Headteacher Nigel McQuoid and your correspondent Hugh Mulrooney (TES, March 5 and 12) just touch the tip of the iceberg. Once schools ban Harry Potter and most Shakespeare plays as inappropriate for children, you have to look further around the “received canon”. I recall as a child about 40 years ago watching a drama on American television about a school board interviewing an English master about to be fired for teaching lewd and immoral poetry.
After reading the poetry to the board, the chairman asks the teacher where he found such poetry. He hands the chairman a Bible open at the Song of Songs of Solomon. The case is quietly dropped.
Perhaps we should also ban the Bible as full of potentially “dangerous” material!
Joseph Feld 4 Brook Lodge Brent Bridge London NW11
