'Meeting Expectations'

The education system has been meddled with by politicians for quite some time now. Recent top down initiatives include the insistence that schools focus on grammar to the extent that creativity and love of written language is being marginalised. I have tried to illustrate this through a poem ...

Meeting Expectations

by Jonathan Humble

There is a man called Mr Gove who has a chum called Nicky,

They said that 10 year olds must know that English is quite tricky.

So now I’m taught morphology and how to be a scholar

Through grammar schemes produced by companies who charge top dollar.

In order for the school to bask in OFSTED’s fulsome praises,

Our written work must be awash with long drawn-out noun phrases.

And if I find it hard to use my modals in the passive,

My chances of achieving expectations are not massive.

Adverbials and how to spot subjunctives are the key

To whether Mick and Nicky smile adoringly at me.

But I admit I miss the times we used to write for fun,

And poetry and stories were enjoyed by everyone.

http://jhpoetry.blogspot.co.uk