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Posted by: John Harrison | 14.01.2010 05:55pm
There is a common assumption that 'education' and 'school' are synonymous terms; that education only takes place (indeed, CAN only take place) in schools and that therefore if we improve schools, we improve education. And THAT, as the numerous posts you have received and the figure of 2.8 million made to feel like failures quoted in your own advertisement (Guardian 28.11.09), is manifestly not the case.
School has a part to play in education, if only because not every parent has the resources to home educate their children; but it should not be (and isn't) the only source of education. The schools that we have today are imitations of the original grammar and 'public' schools of two centuries ago or more. The very word 'school' derives from the Greek word 'skole' which means 'leisure'. School was for the leisured classes who had no need to earn a living by it and the most prised areas of study were the most arcane, abstract and academic; in other words the subjects least likely to have any direct practical application to the world of work. That attitude still obtains to this very day: we talk of 'top' universities, of 'double firsts' in 'greats' 'down' to 'white van man', 'shelf-stackers' and 'McJobs'. We forget that the most academic classical scholar (there's that word again) would be lost if he couldn't find his favourite groceries.
We need to rethink education from start to finish (of course, there is no 'finish'). We need to ask ourselves 'What is education for?' rather than 'What are schools for?'. We need to recognise that the government should have no more responsibility than to ensure that every child, upon reaching the age of 14 and standing on the very threshold of adulthood, is equipped to be able to deal with the adult world as it is and subsequently to provide the means for that young person to pursue whatever education s/he wishes, be it academic, creative, athletic, enterprising, 'vocational' and so on. Each young person should, by the age of 14, have passed all the elements of a School Leaving Certificate - a certificate of competence to deal with the adult world, NOT of academic prowess. Other qualifications should be awarded by the bodies that require them: university entrance by the universities, legal qualifications by the legal profession, military qualifications by the military, engineering qualifications by the engineering societies and so on. It is not the business of government to set the exams, dictate the pass level and then brag that the 'pass' rate was 52.4% last year, 52.7% this year therefore we are a jolly good government and you should go on voting for us.
More may be learnt about these ideas by visiting www.wotnoschool.com .