Schools situation follow up
July 4th, 2010
My post last week on my daughter’s school situation certainly put the cat among the pigeons. I had a torrent of response, from comments on the post to emails, @ replies on Twitter and today, an article on the Independent’s website by John Rentoul. The vast majority of comments have been supportive – several stories of other parents who have been through the same situation or are currently in the same boat as me with Sophia.
But some responses have been less than supportive. Particularly the ones which suggest that I’m some kind of closet Daily Mail reader because I’m telling a story about a troubling social situation in the UK. The Daily Mail panders to all sorts of people, but believe me I am not one of them. I’m also not a closet racist. I said in my blog post that:
It’s not my fault that I’m "White British", and it’s not my fault that my daughters are.
Notice I used quotemarks around White British. I don’t care about what colour my skin is, or anybody else’s for that matter. I am pro-immigration in a way which the majority of Daily Mail readers would find abhorrent. But I believe New Labour failed to encourage integration of immigrants, and only in the most recent years have we insisted that English language knowledge is a must of people coming to this country. It doesn’t make you a racist, closet racist or in Gordon Brown’s words a “bigot” to raise this issue. That’s one of the reasons Labour lost this election – we fail to understand what the majority of people in this country actually feel about issues, and instead we just gloss everything over in our politically correct, sterilised, Westminster bubble way.
No, the reason I used this line is because the Ofsted report, the official UK Government report on the performance of schools said specifically that “White British/high ability” students were left to drift, and would therefore have a less good education than other children who required more attention because of their often difficult backgrounds which come with a 96% minority ethnic/migrant background. Of course immigrants want the best for their children, no it’s not helpful to boil this down to a question of skin colour but the truth of it is that if you’re a white child, or if you’re a Black or Asian child who is particularly bright, there are schools which will have a detrimental effect on your education, and that’s unacceptable.
John Rentoul wrote today about my piece that:
But no doubt Paul Dacre, avid reader of this blog, will now offer Bozier money for a two-page spread in the Daily Mail headed, "It’s not my fault that I’m White British."
I’m guessing if I were black or Asian, and complaining that my black or Asian children were getting a poor education because of their skin colour, I wouldn’t be associated with the Daily Mail.
I don’t appreciate people in my own party accusing me of being a closet Tory, a closet Mail reader or a closet racist because I raise these issues. Colleagues, we’ve just lost an election because we are OUT OF TOUCH with the British population and the issues which face them. If we think we’ve a chance in hell of re-connecting with that public by 2015, we’d better start having a hard look at how we, the Labour Party, has failed hundreds of thousands of people over the last 13 years.
Our achievements were brilliant, but our failings have sadly resulted in people being cast aside and trapped in welfare & education systems which were designed to help them.
I appreciate your piece about education. I think you were very candid and honest, and I can also see it was difficult for you to admit that the party for which you have worked for and believed in let you (and millions of others) down.
Integration and diversity, whether is of races, or economic status or gender is utterly important for the development of the community and the country. But it doesn’t just “happen”. Policy makers need to put in place the right incentives and mechanisms in order to give each member of society a chance to succeed. And these policies need to be tailored accordingly.
A good education system is fundamental for economic success (not to mention the individual benefits that come with it, better health, better quality of life,etc). I think issues like the one you raise, should be taken seriously and taken as a chance to have a constructive discussion bringing to the table options to solve the problems at hand.
It is sad to see once more, how some would rather use it as a chance to display their best political correctness facade, and bicker on (the I imagine, ‘key issue’ of) whether you are a Tory or a Daily Mail reader. Yes, there’s some constructive discussion…
Just to be clear: I agree with Luke and thought his article excellent, which was why I linked to it. My reference to the Daily Mail was intended only as a prediction and a warning that it would twist his words and use them in its anti-Labour hate machine.
[...] Bozier has blogged about the response to his article. I should perhaps try to be clearer: I agree with him and thought his article excellent, which was [...]
[...] Posted on July 5, 2010 by anpa2001 A friend pointed me in the direction of Luke Bozier’s blog http://lukebozier.co.uk/2010/07/schools-situation-follow-up/ . Here are my thoughts now I have read it. And calmed down enough to [...]
I really sympathise with a parent wanting their children to have the best education and opportunities possible. I have a little boy coming up to the age of three and will be doubtlessly running the school gauntlet myself next year.
My interest in this article was sparked particularly because I realised I knew very well the school of which you spoke, having worked in that community for many years. And it made me wonder if you had visited the school, or talked to other parents or children or the headteacher about your concerns?
Every parent is trying to make the best choice with the knowledge and skills and resources they have available, and I certainly don’t know what school is right for your child. However, from everything I have seen of that school, the staff are committed and brilliant, the children seem happy and if I lived withi Westminster I would happily send my child there.
I spent the first six years of my education in a state school in Eastern Europe. There was 40 of us in the classroom and limited resources, but the teachers were good and my parents were committed to supplementing and assissting my learning outside the class. By the time I’d moved to England I had a scholarship that got me into a private school and enough education from my first school to make me skip a year. The new school had lots of resources, and far smaller classrooms. Academically, the education I got there was thorough fun and brilliant. (For starters, the International Baccalaureate which I graduated with struck me as offering a wider and more balanced range of subjects than the A-Levels). I am a big fan of the I.B. programme.
However, I would seriously hesitate to send my own child to that school or another private one, fearing he would experience the same problems that I experienced going there. Problems that can be summed up by “children of people with money”. The school fees were high and they were normally afforded only by those parents who had very high-demand, high-paying jobs which tended to result in family situations in which their children had access to a lot of funds but not a lot of parental involvement or structured family time. (This is a broad generalisation of course, and it is not true of every child or every parent, but it was certainly a prominent trend throughout all the 5 years of my schooling there).
Socially, I found it difficult to fit in. Partially because I didn’t have the same access to money, but mostly because I didn’t have the same interests. (e.g. I was a sensible and boring adolescent who had little interest in drugs, but there was certainly enough of the expensive stuff flying around to be easily accessible).
My teachers LOVED me because I had aptitude, but also because I was one of the minority of pupils to really truly deeply apply myself to the stuff they were trying to teach. I saw a lot of students who were very de-motivated and much more interested in fashions and sex and looking bored and groomed. (This is fairly normal adolescent behaviour, and had I been popular I’m sure the allure of it and fitting in would have been quite difficult to resist).
My point isn’t that my private school was some hellhole of debauchery, or that I would have done better in a secondary state school. Only that my experience of going to school and working in them and with them has taught me that making choices with regards to education is very difficult and complex and that League Tables and Ofsted reports touch only an aspect of what it takes for a child to thrive.
I have also met enough Oxbridge grads to know that academically you can be brilliant, and completely useless at life.
Which boils down to, what is education, exactly? What do you want most out of your child’s education? Which bits will the school provide, and what can you do to help?
These are the questions I ask myself when I contemplate my son’s education and my highest priority is finding him a place where he will feel well-looked after, well-settled and be attended by a consistent, committed, friendly staff. Because to my thinking, if he feels happy in a place then I can a) either subsidise any essential learning/skills at home if I feel he is not getting them met in school or b) work with the school to get him to feel challenged and engaged. Yes, I certainly want the school to teach him reading an writing and then the more complex skills he will need, but I also want the school to teach him the importance of being a good person. Part of that for me is about growing up with difference, and with inclusion of those from different social and ethnic backgrounds, as well as those with special educational needs. I want him to go someplace where responsibility and care for others is of great importance.
And it may well turn out that Wilberforce will be the wrong place for your daughter. Maybe you find that she won’t thrive there. If that is so, then yes, you will have a whole set of thorny choices to make. But I’d be sad to see you dismiss the place before you’d even tried it.
Whatever choice you end up making, wherever you end up sending your child, I wish the best of luck to you and your family.