Who was the Inspector?

If anybody has read An Inspector Calls I'd like to know their thoughts on the book and who the Inspector was. I think I made this thread on DDO a while ago but not that many people had read it so I'll see how much success I have with this thread on here.

Famousdebater: What do you think the likelihood is that people here actually read it?

Famousdebater: I honestly haven't had nearly as much time for books recently as I'd have liked. This month has been just insane for me!

admin: Ah, so that is why you seem to haven't been on as often.
An insane month.

Bi0Hazard: I don't know. It's a very well written and iconic book. Most educated people in the UK have read it by the time they're 18.

Famousdebater: Over here it's more common to read books like To Kill A Mockingbird or The Great Gatsby.

Famousdebater: Oh really? It is that well known?

Bi0Hazard: Yeah.

admin: The UK's a bit broader in terms of the type of books that are generally read since most people here have also read those books too.

With all this being said, I've always been very strongly criticising of the American education system. It falls significantly behind the education curriculum difficulty of the U.K, France and other Western countries. Books like An Inspector Calls are incredibly well known all across the world.

Famousdebater: I never heard of it.

Famousdebater: Or more narrow. Like I bet you haven't read Spider by Maurice Gee. There's less of a prescribed set of texts here. The only informally prescribed ones are the really famous ones (like Shakespeare), if at all.

Famousdebater: I'm not from the American education system. I'd gladly defend that NCEA makes more sense than Cambridge.

admin: I'd gladly defend that NCEA makes more sense than Cambridge.

I don't really know much about the NCEA. My main problem is with the American education system (which is something I've had contention with for a while now).

admin: I bet you haven't read Spider by Maurice Gee.

No I haven't read that. But that isn't a book that is nearly as well known as An Inspector Calls.

Famousdebater: It's only so well known in your circles because you studied it.

admin: I've spoken to people from all around the world and all of them know it. It's a very well known book.

Famousdebater: Well here's people from two other countries that don't. DDO clearly didn't know much about it either.

Is that maybe because the countries that you've spoken to are those that primarily use the UK examination systems?

I looked it up and it's not even a book, it's a freakin' play. My particular class studied 3 plays - The Crucible, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello. Please explain why An Inspector Calls is more worthy of study than any of those 3 plays.

admin: In fact I see this as being one of the problems with the GCSE system - it prescribes set plays. In NCEA you always have a choice and can write about any play or book etc of your choosing (with the exception that the level 3 play must be by Shakespeare). I think that's much better, personally, as nowhere outside of the school system or pub quizzes are you ever assessed on your understanding of particular works of art. Cambridge and IB are a little better in this respect, usually, but still don't have nearly the freedom that NCEA offers. What should matter is the quality of analysis.

admin: NCEA as in the National Catholic Educational Association?