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Teaching Bernard Shaw

Paper presented at Kerala University, Trivandrum
March 1999



Teaching the plays of George Bernard Shaw to the undergraduate students of
Kerala state, India is not an easy task. Taking into consideration the poor
exposure to English literature that the students have got during the twelve
years of their schooling, any piece of literature poses a serious challenge
before the teacher.
The undergraduate students of Kerala are not very well exposed to English
literature. In the high schools classes of Kerala, English classes are not
always handled by graduates in literature. According to the whims and fancies of
the headmaster, teachers of biology or chemistry are very often sent to teach
English to students of the eighth, the ninth and the tenth standards. These
‘guest-teachers� are quite incapable of explaining a piece of literature with
reference to the author and his or her background. They simply resort to reading
the lessons and giving the word-meanings in simple vernacular.
At the higher-secondary level, the classes are handled by post-graduate hands.
But at this level, there is no emphasis in having a detailed study of English
literature. The teachers just resort to prepare the students to get a pass
minimum in the General English examinations. The students very often ignore
English classes and pay more attention to their optional subjects—science,
history or commerce according to which stream whey have joined.
Most of the Indian universities prescribe the plays of George Bernard Shaw as an
ingredient of General English ("Part-I English") for undergraduate courses in
science, commerce and humanities. I have been teaching George Bernard Shaw for
the last ten years (from1988 to 1998) to the first year B.Sc. students of Sir
Syed College, Taliparamba which is affiliated to the University of Cannanore.
The students weren’t backward as such; They had completed their higher-secondary
courses and they came out in flying colours. They were the best in the campus as
the students of Physics and Chemistry were generally considered the most
intelligent ones in the whole group.
The problem begins in the very first class when the teacher starts giving them a
general introduction to English drama. They had certainly heard of William
Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw, but nothing more than that. They haven’t
read a single play of Bernard Shaw or Shakespeare for that matter. They haven’t
even come across the Charles Lamb version of Shakespeare.
A serious writer like George Bernard Shaw demands a lot of sincerity from the
teacher’s part. The teacher has to explain in detail the age of Bernard Shaw and
the historical, cultural and social peculiarities of that age. The teacher
should continuously remind himself that these science students are simple
novices in the field of literature. The teacher shouldn’t take anything for
granted. Even the simplest kind of reference should be explained with lucidity.
The preface to the Plays Pleasant is a hard thing for the non-literature
student. The teacher should take a lot of pains to guide the student through the
maze of philosophical suggestions and innovative ideas contained in the preface.
Expressions of George Bernard Shaw like "the obvious conflicts of unmistakable
good with unmistakable evil can only supply the crude drama of villain and hero
in which some absolute point of view is taken�.In such wares I do not deal",
sounds Latin to the poor science students of Kerala. At every stage the teacher
has to take into account the standard and level of the students from various
perspectives. He has to remind himself again and again the undergraduate status
of the students and the little exposure they have got to this kind of prose
during their twelve years of schooling.
After finishing the preface you enter the real text� the play Arms and the Man.
Things are much easier now, at least comparatively. You feel like a train
emerging