Posts Tagged "Schools"

Experiment: Private school and Political Views

Between longer and more abstract blog posts, this evening I decided to conduct a little experiment. I decided to look at the Political Views of the people I went to High School with.

My secondary school was independent. It was hardly Eton, but it still qualifies as private. My method was to go through my Facebook friends list and pick out all of the people I knew from the school in order to look at their Political Views. See the graph:

You’ll notice a few things about the sample, the first being that it’s quite small. The reason for this is that I had 38 profiles that had not listed anything in the field. The assumption can thus be made that an overwhelming majority are either totally apathetic (highly likely) or embarrassed of their real political views (also likely). I thus had to remove them from the graph to level it out.

The graph also shows an “Aren’t I funny!” column, this is for the profiles that had something inane listed as an attempt at a joke. It’s safe to say these are similar to the Not Listed column.

The one person listed under “Labour Party” is me.

Of the people listed under “Liberal” (Not Liberal Democrat), two of the three were teachers.

So, unsurprisingly the graph shows that most of my classmates were Tories. Does private school make your right wing, or is it just that right-wing people tend to go to private school?

As with anything vaguely scientific, it’s probably some of both.

Disclaimer: Obviously this doesn’t prove anything or have any scientific basis.

Another bungle by Tory candidate Rees-Mogg: claiming credit for Government’s success

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory candidate for North East Somerset, has taken another significant step in reviving the British Gaffe Industry.

Presenting his latest blooper is always a difficult challenge. Though it’s fun to laugh at a hopelessly useless traditional out-of-touch Tory, it’s also important to remember he is selected for a super-marginal. This bloke could be an MP within months.

In addition to plagiarising The Sun, having council taxpayers’ resources used to promote him, forgetting where he really lives, and hoping for a recession to keep his gold valuable, (See the list!) now he’s put out another leaflet. Here’s the front:

Rees-Mogg has at least learned one lesson and has started to write his own copy. You can tell it’s him because nobody else would start a statement on MPs’ Expenses by talking about Stuarts, Tudors, Shakespeare and MacBeth! It’s as if he is trying to strangle you with his Eton school tie. (Yes, he’s one of those Tories, don’t act surprised.)

The whole leaflet is amusingly awful, but there is something you should draw your attention to; on the back, where Rees-Mogg is attempting to trumpet some Tory successes. I’ve drawn a red ring around it:

The start of a massive £2.5m overhaul of children’s play areas throughout the area, including Midsomer Norton.

The reference to the 2.5 million quid for play equipment is fascinating; I’m not sure whether it’s a mistake because he hasn’t got his facts right, was improperly briefed by the Tory Council, or if it’s just a classic lie.

In fact this £2.5 million is government money – nothing to do with B&NES, the Tories, or even B&NES Tories.

Back in April 2008 the government announced “Labour’s Children’s Plan” in which Bath & North East Somerset was selected as a “Pathfinder” one of just 20 authorities to get funding of this type, specifically to create new play areas for young people.

Jacob Rees-Mogg is claiming either that his Tory pals on the Council magically conjured up two and a half million pounds to fund play areas in order to match that of the government, or more likely just false credit-bagging for something they didn’t do.

Far from being a Tory success, I’d wager (£2.5 million, if I had it!) that B&NES was made a top priority area thanks to someone from Somerset lobbying the government, someone in government perhaps, like Labour MP Dan Norris, the very man Rees-Mogg is trying to oust!

To put it simply, for the likes of hard-of-thinking Tory candidates: The £2.5 million isn’t a Tory success but a Labour one!

Is it just a typical Tory trait that Jacob Rees-Mogg has tried to claim credit for something his rival has achieved?

More likely, I suspect that it’s another major blooper by an out-of-touch candidate who has become a gross embarrassment to the Tory Party!

Proposal #25: Remove private schools’ charitable status

Education has always been a key issue for Labour because it is the foundation of social mobility, yet there still exists a huge division between state and private schools, one of the ways to break through this dividing line is to remove the compulsory charitable status from private schools.

Though education, particularly when dealing with state/private issues, is an area that easily trips up the Tories, who were in favour of grammar schools and selection, then were against it, and are now for one or another or both and neither, we should not use it in this way.

Education is something we must not be tribal about; so often Labour attaches a stigma to those from private school as having an easy ride and of being “natural Tories” but fail to appreciate that these schools provide bursaries and scholarships to non-privileged children, and ignore that parents who send their children to the private sector are not always “the snooty Eton types” but average middle class people who choose to spend all their savings to give their child a boost.

This perceived boost shows that Labour must seek to close the gap between state and private education, but it must not seek to go about it by throwing obstacles in the way of independent schools and pulling them down when it is state schools that must be improved. The gap should be closed, but not at the expense that the net quality of education decreases.

The gap is not just about results, league tables and university places; there is also a barrier because the state and private sector have operated far too separately for far too long, our attitude should be cooperative instead of contemptuous.

We should think about removing the charitable status from private schools with spiteful motives, our logic should be that the current system is in need of reform. Although charitable status gives private schools tax breaks, the amount of VAT they have to pay means they give away around 20% of their profit. If the charitable status was removed, and schools were still able to continue to give the free places that they already give, then they would not lose so much money that could be reinvested.

The charitable status has now become a burden to private schools and many would give it up if they could, but currently it is illegal. Private schools are obliged to have charitable status, and therefore are obliged to pay high VAT.

In practice, it means that the more places a school gives away (as an example of a charitable activity), the more tax it pays. Thus schools which do the bare minimum and provide very little public benefit profit, while those which give out more places lose out.

This is fundamentally counterproductive to both the schools and to us. By removing charitable status we give substantial freedom to the private schools, though to profit from this we also need to change the law so that the more charitable the school is, the more it benefits for itself as well. This will encourage smaller private schools to be more altruistic and improve its links within the community.

We should remove the compulsory charitable status for private schools and instead replace it with a fairer mechanism to reward and provide incentives to charitable education.

A commission from LabourList as part of the 25 Proposals project.

Last minute changes as students go back to school

48 hours before the pupils and 24 hours before the teachers, Luc Chantal returned from his summer holidays. The Education Secretary of France then rapidly sent out his proposals of what will change this year.

Despite the economic crisis and the flu epidemic, the minister claimed he was confident that everyone will be able to begin the academic year smoothly. For those who didn’t see the link between two global catastrophes and the first day of a new school year, he added that the state of the economy revealed the need for a prolonged education system.

1. Cuts, cuts, cuts!
The right-wing UMP government’s first solution to reforming educations is to get rid of teachers. The French government is cutting 13 500 teaching jobs this year and 16 000 next year.

2. Dispatch the playground police
President Sarkozy announced previously that “schools should be sanctuaries and sheltered from all forms of violence.” Thus a team from 20 up to 50 people will be responsible for preventing tension and protecting people. Making an attempt on the security of Education sector employees is from now on considered an “aggravating circumstance”. Twice, you might get a detention.

3. Cut down apprenticeships
Vocational training or on-the-job-learning (called the Bac Pro) is being cut from four years down to three. By shortening the duration of the diploma, the minister wants to limit the number of children leaving school with no qualifications. By raising the average level of education, the measure is apparently a “weapon against unemployment”.

4. More supervision for Nursery School teachers
Less than a year after highly controversial proposals made by his predecessor, Luc Chatel also announced a plan for training teachers in Nursery Schools. About 100 new posts have been created for “inspectors”; perhaps they could be filled by the teachers who are going to be made redundant?

5. More personalised teaching
Established in primary schools last year, two hours per week are reserved for one in five pupils to receive help and support in a smaller group. It was adopted more widely and will now be extended) into the summer holidays (15 hours over 5 days for certain subjects like French and Maths.

It is perhaps interesting to note that the department of Education has a bigger budget than any other government department, including defence. These proposals haven’t caused much of a stir, but I suppose you have to take into account that 5 year olds don’t really understand how to go on strike like university students do.