Messing with the kids

We have just had the news that our children have slipped further down the international educational league tables.  This despite the last government promising to do so much for them and pumping large sums of money into various clever 'wheezes' to allow parents to create their own schools and hire non-qualified 'teachers'.  I put that last word in inverted commas as I can't understand how someone who does not hold a teaching qualification can be a teacher?

Whilst at secondary school my daughter brought home her school report.  Nothing unusual in that.  Back in the day I did the same, in fear and trepidation in a sealed envelope. These days the children are allowed to write comments on their reports before their parents see them.  My daughter told me she had written on her report.  "What did you write?"  I asked, still trying to get over the shock that she had seen the report before myself, let alone make her own views on it known.  "I wrote 'grammar'", she replied, seeing my surprise she added "Well they weren't using to, too and two properly.  Or they're, there and their."  This I feel points at a rather crucial problem in the educational system.  If teachers can't set an example for their children, what hope do the children have?

Let's get back to a good grounding in grammar, maths and natural sciences.  These things DO matter, they are the building bricks on which the rest of their education is built.

Perhaps the most dis-heartening and depressing thing about this is that the first response to this report from our politicians is a bickering match about which bunch are responsible.  Couldn't they be a little more constructive?  Not all of us can afford to send our children to private schools where they can receive a well-rounded eductation from teachers who can use grammar correctly and understand the subjects they teach from the ground up.  This appears to be the fortunate position that most of our leaders appear to have benefitted from in their education.  It's a shame that they don't have the same ambition for our children!