Staying with a shallow notion of "relevance" can sadly lead to the danger of simplifying too much and being lazy about important historical writers. Mr. Didcock's refusal of "the sacred cows of Scottish literature ... material looked at by your parents and your grandparents" shows his small grasp of the issue.
As Corey Gibson claimed in "Cutting through the sound and fury of new set text lists" (The Herald, February 10), it is quite misleading to say that Burns is "now to be studied" at Nat 5 and 6 (Higher) because the two chosen short songs by Burns are just snippets from a vast pool. Sadly, this means most teachers will probably still avoid Burns and other prominent Scottish historical figures.
Mr. Gibson's praiseworthy wish to "read wide and deep" seems to have fallen on deaf ears because most of our students today engage in reading just a narrow selection of poems in English. More than a third of their responses deal with Carol Ann Duffy, who comes from Scotland, even though her poetry has no direct connection with this country. I think this is exactly why such authors have been chosen.
Sure, diversity is good, but when the big group gets to pick the easy options, that diversity doesn't matter much. Among the six poets on the Higher list, all write in English, with four being females. This makes you wonder: where's the diversity? None of them represent Scots, and it seems that, at least in Higher poetry, the SQA doesn't know about Scotland's nice and diverse language heritage.
Mr. Gibson's comment that "those who oppose the principles of equality and diversity have hijacked them as a distraction" sounds rather self-congratulatory, while Didcock seems to be excessively heavy-handed in dubbing people as part of the Donald Trump and Kim Badenoch grouping simply for employing the jokey acronym DIE to refer to diversity, inclusion, and equality.
Some writings seem to have been chosen to meet certain ideological standards, and this is a risky path to follow because it leads to the sort of ideological "cleanliness" that authoritarian governments like. Standing up for any ideology isn't a good idea, much less giving up one's life for it, Mr. Didcock, since it just leads to indoctrination instead of real learning.
Those who endorse this zeal for ideological accuracy should think more profoundly about what education really is instead of calling those who question it right-wing Trump supporters. This is exactly the strategy deployed by many self-congratulatory people to pigeonhole and demonize gender-critical viewpoints. We will not be silenced, just like the brave women who came before us.
Neil Mackay's review of the touching film Make it to Munich ("Make it a must: this Scottish film smashes male stereotypes," The Herald, February 13) took on the long-overdue topic of negative male stereotyping in Scotland. He pinpointed the dominant image of Scottish masculinity very effectively when he said: "the representation of men and masculinity is frankly so old it should be buried. We can do better, be more truthful, show the light and dark. For every broken man, every brute, every drunk and junkie, there's an Ethan Walker".
He is undoubtedly right in everything he says.
I would like to raise a missing point in his impactful remarks about Scottish manhood, to him and others.
Mr. Mackay goes to the heart of what Ethan Walker, the young gifted football player, suffered—his athleticism taken away after "being smashed to pieces in a devastating car accident." The path that Ethan takes to overcome his disabilities and learn to accept them is an important lesson for all of us, and especially for Scottish men.
Context is needed about the list of men who have been shattered and damaged in different ways, which makes them become what Mr. Mackay refers to as "brutes, drunks, and junkies." That is, these sad souls are broken differently; they come from chaotically dysfunctional families — emotionally scarred, incapable of giving anything resembling the love and support young Ethan clearly received in abundance. By so flippantly labeling these men, Mr. Mackay falls into precisely the trap that his article seeks to warn society against. Outdated stereotypes of men are not only limiting but also deserve to be consigned to history.
Barry Docherty, of Glasgow.
Ethan Walker, featured in the documentary Make it to Munich (Image: Blackhouse Films).
Fast money.
You don t have to wait for a rainbow to find a treasure in the Highlands.
It’s simply a notable property – often owned by an absent landlord – a rich multinational wind energy developer , backed by global investment firm shareholders, an unquenchable desire for profit, a lack of concern for the local environment and community, a government that looks the other way, and a pressured, financially strained, and overwhelmed community.
How many times can the word "across" be varied by BBC Scotland? Is this part of an internal competition?
The phrase "across the BBC" is often used, which might imply coverage over all the corporation's programs. However, it has also been applied to phrases like "across the month," "across the year," "across a story," and most recently, "across the evidence" in a trial.
If someone is told to go "across a river," it can be taken for granted that the BBC would want them to reach on the same side of the river, but at the ocean. The expression "across a piece of news" implies a surface-level grasp of the whole story, which could be more accurate than they realize.
Don't they know that the word "across" means one side, like from the left to the right? So, when they say "across Scotland," it looks like they are moving from one side to the other, not "throughout the country." Does this show that some folks in power see the Central Belt as being like "Scotland," and care very little about the rest of the land?
