DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived post-Murdoch era

the signature experience of being in various higher classes or groups in school (schools with some degree of academic selection on entry too) or 'gifted' type programmes outside of school hours is that the status dysphoria is probably at its most pronounced within those groups that are the supposed beneficiaries

for example the first group in mathematics was divided into two and within the new first group, which was very small, the slower kids seemed to get terribly downcast about their progress, as well as being subject to various unkindnesses from those without

if this were a martin samuel column he would probably post an embed of shot by both sides now

ftr i am favour of some form of 'gifted education', although if it were invented ex nihilo it wouldn't look like anything in the current uk education sector, public or private, and it would be important that its boundaries are fluid rather than set at a certain juncture and fixed forever more

my discomfort with this is less for its inegalitarianism and more that when abstracted it becomes a sort of utilitarian argument not categorically dissimilar to the 'we need to ensure future raymond kurzweils are given infinite nurture for the benefit of humanity' arguments that high functioning types come up with....and that invites the plausible argument that the world needs fewer proto-kurzweils

a thought I had in high school was that what parents who sent their kids to private schools were paying for was for certain kids not to be there. the loudest exponents of private schooling I have met have been motivated/aspirational types who went to shit state schools (yr post-thatcher working class in ilx terms mb). streaming might seem like another means to a similar end.

extra provision for kids who are struggling most, esp those with special needs, seems obviously most important, & ime the lowest sets always seemed to have the most resources concentrated on them (smaller classes, lots of assistants etc.). I think some streaming is inevitable when you're preparing students for different GCSE papers

right

p much with daphnis on this. will outline my own experiences (from the similar position to nakh of being generally towards the high-achieving end of top sets, yah boo sucks etc)

basically, there was absolutely no need to stream, even under the auspices of 'scholarship classes', 'oxbridge classes' & so forth. (the former & increasingly the latter are obviated, at high-end private school level, by extrascholarly tuition, hai dere)

in state schools, parents won't be able to afford tuition so much (but setting might encourage them to go down this route increasingly. money in the bank!)

actually though there's no need and it striates the school in ways that are entirely unhelpful, ensconcing complexes of intellectual superiority & inferiority that take years to erode (learning how stupid i truly was took a very long time & repeat ilx shamings to achieve) and don't reflect anything other than application towards testing

at the gifted & talented weekend/summer school courses i devise and run, i often teach classes whose ages vary between 14 and 18, 11 and 15 & so forth. some kids are already extremely well-versed in the material i'm teaching, some not at all. some are forthright and confident, some not. but here's the thing: they collaborate, work together, support one another, contribute, supply content, take something from the activity. some take more, some take less. that's ok. the main thing is that they've all chosen to be there, doing that activity, and they're prepared to give it a go

rather than setting we should be breaking down outdated notions of hierarchy-by-age, hierarchy-by-ability & allow students to commingle more abstractly, imo. this has the side benefit of not seeming quite so much the machine churning out baked entrepreneurs, kurzweils who've got nothing to boast aside from their own carefully-nurtured ambition, their sense of competition calibrated through the appellations of high achievement & elite cadres

a thought I had in high school was that what parents who sent their kids to private schools were paying for was for certain kids not to be there.

― ogmor, Wednesday, 3 September 2014 19:33 (2 hours ago)

this is part of it but there are positive, if merely auratic elements too

engineering the absence of non-desired groups seems more like a foundational element of the current mainstream state sector, now under the auspices of pseudo-marketisation, so that where this was once achieved once by catchment areas/land values alone, now these schools are further differentiated by their division of aptitudes, sports technology colleges vs humanities and enterprise academies etc

and lj i was reminded of those classes you were teaching here too

'gifted education', which is no more dreadful than any other euphemism circulated for it, at least in the humanities should be more about encouraging reflexity of thought, of getting to engage as early as possible in something like 'critical thinking'

the objective would be to bind something like conscience, to consider value systems rather than the sort of mimetic redeploying of tropes that you know will get you, or rather force the examiner to give you an a* which is virtually all most clever kids are doing at school

this is already achieved to some extent in mathematical subjects where the approach to 'gifted' kids begins by getting them to use the material of the normal syllabus in non-obvious fashions

absolutely agree, and ftr my courses largely do require some consideration of the metaphysical-educational, the process of study and induction itself. even with my primary tuition client i'm trying to ensconce some level of critical thinking, of close analysis of terms that transcends the dull presumptions appended in the classroom

Panic stations:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/03/calls-to-postpone-uk-general-election-scots-independence

Private schools absolutely stream, they re also highly selective, so they are streaming within whatever strata they have chosen. I went to an elite public school and even there streaming can be very restrictive and divisive. I needed up in the bottom set for French and was basically told that I was no good at languages. I persevered, took on german as well and got a teacher who taught rather than drilled language. That unlocked my I can speak three non-english european languages with reasonable and varying degrees of fluency, read a newspaper in a few more and I'm now making great strides in Mandarin.

Streaming only serves to tell students that they are no good at something, and sends the message to teachers (in many cases) that they don't need to bother because those children aren't worth the effort.

Panic stations

Looks like a desperate attempt to cling onto power for a bit longer. I don't see the issue - you can't legislate on the basis that Labour *might* win the election and *might* be dependent on Scottish MPs for a majority (even if both of those things are the most likely outcome as things stand). There's no reason you couldn't have the general election in 2015 and if Labour end up with a majority while they have Scottish MPs, but then lose this majority a year later, then they either have to form a coalition then or we have another election in 2016.

I persevered, took on german as well and got a teacher who taught rather than drilled language

Stokes or Rees?

(and yeah, your experience sounds about right)

There is no way in hell the Conservative Party would keep Cameron in the event of a Yes vote. The fury from Tory backbenchers will be so intense it would lead to a vote of no confidence / calls for his resignation or a level of rebellion that would break the coalition. He might be able to hang on but he would be severely weakened. We could be in for a year of complete chaos.

The No approach in Scotland is now turning towards "Cameron's going to lose, don't worry about it, you can vote No in safety". Which is the weirdest thing to see Tories saying.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/76b900ae-337b-11e4-85f1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3CLapbeCm

education policy - across the political spectrum - seems to be more beholden to some kind of assumed folk wisdom than almost any other aspect of government in the UK

Pretty sure this is also true for science, health, drugs... seems that any policy area which actually has a strong evidence base will have its own team of qualified independent experts whose advice is routinely ignored.

description on cameron on a friend's facebook status:

"he's like C3PO made out of ham"

that's (c) Caitlin Moran i believe

ahhh....

he wasn't claiming to hve coined it, i just assumed he had.

funny as fuck though

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29396942

Two MPs down for the Tories in one day.

What's happening with the bedroom tax?

ppl being forced to move out of homes, committing suicide & so forth

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-youths-betrayed-259m-cuts-4030687#ixzz3Ee8icFY6

Don't worry though, Brooks Newmark will send you a picture of his cock, if you ask him nicely.

What a name.

really confused about why this dude has to resign?

i mean besides the fact that he's an idiot

p unedifying entrapment tactics from the mirror

I'm not really sure whether the Tory MPs defecting to UKIP actually realise they're decreasing, rather than increasing, the likelihood of an In/Out EU referendum?

They think Cameron is a liar.

Look at him, David Came-wrong, in his house cooking up lies. Mmm, David, what's that smell outside number 10? Is it dinner? No it's just lies... Lies for dinner. Hope you enjoy your lies David.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/30/david-cameron-schools-should-teach-mainly-in-imperial-measurements

lol

jesus. this is beyond a joke.

David Came-wrong

pretty weak name in the shadow of "bliar"

omg it's just so...petty

hahahaha he's just saying things to make him seem more traditional

and also progressive. he's having his cake and fucking it too

Surely if you're heading down the immature nicknames road for that ham-faced dickhead, it'd be Camoron?

progressive reaction

Camoran?

• Respond to the Ukip threat by pledging to scrap the Human Rights Act, which will be replaced by a new British bill of rights that would transform Britain’s relationship with the European court of human rights. The prime minister also said that he would put restrictions on the freedom of movement within the EU at the heart of his renegotiation plans before his planned referendum in 2017.

Oh, yay!

Neither of those things are likely to be remotely achievable though.

Nicky Morgan on Radio 4 this evening: "people in the UK are sick of human rights"

Can see why they made her minister for women and equality.

http://i.imgur.com/dORQPvX.png

POLL

Create jobs for everyone TICK
Safeguard the NHS TICK

'English votes for own laws' propaganda from non-dom aussie newspaper mogul

People on £10,000 gain £0.00 from this tax cut (but have their benefits cut/frozen)
People on £50,000 gain £1600.00 from this tax cut (and continue to receive child benefit)

http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/yik/g6e/yikg6eBiE.jpeg

FFS

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77953000/jpg/_77953670_mail2.jpg

Always fun to see "British values" contrasted with the European Convention on Human Rights, the sneaky foreign document primarily drafted by Sir David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir. The Human Rights bill actually means more cases being decided in the UK by British judges rather than in the ECHR.