Cameron: Hold failing primary pupils back
The Chief was bemused to see that the Conservative leader in the UK was proposing a radical new suggestion to improve educational quality:
Poorly performing children would be forced to stay on to resit their final year at primary school under plans to drive up classroom standards unveiled by David Cameron today.
WOW! What a concept! Repeat the content to learn it better! Why haven’t WE thought of that? (Oh, right. We DO do that, at least in some places.)
But wait! They’re on a roll:
The Conservative leader calls for a “genuine schools revolution”, including improved discipline, a concentration on the basics and a better chance for pupils from deprived backgrounds. In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Cameron backs plans for an “advantage premium” which would see schools given an extra payment per child, on top of existing state funding, for taking pupils from disadvantaged families. This could mean schools being granted up to £6,000 for each disadvantaged pupil they took – making them more attractive “customers” for a range of schools.
This is what now passes for “Conservatism” in the UK. £6000 is a pretty healthy chunk of change…somewhere near the $10K-12K range these days. This is an EXTRA payment also. By comparison, the US Bureau of Indian Affairs formula for per student expenses at its boarding schools TOTAL is less than half that, speaking of “disadvantaged”.
How did the once proud UK reach this sad state? Maybe this has something to do with it:
Its most eye-catching initiative is a call for the worst performers at the end of year six – the final year at primary school, when children reach the age of 11 – to catch up either by attending summer schools or in some cases resitting the entire year. This would lead to children of much more widely differing ages becoming classmates than is usual in the present system, which is strictly delineated by age. (emphasis added)
THIS, sports fans and fun-seekers is what happens when the schools are “dumbed down”, but surely this can’t happen HERE, could it?
At least there IS some positive sounding direction behind the proposals:
In his article, Mr Cameron vows to use school reforms to help tackle Britain’s “broken society”. He adds: “Educational failure lies at its root. Labour’s obsessive micro-management and rigid attachment to old-fashioned ideas has entrenched deprivation, shut doors and closed minds….We need a new approach: one that offers real hope and opportunity; harnesses aspiration and opens minds; and gives children from poor backgrounds the chance to get on in life….I know what parents want for their children because it’s the same thing I want for mine: schools with a disciplined learning environment; focus on getting the basics right; tailored teaching according to each child’s ability; and emphasis on rigorous teaching standards. I wouldn’t – and we shouldn’t – expect anything less.”
SOUNDS good…the devil, as usual, will be in the details, along with the fact that this is dealing with government schools. Meanwhile the current Labor goverment toots it’s own educational horn, with a tune that sounds strangely familiar to the Chief:
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said: “Our investment and reform is driving up standards after the neglect of the Tory years. We will do even more to help kids who are falling behind with our Every Child a Reader and Every Child Counts programmes.
Hmmm. Any similarity there to “No Child Left Behind”? (Another reason why Dubya got along so good with Blair?)
One hardly knows whether there is any hope at all for Britain any more. For that matter, is there any hope for US?