10 October 2009
If Only The World Were Fair We Could All Be Rich And Happy - Not!
KEYWORDS: education, parents, school, children, pupils, equality fair
Ian R. Thorpe
I'm a Liberal. I'm not ashamed to admit it but I do make one proviso, that people understand I am a classical Liberal according to the principles of Gladstone, Asquith and Lloyd - George. There is nothing I would like to see more than the return of a Liberal Democrat government to power. That will only happen however if the Liberal wind of the party shake of the pernicious influence of the politically correct social democrats. These new liberals or The Liberal Left as they like to style themselves are neither liberal not of the left.
Occasionally I see an article or essay or hear a speech or interview with a member of this "Liberal Left" that is of such gobsmacking idiocy and naivete I feel like throwing in my lot with UKIP or The Monster Raving Loony Party.
One such article, an editorial in today's Guardian, posits that the crisis in the education system is not to do with Government meddling with the syllabus nor with shortages of funds or competent teachers. It does not even relate to politically correct constraints on teachers ability to keep order in the classroom and to discipline persistent bad behaviour.
The Education crisis is all to do with inequality. Pupils from poor homes, those with low achieving parents are educationally disadvantaged. Well so far a million Brownie points for stating the bloody obvious but what do we do about it? Make people equal of course. Just like that. We make everybody equal.
How do we imagine a policy of making people equal might work? First the government responsible would have to abolish private schools. Now we can really see that one going down like a lead Zeppelin, especially with academically well qualified left wing Labour MPs who might think the local chav academy is OK for your kids but not for their little geniuses who will just not get the stimulation they need in the state system.
Next you outlaw private tutoring so wealthy and successful parents cannot pay for a bit of extra schooling out of hours to give their kids a push up the ladder.
Finally, and at least the writer did acknowledge this one would be difficult to pull off, stop people moving to more expensive areas which are generally populated by more affluent and aspirational parents. This is authoritarianism masquerading as liberalism. Telling people where they can and can't live, making laws against people using their money to give their children the best possible start in life? They will be returning to the idea that our "place" in society is ordained by God soon.
In truth education, academic achievement and later career success has a lot less to do with school than many people, especially those on the "liberal left" think. It starts from a very early age with play, with parents or grandparents reciting rhymes, playing counting and alphabet games, with learning by rote basically. The phrase "learning by rote" will horrify progressive educationalists but it is not what is being taught by repetition that influences the child's future but the interaction, the communication. Good communication skills and personal presentation are more important in a job interview than a list of academic qualifications as long as the holder's arm.
The next stage is play. The progressives will try to insist on creative play and will encourage creativity by tightly controlling play sessions. Children however will get more out of things they find around the house than expensive designer toys from the early learning centre. I recall our son's third Christmas, they first when he really knew what was going on. For weeks he had liked to get two dessert spoons and sit on the floor with his football gripped between his legs, drumming along to whatever was on the radio and keeping good time too. We bought him a child's drum kit for one of his presents. On Christmas morning he looked at it, hit a couple of the drums and then went back to his football and spoons. He's a professional musician now. Daughter Dear had dolls, doll houses, My Little Pony and loads of things but her favourite play involved talcum powder, water and toilet paper. Trying to teach kids to think and especially to think in a politically correct way is a recipe for disaster.
Reading is hugely important too. Bedtime stories and anything that encourages children to keep reading for pleasure as they grow older is as important as all the lessons in the world in giving them language skills. Here again though parents must be wary of being influenced by the politically correct thought police. Avoid anything worthy. Books and stories that are said to encourage children to develop healthy, non racists, non sexist, egalitarian attitudes should be avoided because children are masters at spotting when they are being condescended to. Also, children are more likely to identify with the evil little bastard than the goody two shoes character. They're smart like that.
Education then is more to do with what goes on in the home than with the influence of teachers and governments. Any talk of creating a fairer society by making sure all children enter school at the same level is socially destructive both to individuals and society as a whole. People are not equal, people will never be equal and the idea that trying to make people equal by force shows how intellectually bankrupt and divorced from reality the intellectual left really are. If we give people equal opportunity in education and life that is as much as we can do, it is up to the individual then what they do with the opportunity they have been handed. There is no such thing as a standard human being. Some are born to build giant corporations or lead nations, some to excel at sport and some to be a bit hopeless in terms of material or academic achievement but wonderful parents.
When a child is born it is a lottery whether they will be brought up by people who work in the local factory and are always a little short of money at the end of the month but love and care for their family, by a couple of millionaire socialites who provide the material benefits but are stingy with time and parental interest or by total losers. As everybody's Dear Old Grandad told them (or should have), Nobody ever promised life is fair. Inability to understand that is the reason all governments that promise to deliver the changes needed to create a fair and equal society are doomed to catastrophic failure
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