Nanny's special little pet, Ed Balls (Schools Secretary), is living up to his name by recently spouting complete shite.In his view, and this is the most amazing piece of Big Brother "double speak" that I have read in a long while, grammar schools damage educational standards.
Just think about that for minute.
Balls is saying that by trying to turn out well educated pupils, grammar schools are damaging educational standards.
What kind of standards is Nanny setting herself?
Nanny and Balls have a priority to "improve" the quality of educashun in their state run schools. Fair enough, and quite correct.
Now you and I would do this by improving the quality of educashun, teaching and stretching the pupils.
Not so under the Balls "vision". His method is simple, ensure that the most gifted children are not syphoned off by grammar schools, that way the average performance of the state school will rise by default; even if it means that those who are bright will be held back by the slowest in the class.
A great way to run an education system, and a very regressive step back to the old Labour policy of class war and envy.
Balls went on to say that the system left secondary modern pupils feeling as if they were failures. Wee all fail at some stage in life, those who survive are those who pick themselves up and try again. Nanny would have us collapse in crumpled heap on the floor in self pity and self loathing, never to try again.
Balls stated in black and white:
"Let me make it clear that I don't like selection. We don't support new grammar schools.
Overall, secondary moderns are around twice as likely to be below the 30 per cent benchmark than the average school. I've heard first-hand how some of the young people starting in these schools feel on day one that they have already failed."
This is the politics of division and envy, something that Labour should have abandoned decades ago.
Balls would do well to remember that those who are often most disruptive in class, are those who are not being stretched or challenged by the system. Grammar schools offer an opportunity for stretching bright pupils, Nanny should not try to deny them that opportunity.
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Fear not! The government's "Happiness Tsar" [I kid you not] is busily mobilising an army of hastily half-trained Cognitive Behaviour Therapists to rush in where the teachers [never mind the parents] have failed, and instil into the bemused minds of these hapless pupils a sense of their own self-worth - see:
ReplyDeletehttp://antarena.blogspot.com/2008/06/staggering-naivety.html
As I pointed out in an earlier post:
http://antarena.blogspot.com/2008/03/depression-and-political-snake-oil.html
if more and more people are feeling depressed and hopeless, it is because we have been misgoverned for the past decade by a bunch of smug, self-important dimwits who fondly imagine they know all the answers when they haven't even figured out half the questions.
The end-product of this obsessive drive towards "equality" - though not for the Ballses of this world, of course - when half the population will have been given university degrees that aren't worth the paper they are written on, was succinctly stated by W.S. Gilbert over a century ago: "When everyone is somebody, then no-one's anybody".
Balls by name, Balls by nature, and (not for th first time) he speaks a load of b******s!!
ReplyDeleteAt least he has the balls not to change his name by deed poll. I think I would have!
ReplyDeleteAre parents not allowed to choose where their children are educated? In the US, the best and brightest are going to private schools or being homeschooled because the public school system SUCKS. Violence, disruption, playing to the lowest common denomintaor, and parents who could care less. And its FROM lack of competion that these hellholes spring.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Ed Balls short for Education Balls Up.
ReplyDeleteThe government are intent on equality but, they always seem to dumb people down towards the bottom rather than up towards the top.
You will notice that all the 'men and women of the people' socialists went to private schools, as do their spawn.
ReplyDeleteDebbie,
ReplyDeleteIt's much the same here though our 'leaders' would love to destroy the sort of schools many of them benefited from in their time in education.
Cognitive Dissonance is, I think. the appropriate term for it.
Mind you a degree in Creative Expenses Claims and Official Form Filling seems to be all you need to become a 'leader' these days.
Balls and his Wife, both senior members of the Government, should know.
Grant
On the other hand ....
ReplyDeleteHaving posted as above it occurred to me that many of the 'educated' elite have the most spurious grip on reality and the allegedly less well educated often hold far more sensible views.
On which premise one might promote poorer education as a civilisation saving concept.
Just a thought.
Grant
You speak such complete truth in this post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Debbie - Home schooling is the best option to prevent your child's education from being ruined by this government.
This type of attitude is typical of the Labour party - they just want to reduce people to lowest common denominator.
Debbie
ReplyDeleteYou have taken an interest in the UK. Thank you and welcome.
Here's a list of all British MPs. Click on the name to get to the appropriate page, and somewhere on that page you'll find voting record, expenses claims, biography - all you need to know to see what a bunch of venal hypocrites this country is governed by. All government Ministers are either elected MPs or members of the House of L... Lo.... Lo.... ... the Upper Chamber. There's an appropriate link on this page.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mps/
Sir Henry,
ReplyDeleteYou have taken an interest in Debbie taking an interest in the UK. Thank you and welcome.
I might emigrate there one day so anything in the meantime that keeps our American country cousins humoured and still on our side (despite some of the vitriol they have to put up with at times) is to be welcomed and encouraged and hopefully improves the chances of them letting me in when I come knocking.