Orwell's “1984” ■ In the totalitarian state of Oceania, employee Winston Smith lives a miserable life under the all-surveilling eyes of the ruling Big Brother, whose
■ Conflicts with Spain and France ● Defeat of the Spanish Armada ■ Torture of spies and informants ■ Public executions as entertainment ● Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603) ■ Completed the Protestant Reformation ● Due to the Reformation, which meant no more control by the church, everyone had access to education ■ Lived in the same era as Shakespeare ● William Shakespeare ○ Biography ■ Born in Stratford on the 26th April 1564 ■ English playwright, poet and actor ■ His father was a glove-maker ■ Spent his formative years in the “Royal Shakespeare Company” ■ Made a play for Henry VIII ■ Told to be homosexual (due to his “Sonnet 18”) ■ Died on 23th April 1616 ○ Public opinions ■ He is considered a "cosmopolitan" because he connects diverse cultures and people of all linguistic levels through his language ■ He is labeled as a "modern mind" because his plays are centered on the awareness of one's own body and mentality (=> his plays were not only ahead of their time but are still highly relevant) ○ The content of Shakespeare's poems ■ A struggle of young lovers to overcome problems (contempt for love turns into pathetic affection), often the result of the interference of their elders ■ Elements of separation and reunification ■ Mistaken identities, often involving disguise ■ Family tensions that are usually resolved in the end ■ Complex, interwoven plot-lines ■ Frequent use of puns and other styles of comedy ■ Characters becoming isolated or social breakdowns ■ Deadly endings ■ A sense that events are inevitable or inescapable (=> “fatalism”) ■ A central figure who is noble but with a character flaw which leads him/her towards him/her eventual downfall ○ Language ■ Not standardised ■ Use of neologisms and imagery ■ Might seem distended today ○ Examples of poems ■ Sonnet 18 ● A rhymed poem consisting of two four-line and two subsequent three-line verses in iambic ● He writes about the infinity of the beauty of the beloved and explains how the beloved’s beauty will accomplish this feat, and not perish because it is preserved in the poem, which will lastforever
● => It is an ironic/comedic subversion and reversion of the love poem conventions which he himself established because love does not need these conceits in order to be real ○ Shakespeare’s plays ■ Suitability for the illiterate masses (=> the plays were highly prolific because theatres were immensely popular) ■ Male actors only (=> women were played by young boys) ■ Well-designed costumes told the people about the status of a character ● The Globe Theatre ○ History ■ Built in Bankside, a London district on the shore of the Thames, in 1599 ■ Burned down due to a cannon fired in the direction of the thatched roof in 1613 ■ Reconstruction with high quality materials ○ Considered a melting pot of the Elizabethan Reign ■ Mixture of different cultures and different social ranks ● Different seatings for people with different social ranks ● The debate about Shakespeare's relevance today / the topic of Shakespeare as part of the school curriculum ○ Pros ■ The downward trend of young people reading emphasizes the relevance of reading classical texts ● If reading texts or attending plays were not mandatory, many would not take advantage of it ■ Shakespeare's relevance due to his status as ● A “cosmopolitan” ○ Shakespeare as a cosmopolitan can still connect people of different cultures and languages (=> thus it becomes the responsibility of the school, as it is an anchor point for and a melting pot of people) ● A “modern mind“ ○ His plays are still applicable to today’s life due to timeless topics, e. the struggle of young lovers to overcome problems ● “England's national poet” ○ Learning about the Elizabethan era and its lifestyle as well as the English language ○ Cons ■ Displacement of other authors and other subjects ■ Outdated concepts, e. conservative attitudes regarding the image of women, marriage, etc. ■ Plays were made to be played not to be read (according to Mark Powell, manager of the Prime Theatre in Swindon, England) ● English teachers cannot convey texts as authentically and emotionally as plays do ■ The obligation to learn often reduces motivation (=> collides with democratic education)
