What would you make all children learn? A Spectator curriculum

Matthew Parris

My father was an engineer. As a child I enjoyed ‘creative’ writing: stories, poems and so on. Dad said: ‘Try writing something useful. You know how to mend a bicycle puncture. Write for me, on one page, instructions for mending a puncture, to be read by someone who knows what a bike is, and what things like “spanner” and “puncture repair outfit” mean, but has never tried to do the job themselves.’ To my own and Dad’s surprise, I really enjoyed this exercise, which demands not just an ability to write clearly, but the mental exercise of putting yourself into a different person’s place, so you can explain. It is really an exercise of the imagination. All of us have experienced the bafflement of reading instructions drafted by someone who is unable to imagine the reader’s situation. In English-language teaching, much emphasis is placed on creativity and style, but the syllabus should specify that the skills of explanation be taught too.