We chase "fast culture" at our peril - unusual words and difficult art are good for us, says Will Self.
We are living in a risk-averse culture - there's no doubt about that.
But the risk that people seem most reluctant taking is not a
physical but a mental one: just as the concrete in children's
playgrounds has been covered with rubber, so the hard truth about the
effort needed for intellectual attainment is being softened by a sort of
semantic padding.
Our arts and humanities education at secondary level seems
particularly afflicted by falling standards - so much so that
universities are now being called upon to help write new A-level
syllabuses in order to cram our little chicks with knowledge that, in
recent years, has come to seem unpalatable, if not indigestible -
knowledge such as English vocabulary beyond that which is in common
usage.
