The Hands Off Poetry petition has reached 101 signatures.

Just as important as the number of signatures is the quality of the comments that a lot of citizens have left. Obviously many teachers are very angry with AQA for the contempt in which they hold the English curriculum, the poems they select for examination and, ultimately, teachers and students.

Mr Bailey and class of angry year 11 simply wrote ‘paws off’. For Jannine Edenbrow ‘banning “dangerous” literature is ridiculous! Do they only want us to study poems about fluffy kittens and ponies?’. Sue Fallon is ‘totally against the banning of the poem!’. Simon Thomson thinks that ‘This is an absurd decision. … The only good aspect of this is the opportunity to point to censorship in action and enable students to understand how we haven't really moved forward as a society for hundreds of years, thanks to institutions such as AQA.’

For Mr PA Sutheran, AQA are ‘PC cowards’. Rebecca Knowles thinks AQA’s ban is ‘utterly ridiculous’, while Beth Duder believes that ‘True English teaching is about equipping students to think for themselves: how does not allowing them the option help to do this?’

Alan Gray expresses disbelief that Education for Leisure has been banned ‘Because of a complaint by some book burner masquerading as an English teacher’ and thinks that AQA ‘should be ashamed.’ For D.Hind all this is ‘ludicrous’, while Helen Lane thinks that ‘this is an appalling move.’ Simon Murray calls it ‘a spineless decision’ and for Elizabeth Lyons this ‘makes no sense. … Should our students’ lives remain colourless, can they not be trusted to think and debate issues that affect them.’

For Ben Smith, AQA’s ban is ‘laughable, reactionary and cowardly.’ ‘What’s the point in cosy poetry?’ asks Toby Marshall, while Shirley Dent believes that ‘anyone who cares about literature should support this petition.’

I couldn’t agree more.