What Else do you think we should be tought through education?
I teach ICT in a state run comprehensive secondary school and PART of what we do is produce a workforce for the future of the courty, but that’s not why I do it. I want to provide the youth of today with the skills they will need to get by in the real world when they leave school and have to look after themselves. With a good set of qualifications MANY more opportunities become available. With a limited set of qualifications LOTS of doors get slammed in young people’s faces.
As for Brave New World – The current educational system (assessment, grades, targets, etc) coupled with the mass media (cellebrity society and the Number 1 career aspiration of young people being “to be famous”, not for anything, just to be “famous”) means that Britain is forced to rely on an immigrant workforce to do the jobs that nobody else wants to do. Don’t get me wrong, I love immigrants and I am pleased that somebody is willing to do the jobs that no educated person from this country is willing to do.
We were recently told at a training session that boys do not have as much control over fine motion in their hands when they are young so they inevitable become frustrated at not being able to write neatly so they give up on education before they have even had a chance to start it. What hope is there for these boys if they are doomed to failure from day one?
In Brave New World the seperate Castes could not understand how the rest lived the way they do, but were (mainly) happy with their own existance.
Education is not here to produce a workforce that the top-dogs can control, everybody has their place in society and without bin-men our whole society would crumble. In Brave New World the “top” caste had very stressful jobs and actually one of their main tasks to was to keep the rest of the people happy (who is in control now?)
I think British society is heading for a fall…
Capitalism dictates that you can only be a success if you have a fat wallet and puts no emphasis on happiness.
A while back I read a news article about a guy who had been offered a six-figure sallary in Hong-Kong, but he decided to give it a miss because he really enjoyed working with his mates as a bin-man, his bills got paid and he lived a happy life. This story was considered “news”.
I try to get the best out of both worlds – I teach kids to try their best and to get the best chance of being successful at whatever they choose to be when they leave school. If they don’t try then doors get closed, but if they get a load of pieces of paper that say they can do maths, english and ICT then I am happy that I have provided them with the best chance to make their own choices about their future.
On the other hand I also encourage students to do something that they enjoy, I encourage them to be accepting of all careers (I have given massive bollockings to students who insult bin-men, cleaners and shelf-stackers) and I encourage them to be true to themselves. Why aspire to be a great footballer if you are happiest in an art class? Why aspire to be totally work/money motivated when you get the most out of hanging out with your mates and getting pissed up (or should I say munted on Soma?)?
Education should (and is) there to give young people oportunities. Unfortunately, because we force our young people to go through the system they think education is somethingthat gets done to them instead of seeing it as an oportunity to do something about their lives.
When the only measure of success is grades there are inevitably going to be people who grow up thinking that they are a failure at life.
I recently contacted an old school friend who was genuinely embarrassed to admit that he was a postman! I love the idea of being a postie or a bin-man with no responsibility and rather a lot of free time. Unfortunately I think I would just get bored though – hence my career choice (incidentally I would not be able to cope with much more responsibility though and I think most head-masters would have to be mental to do what they do).
I think education should be about teaching young people how to be happy in their lives (yes, this does include reading, riting and rithmatic along with ICT, critical thinking, basic psychology, etc).
Wouldn’t that be nice?
My school would offer GCSE’s in hugging, getting off yer head successfully, being nice to other people, sharing, contentment, generosity, empathy, joy, love, chatting, introspection, etc.
In the words of the two most influential characters in my life so far…
“Be excellent to each other… and… PARTY ON DUDES!!” raaa
