London's Institute of Education is to issue lesson plans based on - this is difficult to type - soap operas, adverts and Grange Hill. The packs will be distributed to 1000 schools and contain lesson ideas and DVDs - which just goes to show that things have changed since Londonist was at school, and the "wheeling in of the huge video player" was a ceremonial event on the scale of the Trooping of the Colour.
Anyway, if you're stuck in an office and reading Londonist to get over those midweek blues, have a good read of that BBC story and get thoroughly angried up.
We don't mean to come over all reactionary, and think that cultural relativism is to be applauded in many circumstances. Sure, if pointing out the similarities between EastEnders and the Iliad, or Coronation Street and Shakespeare, makes children better able to appreciate the latter works as living and lively parts of our cultural framework, then bring it on. But school should be a process of exploration, not a re-hashing of what kids already know from their home lives. It should be an introduction of new experiences, not a glossing of the old.
