The Future Now

A civilised society?

Last night's Channel 4 documentary on adult illiteracy was shaming.  More than 5 million adults in the UK cannot neither read or write, victims of an education system which has clearly been filing a sizeable minority of those who pass through it for decades.

While it was exceptionally moving to see remarkable teacher Phil Beadle make real progress with the adult students who enrolled on his course, the damning discovery that the materials on offer from the government  to help with adult literacy were woefully inadequate, gave even greater cause for despair.

An educated population is the cornerstone of a civilised society, and literacy is the foundation of education.  On the basis of last night's first episode of Can't Read, Can't Write, we have no right to call our society civilised.

Meaningless choice

This article by Deborah Orr is spot on.   It exposes the utter lunacy of addressing the falling quality of education provision in the UK by giving parents 'choice' rather than figuring out why schools are not helping so many children to reach their potential, and doing something about it.

As Orr begins,

Long ago when the concept of parental choice was introduced into the state education system, it was done under the assumption that this would somehow create a market in which schools would compete with each other and standards would be raised. A couple of decades on, I think it has become apparent that this theory has not worked. The worst schools are not compelled to improve because of parental choice. They just end up populated by the children of the parents whose choices are fewest.

It never ceases to amaze me how educated, thinking people like Andrew Adonis and the school's Minister, Jim Knight (both, incidentally, beneficiaries of top-notch private educations) believe they can improve education for the masses through such a misguided strategy.

Call this government?

Alice Miles has a brilliant piece in The Times this morning,  Ostensibly an attack on the poorly thought through plans to reintroduce cookery lessons in schools, she ends up illustrating how feeble media-driven government in the UK has become.  It's almost unbelievable:

And so it was that I turned on the television yesterday to see the Prime Minister's special farewell to Konnie Huq, the children's television presenter. Yes, the Prime Minister. In between his world tour and not appearing in the House of Commons while his Chancellor announced the effective nationalisation of a bank, Gordon Brown made a little film to commemorate the retirement of a Blue Peter presenter.

The Prime Minister appeared after Basil Brush, who is a stuffed fox, and a couple of comedians. “Thanks for everything you've done,” Mr Brown said to Ms Huq, with that strange television smile of his. “You've done brilliantly. Thank you.”

I still can't get my head round the idea of David Cameron in No 10 (and I struggle to see how it will be any better) but New Labour's time is surely up.

(Afterthought: Surely even Times readers know that Basil Brush is a stuffed fox?)

Ending educational apartheid

On the day the government proposed a below inflation pay increase for teachers in the state sector, Anthony Seldon, as far as I am aware the only educationalist in this country with any vision, has the text of a stimulating speech reproduced in today's Independent.  The debate over the future of education in the UK has barely begun.

Bag a bargain today

Those nice people over at Amazon have discounted my book, so if you haven't read it and would like a copy, you can buy it here.

When it was published, The Possibility of Progress garnered one or two positive comments.:  Tony Benn thought it "a deeply moral and intellectual book".  James Robertson called it "important, impressive and readable".  Tony Vickers suggested that it might be "the book that Henry George would have written if he'd been alive today."

At the book launch Tony Benn, Clare Short and Susan Kramer all turned up to give their backing to the book, more information about which you can find here.

I'm currently working on another book which explores similar themes from different angles, but while that one is in production, The Possibility of Progress should keep you going.

If you're in the United States, you can order it through amazon.com by clicking here. (Sorry, no discount).

Of course, if you can afford it, and have an independent bookshop nearby, why not get them to order it in for you?  It'll cost you the full price (£14.95) but you'll be supporting a small business, rather than a corporate giant, and contributing to the cause of progress in a tiny way.

Happy reading!

Mark