Revelations but no apocalypse
Following the revelation that nearly every public school in the country has been engaging in price-fixing in order to fleece its customers, and the subsequent announcement that Ampleforth College and the Catholic Church had been engaging in, and covering up, child sex abuse for many years (something that could only be termed a "revelation" if "revelation" meant "fact that could not possibly surprise anybody in any way whatsoever") I fully expect, indeed confidently forecast, the following chain of events:
- the Government will send hit-squads into public schools to take over and reform their corrupt and wasteful financial practices
- a major educational initiative will be launched by Mr Blair to take education out of the hands of private business and religious institutions
- middle-class parents will start removing their children from public schools and placing them in comprehensives
- the newspapers will begin a shock-horror campaign searching for paedophiles in public schools. They will also dub Ampleforth the "worst school in Britain".
posted by ejh @ 3:30 pm
10 comments
10 Comments:
You know who I am and I'll register later.
Ampleforth isn't the worst school in Britain. And of course the government needs to do more about the schools it actually runs than those it doesn't.
Even with paedophiles and Catholic priests around more children probably emerge damaged from The Ridings than there. The bullying my sister had at secondary modern (leading to an overdose) was one of the reasons I went to the school out of If...
The government (or OFT) are moving against the price rigging schools, aren't they? I think something will happen because a lot of very powerful people are unhappy they have been conned.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say, be nice if the OFT ordered them to reduce their fees by (choosing a figure at random) 17.5%. This would make it interesting.
Actually, I've committed a schoolboy howler with the maths that mightn't be allowed at Ampleforth but you get the point.
To add to the probable chain of events:-
. League tables are deemed simplistic nonsense and are abolished.
. Teachers are regarded as respected professional members of the community and are paid accordingly.
. The National Curriculum is abolished.
.The quality of a child's state education is not determined by postcode.
. Oxford University sends down all undergraduates who are smug self satisfied wankers.
. The Tories decide the best way to become a modern forward thinking party is to choose an Old Etonian as leader...er...
League tables are crude but you can't really abolish them can you? Can you deny people information like that?
All league tables are an indication of is where middle-class parents send their children.
Or maybe something called "the market" will fix the problem, i.e. if parents don't like the service they will go elsewhere. Unlike the state system where there is no market, and it is a question of like it or lump it.
So middle class people should be denied information? What are you saying?
Mmm,
you the same bloke that used to write for When Saturday Comes?
Too many anonymi and it's simply impossible to establish a voice for anyone. (Or is it all the same person?) Anyway, the fuckwit anonymous who apparently thinks "the market" will magically solve all our education problems: "the market" is the education problem - principally the housing market, aided and abetted by pressure from the private education and the wider jobs market. It's a horrible bloody stupid way to run anything.
I've got a copy of that book you wrote on the World Cup knocking about somewhere.
I'm starting a petition to call on you to write more footie posts.
regards
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