Posts
So the Education Minister, the Right Honourable Mr Gove has announced that Schools will soon be able to set their own term and holiday dates. The main focus being that perhaps the summer holidays are too long. He even stated that the current system was based on an antiquated one in which young people were required to work on the farms. I'm afraid this historical argument based on children being available to work is not accurate. It seems that Mr Gove can't get the facts right . . . Which is a concern in itself.
There also seems to be an unhealthy fixation on longer hours spent in school for pupils. Britons are traditional at knee-jerk reactions when there is a national-social issue. E.g. Other countries are out performing the UK economically so let's make our school pupils work for longer (including weekends) and that will help us produce more intelligent and productive market leaders. Nonsense! We have men and women up and down this country working so many hours that they are like absent parents - and we are still not leading the world in productivity and progress.
There is an almost poisonous obsession with work (or over-working) in this country. As a teacher I put a heck of a lot of hours into my job. I enjoy my work. However, I have many friends who work so much that their family time is almost nil. This has led to major relationship issues in the household. It seems that the length of time a man (or a woman) works in this country is seen as some sort of badge to be proud of.
Now this mentality seems to be filtering down to the education system. This is a major concern of mine.
We need to realise that a major re-thinking of the traditional work ethic is required. We need to learn to work smarter, multi-task a little less often and not be blinkered into putting in more hours. This just doesn't solve the problem.
Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote: 'Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality.'
No comments:
Post a Comment