tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33696095.post6548755017001984319..comments2024-03-20T16:27:56.522+00:00Comments on Norfolk Blogger: According to the Telegraph the riots are all down to teachersNich Starlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04237390959601973501noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33696095.post-11107709267733086822012-05-02T17:55:44.815+01:002012-05-02T17:55:44.815+01:00The poor quality of journalism in the MSM no longe...The poor quality of journalism in the MSM no longer surprises me. <br /><br />However, I knew an up and coming young social worker in the Sixties - the days of Roy Jenkins's "Civilised Society". He praised the contribution which the "voluntary unemployed" were making to society.<br /><br /> I remember a couple of things from "New Society" of those days - a tremendous drive to dispose of any distinction between "deserving" and "undeserving" recipients of state benefits and a serious proposal to award a state pension of £500 a year (the wage of a farm labourer) to the workshy who could become "state registered ergophobiacs" and so be dispensed from the humiliation of having to prove that they were "genuinely seeking work".<br /><br />The same "all must have prizes" ethos had penetrated education too, Leicestershire was the first county to go comprehensive in the Fifties and I well remember the Leader of Ashby de la Zouch Urban District Council stating the objective succinctly. "Good, working class lads go to grammar school, get good jobs and vote Tory. We're going to put a stop to that". Our teachers never told us their political opinions but I guess that most were Labour-inclined. They were utterly horrified, believing that education was about opportunity, not levelling. It's been downhill all the way since and Margaret Thatcher, as Minister of Education, was the most prolific closer of grammar schools!.Edward Spaltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04168350315689612490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33696095.post-49792843580107035822011-08-12T15:30:33.368+01:002011-08-12T15:30:33.368+01:00Obviously that article's a load of bollocks bu...Obviously that article's a load of bollocks but as teacher myself, we have surely contributed to the situation.<br /><br />Schools are full of too many managers all doing their best to 'massage' results and 'manage' the number of disruptive pupils without actually changing anything. Heads implement government policy without a fucking care what it's doing to education and the upbringing of our children and teachers largely follow. Two paltry strike days in my last ten years is pathetic considering the opposition to government initiatives and policy that there's been.<br /><br />Bad behaviour is now 'challenging' and to address it directly is 'being confrontational' And we all know that the only kids who matter are those C/D borderliners who might just affect the results. <br /><br />And we have a middle management layer of careerists whose only purpose seems to be to avoid acknowledging problems even exist.<br /><br />A total fucking shambles. We always used to joke some kids would do well despite the education they received. Truer every year.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02250240553795493810noreply@blogger.com