"Academic subjects" are "Middle-Class"?

[Liza Q]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1024031/Drop-middle-class-academic-subjects-says-schools-adviser.html

 

I read this twice and I still can't believe it!

 

The professor believes the origins of our subject-based education system can be traced back to 19th century middle-class values.

 

While public schools focused largely on the classics, and elementary schools for the working class concentrated on the three Rs, middle-class schools taught a range of academic subjects.

 

These included English, maths, history, geography, science and Latin or a modern language.

 

They "fed into the idea of academic learning as the mark of a well-heeled middle- class", he said last night.

 

The Tories then attempted to impose these middle-class values by introducing a traditional subject-based curriculum in 1988.

 

But this "alienated many youngsters, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds", he claimed.

Tory schools spokesman Nick Gibb said Professor White's view was "deeply corrosive". He added: "In the world we are living in, we need people who are better educated, not more poorly educated, more knowledgeable about the world, not less so.

 

"This anti-knowledge, anti-subject ideology is deeply damaging to our education system. It is this sort of thinking that has led to the promotion of discredited reading methods, the erosion of three separate sciences and the decline of mathematics skills.

 

"I just find it astonishing that someone with his extreme views has been allowed to advise the Government on education policy."

 

 

:confused:

[Plaid Dad]

Don't you just love it when academics saw off the branch they're sitting on? Perhaps Professor White would prefer to give up his "middle-class" government job and spend his days perfecting his "life skills." I'm sure there must still be a call for ditch diggers somewhere in the UK.

[Melinda]

I loved the part where he said that traditional subjects are just stepping stones to wealth. It makes me want to ask him what he would rather have them stepping toward.

[mazakaal]

In a strange way he's right.

 

Traditional subjects are a stepping stone to wealth. That's the whole point. They became required in the schools just because the government wanted even those in the counsel houses to have the ability to bring themselves up to the middle class. To be well educated and get a good job.

 

So does he now want to go back to a class segregated system where the lower class will always raise children who are capable of nothing other than sweeping floors because they've only been taught the basics? They'll know how to recycle and make compost, but they won't be able to get a decent job. The upper class will continue sending their kids to 'public schools' (which over here means fancy private schools like Harrow), where they will be educated properly and maintain their wealth and power.

 

It's no wonder that homeschooling is on the increase over here.

[Liza Q]

My 17yo just read it and I could hear her shouting and then laughing from across the apartment. We had a good laugh over Marx and the evils of the bourgeoisie ;)

[Liza Q]

I loved the part where he said that traditional subjects are just stepping stones to wealth. It makes me want to ask him what he would rather have them stepping toward.

 

Servitude, I guess!

 

And Megan - are you British? I did not know that homeschooling was on the rise in the UK - that is encouraging!

[In The Great White North]

That's odd.

 

I had always heard that the public school were designed to produce educated factory workers for the industrial revolution, including the math and science he puts in the middle class. Apparently, the early hires couldn't follow simple directions on operating the machinery.

[Jugglin'5]

I had always heard that the public school were designed to produce educated factory workers for the industrial revolution, including the math and science he puts in the middle class

 

In England, public schools are actually more like our expensive private schools.

[mazakaal]

And Megan - are you British? I did not know that homeschooling was on the rise in the UK - that is encouraging!

 

 

No, I'm not British. I'm an American who's been living in the UK for almost 8 years. (I can't believe it's been that long!) Anyway, yes, home educating (as it's called here) is on the increase. When I got here I knew of no other homeschoolers within 45 minutes. A year and a half ago a homeschool group started and there are at least 20 homeschooling families within a half hour of me now.

 

I've seen statistics for the nation that back this up as well, but I don't remember them exactly so I won't misquote.

[nmoira]

That gave me almost as good a laugh as this gem which arrived in my inbox a few months back.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

That gave me almost as good a laugh as this gem which arrived in my inbox a few months back.

 

Well, I guess I didn't see anything funny about that 'gem', because Esperanto is on our list of languages to learn.

 

There is a thriving community of Esperantists throughout the world. A friend went to their annual world convention in Beijing a few years ago. She got to talk to people from many countries, using only one language. A dream come true!

[nmoira]

Well, I guess I didn't see anything funny about that 'gem', because Esperanto is on our list of languages to learn.

Hey, I'm probably one of 10 people who has seen Incubus :) and I know people who speak Klingon (it's like German to me.. I just can't make those sounds). However, I wouldn't recommend Klingon as modern foreign language for homeschoolers over say Spanish or French... that's the source of my amusement, not that someone would choose to learn it. No offense intended to Esperanto aficionados. :)