This is the perfect embodiment of the constraints presented by GCSEs. They force students into narrow alleyways of know-ledge instead of encouraging exploration and discovery. It was my head of art who presented us with the list and not the exam board itself, but it just goes to show how even passionate eccentrics like my teacher could be intimidated into boring grey corners by the institution of GCSEs. Given the choice, I'm sure he would have given us each a sketchbook and a pencil and sent us off into the wide world, surfacing occasionally to recommend a different angle or to point us towards some obscure and irrelevant exhibition in a warehouse in Croydon. As it happened, we sat in a classroom for two years and did exactly the same thing as everyone else in the year.
From the heart - a damning article about GCSEs and the Tory's plans to reintroduce O Levels.