More than a quarter of teenagers in England are not taking English literature GCSE, according to figures published by the Conservatives. About 37% of poorer students - those entitled to free school meals - did not sit the exam in 2008. But while the number fell at maintained schools, it rose at independent ones.
Mary Bousted, leader of the ATL teachers' union, has previously warned that English as a subject is being replaced by "literacy" - with pupils reading extracts rather than complete books: "And that is the heart of the subject - the subject which is dear to my heart - the subject of English."
Personally I'm not shocked. When I was at school the way English literature was taught almost killed any love of English and books that I had. The thing is reading is so much more than a subject, it's a ticket to a world of imagination, entertainment and learning.
I'm lucky, I survived the system's attempt to quantify the enjoyment of reading, but there was nothing to distract me; like video games and the Internet and let's face it, TV was rubbish back then. Nowadays literature has a lot more competition and so teachers really need to come up with better techniques.