The whole concept of school as we know it is obsolete - as if it were ever a realistic idea. But one particular type of school has now seen its day (and what a dysfunctional day it was!) and that is the boarding school. I hasten to add that there are government-sponsored boarding schools and other small private schools, as well as the famous 'public schools'.
Boarding schools were invented to inculcate the children of the rich and powerful while they were overseas seizing an empire for the mother country. The schools were into creating empire-builders in other words. But now there is no empire and no excuses left for packing your children off to live in a school miles away from family and friends. As if the idea of school isn't bad enough, to be sent to live in one now seems like cruelty mixed with indifference. Yet parents will try to justify why they send their children to such places. If they were at least honest and said "Because the name of the school will help them in their career", I would have a sliver of respect, but no, the usual answers trotted out are:
"Because he needs discipline" or "It's my old school and even though I went through purgatory it's changed and is much better" or "You get a first-rate education there away from the distractions of everyday life". Wrong on both counts.
It is always amazes me how people sentimentalise their schooldays, especially ex-boarders. It seems that no matter how much the father suffered at his boarding school, he will rationalise his decision to send his own children to the same place.
Boarding schools have been forced, over the last 50 years, to humanise their ethos, add girls to their population, ban corporal punishment, and seem as modern as you could get. But this is all window-dressing.
Granted, deluded parents are still queueing up to send their children to these archaic institutions, but those on the inside know that the day will come when boarding schools become an extinct species. The sooner the better, especially for children.
Sunday 27 July 2014
Sunday 20 July 2014
"The point of education is to produce minds that are capable of critical thinking and inventive ideas".
These are the words of a public school headmaster in the 1960s. Would that the system lived up to those ideals. Unfortunately, today's school system is all about conformity and memorising.
Those who have the audacity to present their own ideas or theories are generally belittled. Many teachers loathe pupils who are smarter than they are and they see all 'original' thinking as dangerously undermining of their authority. Again, potential is wasted. Thinking for yourself should be actively encouraged. In my experience, young people are as inventive as anyone when given half the chance to show that side of themselves without mockery.
Socrates was forced to kill himself for 'corrupting the youth of Athens'. He had encouraged the youth to question everything - a cardinal sin then as it is now.
As far as the authority in school is concerned, to question might mean to question the status quo, the nature of school and how unjust the whole system is. Thus conformity rules the generations and change always comes from the minority on top rather than growing organically from the majority below, for whom school, after all, ostensibly exists.
Peter Ustinov told a true story about the time he re-visited his old school, Westminster. He was shown his housemaster's report book and the comment next to his name read:
'This boy displays great originality, which must be curbed at all costs!'
These are the words of a public school headmaster in the 1960s. Would that the system lived up to those ideals. Unfortunately, today's school system is all about conformity and memorising.
Those who have the audacity to present their own ideas or theories are generally belittled. Many teachers loathe pupils who are smarter than they are and they see all 'original' thinking as dangerously undermining of their authority. Again, potential is wasted. Thinking for yourself should be actively encouraged. In my experience, young people are as inventive as anyone when given half the chance to show that side of themselves without mockery.
Socrates was forced to kill himself for 'corrupting the youth of Athens'. He had encouraged the youth to question everything - a cardinal sin then as it is now.
As far as the authority in school is concerned, to question might mean to question the status quo, the nature of school and how unjust the whole system is. Thus conformity rules the generations and change always comes from the minority on top rather than growing organically from the majority below, for whom school, after all, ostensibly exists.
Peter Ustinov told a true story about the time he re-visited his old school, Westminster. He was shown his housemaster's report book and the comment next to his name read:
'This boy displays great originality, which must be curbed at all costs!'
Sunday 13 July 2014
The real waste of potential starts early on. Young children are naturally curious and ask endless questions in an attempt to make sense of the world into which they have been brought. Yet, at the age of five, or thereabouts, we send them to a building called school, where they are told "Don't ask questions about those things you are interested in, and instead be interested in these things". Curiosity is killed stone dead and replaced with a stream of information which is of little or no interest to the child and is usually conveyed in a tedious way.
Why don't we get real and feed off the children's initial curiosity? Make school far more flexible and so encouraging of their curiosity that learning becomes a pleasure not a grind.
A wise man once said "I can command your attention, but not your interest". Motivation is a room locked from the inside. One can create an environment in which you might be interested enough to open the door, but true motivation always comes from within you.
This is why the title 'compulsory education' is a contradiction in terms. No one can be compelled to learn anything.
I heard a story years ago of a boy who hardly ever went to school, truanting persistently. At the age of 15, he suddenly decided that he wanted to be an engineer. It was pointed out to him that he would have to study and excel in mathematics, physics etc. and then pass exams to enter university. That boy became an engineer - only one year later than he would have if he had followed the 'normal' school path. The point of the story is clear - if you are really driven, motivated to do something, you can achieve it in record time. Truancy is an issue I shall discuss in another post. Isn't that exciting?
Why don't we get real and feed off the children's initial curiosity? Make school far more flexible and so encouraging of their curiosity that learning becomes a pleasure not a grind.
A wise man once said "I can command your attention, but not your interest". Motivation is a room locked from the inside. One can create an environment in which you might be interested enough to open the door, but true motivation always comes from within you.
This is why the title 'compulsory education' is a contradiction in terms. No one can be compelled to learn anything.
I heard a story years ago of a boy who hardly ever went to school, truanting persistently. At the age of 15, he suddenly decided that he wanted to be an engineer. It was pointed out to him that he would have to study and excel in mathematics, physics etc. and then pass exams to enter university. That boy became an engineer - only one year later than he would have if he had followed the 'normal' school path. The point of the story is clear - if you are really driven, motivated to do something, you can achieve it in record time. Truancy is an issue I shall discuss in another post. Isn't that exciting?
Sunday 6 July 2014
I overheard part of a discussion in a pub last week - the kind of conversation I wished to join, but didn't, due to good manners on my part.
One person was saying that her son was made to feel stupid because his results in Maths were so poor. This single remark made me reflect on a major aspect of schooling, so major it is hardly ever challenged.
The curriculum is still far too academically biased. Why should we have to prove ourselves on paper? Testing is another issue in itself, but there are many different ways of testing. To judge someone on the basis of what they could remember at a particular time, and how they felt on that particular day, is bad enough, but to judge everyone on the basis of a written examination, is damnable. Countless millions have labelled themselves stupid because they couldn't handle written exams.
Some students are academically minded and that should be offered as well. But many are gifted with their hands, e.g. plumbers, builders etc. Many are gifted artistically, e.g. actors, composers, painters. Many are gifted with social skills, e.g. carers, hospitality workers etc.
.
As Elbert Hubbard said: "A school should not be a preparation for life. A school should be life".
Granted that resources are limited, but if the will was there the curriculum could be widened to include: how to build a car, how to administer CPR , how to dance, how to cook very well, how to speak a variety of languages, how to swim well etc. etc.
Vocational 'education' is now more recognized than in the past, but still too many feel inadequate if they can't do well on paper, and the likes of Oxford and Cambridge Universities still attract far too much adulation for being the 'brightest and the best'. Intelligence is more than memory.
A good friend in Canada, an ophthalmologist, once said to me: "Of what use is knowing the height of Mt.Everest when someone is having a heart attack in front of you and you don't know how to save them?"
One person was saying that her son was made to feel stupid because his results in Maths were so poor. This single remark made me reflect on a major aspect of schooling, so major it is hardly ever challenged.
The curriculum is still far too academically biased. Why should we have to prove ourselves on paper? Testing is another issue in itself, but there are many different ways of testing. To judge someone on the basis of what they could remember at a particular time, and how they felt on that particular day, is bad enough, but to judge everyone on the basis of a written examination, is damnable. Countless millions have labelled themselves stupid because they couldn't handle written exams.
Some students are academically minded and that should be offered as well. But many are gifted with their hands, e.g. plumbers, builders etc. Many are gifted artistically, e.g. actors, composers, painters. Many are gifted with social skills, e.g. carers, hospitality workers etc.
.
As Elbert Hubbard said: "A school should not be a preparation for life. A school should be life".
Granted that resources are limited, but if the will was there the curriculum could be widened to include: how to build a car, how to administer CPR , how to dance, how to cook very well, how to speak a variety of languages, how to swim well etc. etc.
Vocational 'education' is now more recognized than in the past, but still too many feel inadequate if they can't do well on paper, and the likes of Oxford and Cambridge Universities still attract far too much adulation for being the 'brightest and the best'. Intelligence is more than memory.
A good friend in Canada, an ophthalmologist, once said to me: "Of what use is knowing the height of Mt.Everest when someone is having a heart attack in front of you and you don't know how to save them?"
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