The Value of Lit.

Changes here in the Literature O and A Level syllabus announced in the newspaper today. The Lao She Classic Teahouse had been phased out of the Chinese Lit. curriculum last year. In its place two works by an eminent local playwright substituted, the late Kuo Paijo Kun: The Silly Little Girl And the Funny Old Tree, and Kopitiam. (For foreign readers puzzling, Coffee-time.) The Min. of Ed. acting to “ensure Lit. remains relevant to students” and local works “provide not only a wealth of literary techniques and devices for study, but also a reservoir of rich local history and cultural heritage for reflection.” 
         Guide books and glossaries no doubt, and mark you, O and A Levels. Seventeen-eighteen year olds in 2018. 
         An old High School English Curriculum Coordinator scratching his head at the Al Wadi morning teh table…. 
         (For anyone who might think a book cannot be judged by its cover and title, go take a walk through any “well-stocked” emporium, including many of the Indie best.)

         Just a wild guess, but what chance the Head Of Department at MOE here sports a dye job and comb-over, sitting in smart shirt and tie at a desk overlooking a neat garden-bed out front of the building, landmark sculptural piece and fountain?