I thought Grade-Inflation was horrible!
Nicholas Soames, the Tory [that's the historical name of the political party now called Conservative] MP [that's Member of Parliament] and grandson of the wartime [that's World War II: 1939-1945] prime minister [that's Sir Winston Churchill], said it was “madness” and “typical of a New Labour [that's another political party] Government that is very careless of British history.” The British are updating their education system.
“Secondary school pupils will be taught in lessons lasting just five minutes under a radical shake-up of the curriculum that introduces a raft of subjects including Mandarin Chinese and lessons on debt management, it was announced yesterday. Schools are being encouraged to tear up their timetables and introduce new ways of teaching such as quick bursts of mental arithmetic or spelling and topic-based teaching lasting up to a week. There will be an emphasis on British identity, citizenship and challenges facing the world, such as global warming. . . .” Read More
Five-minute lessons in school reforms By Liz Lightfoot, Education Editor for Telegraph Last Updated: 2:36am BST 13/07/2007
George Orwell [he's an author of 1984 about government dumbing-down of its people in order to control them] may have been twenty-three years too early. Another Englishman suggested if we forget the past, we will be condemned to repeat it. A dumb-down people, while officially educated, will not realize until it is too late, if ever, of what they lost. Henry Cave Devine suggested at the Telegraph that,
“we should return to education plain and simple: reading, writing, maths, history, science and not much more except for those who show a clear talent for more; expand vocational and professional training for those who lean in those directions; remove disruptive students to a borstal setting…It is not about being “smiley-faced happy” but about being given freedom, self-reliance and socio-economic mobility through good education…Let’s support our children and their future not namby-pamby PC ideals and other debilitating half-truths.” Posted by Henry Cave Devine on July 13, 2007 2:51pm BST
