Monday, March 10, 2008

What's wrong with this country part, oh thousands....

Apart from the fact that Shirley Williams gets airtime and that the RFU hasn't fired Brian Ashton yet, is this idea that everything in life has to be lovely and easy and sugar coated.
For example, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers think that primary school children shouldn't have any homework. And we didn't have to wait too long before the usual 'unfair on poor children' angle was thrown into the school dinner:

"Middle-class children can go home and get help with their homework; disadvantaged children can't and then they get in trouble,

What a crock of shit. And notice they don't use middle-class and working-class, but simply imply it through 'disadvantaged' as they know perfectly well that there are thousands of working class parents out there helping their children with their schooling and encouraging them and making them do their homework.

Trixy's sister is a teacher and setting and marking of homework is just part of the job, like the long holidays, but I think this new whinge from the left is just a way to do less work.

The union's motion, to be discussed at the conference in Torquay, will say:
"Conference notes with deep concern that many children in our schools appear unhappy and anxious.

"Children should be able to explore, experiment and enjoy their learning without feeling pressurised.

"Homework has become an increasing pressure placed on children in primary and secondary schools."

Don't tell me, no one can win on sports day as it's the taking part that counts and you can't stream children in case someone gets called a 'divvy D' for being in the D group maths. (which happened at my school and then they changed it to C2 so the name was changed to divvy C2 except by my father who mentioned that changing the name was silly when he was at parents' evening and still kept on asking my friends why they were a divvy D.)

Children should get on with learning instead of running around the school hall waving bits of chiffon to make sure they aren't repressed. I don't see how not being able to add up and form a sentence will make them happy when they are older and in a dead end job.

4 comments:

James Higham said...

Next they can eliminate lessons altogether and let them all be Gemmas.

dizzy said...

When did primary school start giving out homework?

Mr Eugenides said...

Ashton must stay!

Bill Haydon said...

Dizzy: years ago - primary school children routinely get English, maths and science homeworks (depends on the school of course).
I haven't read the union proposal but does it include learning spellings, I wonder?