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School standards: Why not raise them rather than floor them?
Jul 26, 2019 4:31:43 GMT -5
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Post by fretslider on Jul 26, 2019 4:31:43 GMT -5
Labour Against Private Schools, a campaign group within the Labour Party, is calling for a ban on private schools.
The campaign hopes that banning private education for the privileged few will result in equality for all, ending class segregation in education. Its Twitter handle is @abolisheton and its pinned tweet cites the fact that a third of all British prime ministers were educated there. Boris Johnson became the 20th Etonian to become PM this week.
The idea would be to emulate Finland’s radical educational reforms that followed the Second World War. Finland abolished private schools and incorporated them into the state system. By the early 1970s, all children participated in a comprehensive education system. The reforms successfully closed the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils.
Holly Rigby, one of the campaign coordinators and a teacher in the state sector, argues that there is no justification for young people’s potential to be ‘determined by the size of their parents’ bank balance’. I agree. But the focus on abolishing private education is still misguided.
Private schools, particularly elite ones like Eton and Harrow, do provide a huge amount of opportunities to those privileged enough to afford the fees. Whether it is their fantastic facilities or access to alumni networks, pupils at private schools certainly have advantages over their state-educated peers. Pupils are generally better behaved and more motivated, too, which fosters an atmosphere more conducive to learning.
The state sector’s biggest long-term problem is that low expectations and low standards are far too common. Do we expect kids in state schools to read Classics? No. Do we expect them to play an instrument? No. Do we expect them to learn a foreign language? No. Such low expectations lead to inevitably low outcomes.
The calls to ban private schools are part and parcel of these low ambitions for state education.
www.spiked-online.com/2019/07/26/all-schools-should-be-as-good-as-eton/
Labour and its politics of envy would rather destroy the private schools that do so well than raise the standards of state schools to match them.
That is why Labour will always get it wrong.
The campaign hopes that banning private education for the privileged few will result in equality for all, ending class segregation in education. Its Twitter handle is @abolisheton and its pinned tweet cites the fact that a third of all British prime ministers were educated there. Boris Johnson became the 20th Etonian to become PM this week.
The idea would be to emulate Finland’s radical educational reforms that followed the Second World War. Finland abolished private schools and incorporated them into the state system. By the early 1970s, all children participated in a comprehensive education system. The reforms successfully closed the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils.
Holly Rigby, one of the campaign coordinators and a teacher in the state sector, argues that there is no justification for young people’s potential to be ‘determined by the size of their parents’ bank balance’. I agree. But the focus on abolishing private education is still misguided.
Private schools, particularly elite ones like Eton and Harrow, do provide a huge amount of opportunities to those privileged enough to afford the fees. Whether it is their fantastic facilities or access to alumni networks, pupils at private schools certainly have advantages over their state-educated peers. Pupils are generally better behaved and more motivated, too, which fosters an atmosphere more conducive to learning.
The state sector’s biggest long-term problem is that low expectations and low standards are far too common. Do we expect kids in state schools to read Classics? No. Do we expect them to play an instrument? No. Do we expect them to learn a foreign language? No. Such low expectations lead to inevitably low outcomes.
The calls to ban private schools are part and parcel of these low ambitions for state education.
www.spiked-online.com/2019/07/26/all-schools-should-be-as-good-as-eton/
Labour and its politics of envy would rather destroy the private schools that do so well than raise the standards of state schools to match them.
That is why Labour will always get it wrong.
