The classic US novel Of Mice and Men has been removed from the GCSE syllabus after being deemed too ‘psychologically and emotionally distressing’ for children. John Steinbeck’s 1937 novel set in the Great Depression has been a mainstay of the English Lit curriculum for years – but will be taken off the syllabus in Wales due to concerns about racism.
![[Book cover, OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck (The Folio Society ?29.95, 112pp)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_47810446-9e21.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Wales’ children’s commissioner Rocío Cifuentes backed the removal of the book, and said it would instead be replaced by ‘a wide range of appropriate and inclusive texts’ as part of a new English language and literature GCSE. During her research into children’s experiences of racism with the classroom, Ms Cifuentes said many black children had ‘specifically mentioned this text and the harm that it caused them’.
‘It’s not censorship,’ she said. ‘This is safeguarding the wellbeing of children who have told us how awful those discussions have made them feel in those classrooms. ‘They’ve very often been the only black child in that classroom when discussions all around them are focusing on very derogatory, negative depictions of black people.’.
Marley, 16, told the BBC he listened to the audio book with the rest of the class while studying Of Mice and Men. When it came to the racial slurs, people ‘laughed and giggled and stared at me and it made me feel really uncomfortable’ he said. Rhian Evans, an English teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen, said the book ‘would be missed’ as it was accessible to students of all literary levels and allowed for discussion of ‘how we treat each other in general in our societies’.
