The purpose of this monthly newsletter is to put all the most depressing stories in one post, like a bad bank. However, last month’s news round-up was a bit on the gloomy side, so I’m trying – against all instincts – to focus on the positives.
This will be the last round-up for a couple of months, as the substack will pause next week; I meant to do so earlier but I’ve been delayed by writing a complicated piece on Singapore, which I want to put out before the break.
The English Miracle
England’s education reforms have been a remarkable success, as reflected by the recent PISA scores - and unlike on the continent, the children of immigrants outperform here.
Daisy Christodoulou wrote a thread on why the ‘knowledge-based curriculum’ works, and why people refuse to acknowledge the evidence, while Ian Leslie wonders why the Left is bad at education.
I visited a school last week where, like most comprehensives, their five or six core values were displayed in bold lettering, one of which was EQUALITY. That’s a nice idea, but it sort of rubs against the purpose of education, which is excellence. If your central aim in politics is to reduce inequality, as it is with many politicians, you’ll inevitably enact a cost on standards. Teaching unions must be another factor, a huge influence on the Labour Party, and whenever a teacher gets up to speak at one of their conferences my heart sinks.
In contrast, Fraser Nelson wrote about the disaster that is Scottish education, another product of Britain’s Wuhan Lab of Political Ideas.
On the same subject, everyone has been talking about New York Times writer Nikole Hannah Jones and her decision to send her daughter to a local sink school, which didn’t turn out well. Rob Henderson gave her credit for at least not indulging in luxury beliefs, and as I wrote recently, some people really do walk the 60s as well as talk it.
It’s not even about money, since the school in question is well funded. Indeed, those institutions serving ‘low-income and non-white communities’ get more money per pupil than other American schools, and staggering levels compared to most western countries. But none of that matters if you don’t have order.
School choice is game theory, the idea being that if enough People Like Us opt for the local comprehensive, then social cohesion will improve and have a positive effect on disadvantaged children. Progressives have the right idea – I think it’s good for schools to mix social classes - but the problem is that these schools, and not just the worst ones, are held hostage by the behaviour of the bottom decile.
The main attraction of going private is not the connections or facilities or even the teaching, even if these tend to be better, but that you pay to avoid your child having their education – and general wellbeing – ruined by the troublesome tenth.
