The Emperor's New Clothes


More than anything else, it's a country's educational system what should ensure equal opportunities for all citizens, regardless of whether they are born in Chelsea or in Blackpool. The human mind is a marvel of nature and it works the same for everyone. But the British education system does exactly the opposite. By means of a huge deception it perpetuates class differences and the lack of equal opportunities for everyone. Add deep rooted corruption into the mix and things get as bad as they actually are in the UK. But nobody does anything about it. No one dares to say that the emperor is naked.

According to some it may still take a few decades for the situation to touch bottom. In the meantime whole generations will find themselves let down by the education system, and their futures jeopardized for ever.

This blog will show you how British state education is flawed and corrupt. Beware: the evidence is brutal. Stop reading if you don't want to change your high opinion of the UK's educational system.

If you are new to this site I recommend reading first the 4 unnumbered and/or the numbered entries in their chronological order using the TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Friday 28 July 2017

Dear Teacher, you are not excused

It is quite interesting to see how a wall half way around the globe is creating such a stir over here, while we have, tolerate and even cherish far worse walls right at our doorstep. Trump's wall will be huge and made of brick and mortar, or concrete, and clearly visible to all. Our walls are invisible, much more impenetrable and right in our neighbourhoods. These walls are in every school, in every classroom where a teacher sets targets for the pupils and then sends reports home saying that everything is fine because the child is working "to target".

Targets in education are far worse than walls made of concrete. They are much more difficult to demolish. Trump may build a wall, and it may later be demolished. By then it will have affected the lives -then and there- of those who would otherwise made it across the border. Targets in education condemn people for the rest of their lives to stay in their disadvantaged socio-economic class. Trump's wall will stop anyone from crossing the border, but targets in education are selective in the worst possible way, because they make things worse for those who are already worse off.

Dear teacher, in conversations about this topic I used to excuse you, saying that, after all, you have been trained in this system, and even led to believe that using targets is a way to "adapt to learners", which in principle is something good to do. I even used to excuse you allowing for the fact that you are so young that you never experienced any other system, so you do not even know there is another way of doing things. But unfortunately, having dealt with many teachers over the years, seeing how you all embrace and actively defend the system even when challenged by numerous parents who find it outrageous to be told that their children are doing well by working towards a D in their GCSEs, I can no longer excuse you.

Let me tell you: every single time you set a child a target other than 100% of the marks, or the maximum possible grade, you are judging that child and telling them: "you do not deserve to even attempt more than this target, you are unable to understand anything above this target, you are worse than the other children in your class who get higher targets, and I judge you this way because you are black, or Muslim, or Latin american; or because you live in this low-class neighbourhood for which statistics predict that the majority of children will obtain low grades; or because you had a problematic family in your early school years, in which going to school or doing homework was low priority while you had to live in fear of abuse, or helping out to get food on your table.

Dear teacher, every single time you set a target other than 100% of the marks or the maximum possible grade, you are behaving like a bigot, a racist or a classist. If or when you have kids of your own you will certainly make sure they get the best education, you will support them at home, and in the bottom of your heart you will know that the right thing to do is to give them the opportunity to be exposed to the full curriculum and work for the best marks. They may not achieve them, but you will have your peace of mind because you have given them the opportunity - that same opportunity you are knowingly and willingly denying the children of other parents who love and care for their children as much as you do.

So please do not expect me to carry on excusing you for this - you are not excused: you are a knowing and willing accomplice of a system which has built and actively maintains walls far worse than Trump's.

Watch the video below that has recently gone viral. It is a great speech against walls like Trump's - but you should be able to see how the last 30 seconds of her speech (direct link here: https://youtu.be/46w13vjfUoI?t=325) could just as well have been said about the British education system, word by word. If you are not able to see this, then there really is no hope for education in this country.




No comments:

Post a Comment