Orwell's proposed remedy is simpler. He feels it is a matter of everyone making an effort to break sloppy habits. To follow the six rules he suggests would be to avoid what may be at the root everything he complains about.
An even stronger parallel can be drawn between Orwell's feelings and the Victorian poet Elizabeth Browning's displayed in her poem "Aurora Leigh". In "Aurora Leigh" the narrator tells the reader about coming to England to live with her aunt. Early in the poem we get the feeling that she is somewhat put off by the first sights she sees in the new country. "The ground seemed cut up from the fellowship Of verdure, field from field, as man from man". Here Browning refers to the effects of private property, a new concept at the time. She goes on to question whether this was the same place that inspired the great writers; "Did Shakespeare and his mates absorb the light here?" The more important theme of this poem is her critique of the new "liberal education" system of which her aunt is a product. She paints her aunt to be a caged bird in direct contrast to her own wild tendencies. "She had lived, we"ll say, a harmless life, she called a virtuous life, a quiet life which was not life at all". Through this poem, Browning tells us that education should not create automatons. Orwell follows up on this point in his essay, telling us we should not be educated in the language of automatons. .
Browning and Orwell also spoke about the human thought process. Again, Orwell's essay can be used as a counterpart to Browning's poem. She refers to how her aunt's tightly braided hair functions for "Taming accidental thoughts". This taming of thoughts was the effect she felt "liberal" and/or "public" education had on a person; a limiting effect. Similarly, Orwell is saying that language itself limits the expression of our thoughts. Browning uses the term "liberal education" in a satirical way as she describes what it teaches; "mathematics,--brushed with extreme flounce The circle of the sciences- She shows how this perceived image of liberal education, of an institution that makes one smarter or more "well rounded", only teaches you how to memorize facts.
During research I"ve found that some teachers are opposed to the "rigid" guidelines laid out in the NC - a particular gripe in various forums ie TES messageboards. ... The range of choice is vast - from Jane Austen to George Orwell. ...