Politics harms real education

Connexion reader P.Harvey explains how the political rows mean real education is losing out.

JOURNALIST Natacha Polony’s assessment of the present-day French education system is spot on when she says schools must focus on teaching pupils to “read, write and count”, and accused modern parents of having a “consumerist vision of schools”.

My sister (a librarian/teacher) works in a school in the UK and told me that road safety is still taught by a member of the police as it was in my early school days (1945s onwards) in south-east London, in those days hygiene was taught by mother. She said that the matron/nurse of the academy explains hygiene and racism.

The government is brainwashing parents by focusing discussions on schedules and ludicrous areas like the academic year, the creation of posts and, especially this ridiculous waste of time and, no doubt, money “gender theory”. Who imagined that?

As far as I can see, parents only take part of the blame insofar as: too much TV viewing and hi-tech electronic games stuffing up their children’s brains at home to keep them quiet and occupied. Better to give them books to read.

Younger parents were probably subject to a similar education system themselves so find it normal. My children were “schooled” during the 70-80s. It was a different story then, they read books at home.

P.Harvey, by email