‘Woke’ books make up bulk of VCE English reading list

More than half of the 2024 VCE English texts promote radical identity politics and complex new rules “make it impossible” for a teacher to avoid choosing at least two of the woke text books.

Only only six out of 36 VCE English text books for 2024 are from the classic Western canon.

More than half of the 2024 VCE English texts promote radical identity politics and only six out of 36 are from the classic Western canon, a new study reveals.

The Institute of Public Affairs has analysed the reading lists complied by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority for the state’s 60,000 English students doing VCE.

They found complex new rules for text selection by teachers “make is impossible for a teacher to avoid selecting at least two of the woke texts out of total selection of five texts”.

Out of the 36 texts they found 19 are “grounded in radical identity politics”, 11 are neutral and not ideological and only six are essential texts of Western literature.

IPA Research Fellow Lana Starkey said examples of radical identity politics included Meyne Wyatt’s monologue from City of Gold which is a video from the ABC’s Q+A program. It is described as a “howl of rage at the injustice, inequality and wilful amnesia of the country’s 21st century”.

Another is Tim Winton’s essay About the Boys which aims to “reveal the ‘damaging consequences of misogynistic rituals of power”.

Another is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, an African novel which reveals the dangers of colonisation.

Teachers must select five texts from two separate lists but the way the lists are compiled means a teacher can never avoid selecting at least two identity politics texts, according to the IPA.

Complex new rules for text selection by teachers ‘make is impossible for a teacher to avoid selecting at least two of the woke texts out of total selection of five texts’.

“Victorian parents have been left in the dark about radical new Victorian government rules, which force the state’s year 12 students into lessons on woke and divisive race and gender theories as part of their English studies,” Morgan Begg, director of research at the Institute of Public Affairs, said.

“Students are being deprived of classic English literature and therefore the rich history of Western Civilisation, as well as texts that celebrate the uniqueness of Australia’s way of life.”

“Several texts promote the notion of toxic masculinity and call for students to be activists.”

It comes as the Herald Sun reported last November the concerns of one teacher who said the curriculum and text list for 2024 did not include “a single positive piece about being male”.

The teacher, who did not want to be named, said it was a “tipping point in terms of curriculum”.

“The message is that if you’re straight, you’re thinking too narrowly, and if you’re also male and white, you should bend a knee and confess your sins before you become irredeemable,” he said.

“I can’t call it brainwashing, but I can call it an increasing influence. If asked to justify it to a parent, I would have difficulty,” he said.

In November a A VCAA spokesman said: “Texts are selected through a rigorous process to ensure they have literary merit, and aid the study of this key subject in the context of modern Victoria. There are canonical texts for study including Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Sophocles, and William Wordsworth.

“There are also contemporary Australian writers like Tim Winton, Robbie Arnott, Amy Duong and Maya Hodge who offer diverse insights into Australian society.”