Role models

Oscar is changing rapidly. He is absorbing information like a black hole, and like a black hole,  there is so selectivity in what he absorbs.  Every word, or expression is taken on board, processed and often repeated.

Oscar is fortunate to be born into a loving and caring family, with parents who put his interests before their own.  They are already considering options for his schooling and have his name down for a private primary school.

I have mixed feelings about this but can understand their reasoning. I spent my working life in Comprehensive schools, coming into the system at its inception. I went to a grammar school and at the time did not appreciate what it had to offer, so for me, the new system appealed and for many years in my experience it was successful. There was opportunity for all and with the original introduction of GCSE there were clear goalposts for everyone to aim for.  Of course, even through the rose tinted spectacles of time, things were never perfect. There were kids with problems and behavioural issues were part and parcel of the system. Some kids were dealt with in special schools with staff trained to help them, and some were able to be assimilated into the mainstream in time. Then came Inclusivity; a means of saving money as specialist schools could be closed and kids with problems, some very severe problems, could be incorporated into the main stream regardless of the ability of teachers to deal with them. As time went by the numbers of these kids increased and their influence became far reaching and destructive. Instead of dealing with the problem, falling standards were met with curriculum changes that made examinations much easier, meaning that kids could get away with doing less and still the pass rates in public exams increased. This smoke screen fooled no-one really but politicians love statistics. Lies are the currency of the politicians and education became a football that distracts from other issues. Poor exam results could be blamed on teachers. Bad behaviour could be blamed on teachers.  Integration and larger class sizes were not the problem; teachers were the problem and so OFSTED was born on the political whims of a government that all sent their kids to private schools.  Ofsted is a stick that is used to beat the teaching profession into submission and it worked. Teachers became machine operatives, working to formulae, delivering tedious National Curriculum pap in a style that meant boxes could be ticked, forms could be filled and men in grey suits could write lengthy reports on schools that few read and less cared about. 

By placing a child into a comprehensive school, there is a risk that that child may not receive the education that is most appropriate to their needs.  The system deals well with the less able,  and to some extent the very bright will survive whatever they are treated to, but the mass in the middle are forgotten, their lives often made a misery by behaviourally maladjusted fellow students who run rings around authority and can do so with impugnity.  To be in a class with  a few delinquents is appalling for many students and yet it is their everyday experience with teachers powerless to do anything about it.  To weaker kids, these become role models and it is so easy to be sucked in to their behaviour. Not to join in is often a cause of bullying. Even strong willed kids have to be very brave to avoid the pressures of their peers.

I believe that is is one’s peers that are most likely to influence the direction in which a person is likely to travel. Yes role models have some clout but the media seem to love celebrity for the sake of celebrity.  Reality TV programmes demonstrate the worst of the worst, talk shows seem to be a celebration of homosexuality and sport is about greed and  winning at all costs rather than about competition.  So called talent shows are used to mock the incompetent and elevate a lucky few to the heights of celebrity for a few months before being dumped by the phoney system that has used them for profit.

The Olympics are being vaunted as an inspiration to a generation, but even these wonderful games are blighted by cheating and suspicion of drug abuse.  Our best athletes seem to come from families that have nurtured them and their abilities, and most seem to have been educated privately. 

There will be a temporary interest in sports thanks to the likes of Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Ennis, both of whom seem like contenders for sports personality of the year, but the likelihood is that Mr Gove and his cronies will continue to sell off school playing fields and public amenities, and so the aspirations of the majority of kids will be doused before they have chance to be realised.

We are a divided nation and as long as our kids aspire towards being Jordan, Girl or boy band singers, or premiership footballers, we are doomed as a nation. The media needs to present role models of some worth and make achievement cool. Our current youth culture, dominated by an Afro American attitude will change eventually but unless there is a radical change in the media and in the state school system, then a change for the better seems unlikely.

Hold up the team that successfully put a spacecraft and vehicle onto Mars, or the people who built the Olympic Stadium and executed the opening ceremony. Celebrate the discovery of the Higgs Boson or the designers of the things that we all take for granted. These are the role models that I’d like Oscar to look up to. Sadly, I suspect that he would not find them in a state school.