University Questions Students on Bee Gees
July 9, 2001 7:43 am EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Education critics think it's a tragedy -- a top British university has questioned students studying English about lyrics penned by the pop band forever associated with the disco revolution -- the Bee Gees.
Undergraduates taking their final-year exams at Cambridge University might have been surprised that, rather than having to analyze the writings of literary greats such as Shakespeare, they instead had to discuss the efforts of singers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
As part of a three-hour compulsory paper on tragedy, students were asked to write about the lines "It's tragedy... Tragedy when you lose control and you got no soul, it's tragedy." The extract is taken from the Bees Gees hit that reached the top of the charts in 1979.
"I would have thought that a top-flight university such as Cambridge would concentrate on high culture rather than lower the tone to some poor pop group," Nick Seaton, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, told the paper.
"Tragedy is part of English literature that does not need to be soiled with pop lyrics."
But the question was defended by John Kerrigan, chairman of the English finals examination board, who saw references in the lyrics that the Bee Gees themselves were probably unaware of.
"There are elements to the Bee Gees songs that could have directed you to the great central canonical texts," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
"The line in the Bee Gees song where he sings 'the feeling's gone and you can't go on" is a fair summary of the end of King Lear."
UPDATE !
Notable Quotes
July 9, 2001 7:42 am EST
They really said it -- notable quotes from the news:
"The line in the Bee Gees song where he sings "the feeling's gone and you can't go on" is a fair summary of the end of King Lear."
-- U.K. university official JOHN KERRIGAN, defending an English exam question about the Bee Gees song "Tragedy." ^ REUTERS@
July 9, 2001 7:43 am EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Education critics think it's a tragedy -- a top British university has questioned students studying English about lyrics penned by the pop band forever associated with the disco revolution -- the Bee Gees.
Undergraduates taking their final-year exams at Cambridge University might have been surprised that, rather than having to analyze the writings of literary greats such as Shakespeare, they instead had to discuss the efforts of singers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
As part of a three-hour compulsory paper on tragedy, students were asked to write about the lines "It's tragedy... Tragedy when you lose control and you got no soul, it's tragedy." The extract is taken from the Bees Gees hit that reached the top of the charts in 1979.
"I would have thought that a top-flight university such as Cambridge would concentrate on high culture rather than lower the tone to some poor pop group," Nick Seaton, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, told the paper.
"Tragedy is part of English literature that does not need to be soiled with pop lyrics."
But the question was defended by John Kerrigan, chairman of the English finals examination board, who saw references in the lyrics that the Bee Gees themselves were probably unaware of.
"There are elements to the Bee Gees songs that could have directed you to the great central canonical texts," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
"The line in the Bee Gees song where he sings 'the feeling's gone and you can't go on" is a fair summary of the end of King Lear."
UPDATE !
Notable Quotes
July 9, 2001 7:42 am EST
They really said it -- notable quotes from the news:
"The line in the Bee Gees song where he sings "the feeling's gone and you can't go on" is a fair summary of the end of King Lear."
-- U.K. university official JOHN KERRIGAN, defending an English exam question about the Bee Gees song "Tragedy." ^ REUTERS@
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