Grandchildren grow up so fast. The time that we have with them is so precious and pretty soon they will be in the clutches of the school system and then changed forever.
The purpose of schools seems unclear to me now. I used to think that it was about opening the eyes and minds of young people, encouraging them to think and to be able to deal with problems, how to learn and how to find things out, but as time passes, it seems that is no longer the case.
Of course I can't speak from recent experience, but even when I was teaching, I was aware of a gradual change in emphasis in my own subject area and a general drift away from what seemed to be worthwhile and towards a fact based process that pushed all students through the same dull and meaningless loops in order to meet examination criteria that suited the political climate of the day. The whole curriculum is geared towards a ludicrous system of assessment and when the assessments don't work, the goalposts are changed again and again.
Exam results are published this week and as always the schools are in a lose lose situation. If the pass rates increase, then the exams are too easy and of course if they go down then the schools are failing; the press, like the government love to kick teachers around and then they seem surprised when there is a recruitment problem.
Industry is calling for a vocational system to be introduced (again) and it does seem a sensible thing to do, and at the same time many able students are opting out of higher education and choosing apprenticeships (again).
One major issue is that a significant proportion of the population do not value education and see schools as free child minding, not caring too much about what happens during the day. Perhaps the whole system needs rethinking. Education should be freely accessible to all but should it be compulsory up until the age of 18? Perhaps parents and students should not expect automatic places in schools regardless of the child's behaviour. Maybe if school places had to be deserved, then they might be better valued.
My grandchildren will be encouraged to get as much out and put as much into their times in school, but once there they are in the hands of who knows who and subject to the influence of friends over whom we will have no choice. I can only hope that things improve.
