Bah Humbug!
The
cancellation of Christmas by the Oasis Academy at Nunsthorpe, near
Grimsby (in N-E Yorks
according to today's Metro!) says it all about the madness of the current
approach to education. The primary school says they have
to 'raise standards' before reintroducing music and drama productions
because they came bottom of a league table for English and Maths.
An angry parent renamed the school 'the Scrooge Academy' .
A
head teacher who had turned round a London school through music and the arts
was outraged. The fact that schools have now reached the stage of bizarre
decisions like this is an indication of the depth of the crisis in education.
School governors and heads have bought in to the myths of Gradgrind methods
because they are lacking wise leadership from government. Dickens'
‘Hard Times’ has morphed from being a satire to becoming a text book.
Talking of Dickens, the UK government should be put through
Scrooge’s nightmare experience in ‘A Christmas Carol’…..they need a dose of
those ghosts warning against a preoccupation with cash boxes, ledgers and
exploiting the workers. Then they might – just possibly – realise the
error of their ways.
The
North East Lincs 'academy' may be an oasis from Christmas, but
the UK government's approach to education (and society) is now
an oasis from humanity and good sense.
.
