It is my opinion that a good education is the greatest gift that can be given to a child. However, this Government and previous governments have failed our school children by not effectively funding schools and leaving university graduates with unreasonable debts. See Tory cuts to Havant School Funding here.
I will give my opinion and beliefs on:
- Learning the Basics
- Politics in schools
- Private schools
- Discipline
- Gender ideology
- Apprentices
- Universities
Learning the Basics
Pupils should leave school with a sound knowledge of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, the three Rs. Unfortunately, some pupils have completed their GCSEs unable to write good grammar and without a knowledge of their times-tables; this is unacceptable and MUST be rectified.
Are you happy with the Conservative Party school syllabus that requires this tuition and homework (click image for a larger version). This was highlighted in the Daily Mail. To me, this is wholly unacceptable
Lessons must be about "how to think" and not "what to think". When I was at school, we were taught basic principles, and then how to apply them to problems, and this is an approach I continue to follow.
I disagree with the removal of literary pieces and statues because the standards of today and different from what they were before. Have you read George Orwell's 1984 - we seem to be in an environment where history is being rewritten, and I do not like it.
Schools are a place of learning and the development of character, and not the indoctrination of WOKEness; there is no place for WOKE teaching and trigger warnings in our schools; instead, there must be the development of resilience
Politics in schools
Unfortunately, the hard-left is taking increasing control of the classroom and teaching unions to the detriment of pupils and their future prospects. I fear that their left-wing ideology is being transferred into the minds of impressionable pupils. There should be an absolute ban on the indoctrination of pupils and this is another case of why pupils should be taught how to think and NOT what to think
Private Schools
It is not just wealthy parents, but many other parents make enormous sacrifices to either give their children extra tuition or send them to private schools. The effect of private schools is to remove the cost of education of pupils that attend from the state. Parents pay school fees from taxed income and the income tax is an additional revenue source to the Exchequer. Many private schools, like the one I attended, offer significant financial assistance (my parents paid 10% of the normal school fees to send me to Christ's Hospital).
I am forever grateful for the high quality of the education I received there. The state sector must be compelled to improve the quality of the education they offer.
Discipline
Discipline is a parental responsibility as much as a school responsibility. Schools must have the ability to exclude disruptive pupils that are damaging the education prospects of others. Bullying must not be allowed to happen, and the bullies and not the victims should be excluded from schools where this occurs. Mobile phones should not be accessed during classroom periods.
Gender ideology
Your sex/gender is determined at birth by your chromosomes. Males have one X and one Y chromosomes and females have 2 X chromosomes. Your sex/gender stays with you for the rest of your life. This is fundamental biology.
Even the BBC sex-education programme tells 9-year-olds that there are over 100 genders. This propaganda is not just nonsense but potentially harmful and confusing to young boys and girls. We have reached the absurd situation where schools are allowing children to even identify as a cat.
We should not be confusing children with the thought that they may change their gender at will because they cannot. I hope this chart helps.
Gender ideology and the concept of gender fluidity is inappropriate and should be banned from being taught at school.
Apprentices
Apprentice schemes are an excellent way to learn a trade to become skilled electricians, plumbers, and carpenters who can earn good money while learning their skills. Government support for apprenticeships, with travel concessions is something I would like to see and so equip the UK with the skilled tradesmen that we need for the future.
Universities
Good universities offer a sound education, however, on graduation, students will leave with a debt of £60,000 for a 3-year course and £100,000 for a medical degree 5-year course. This debt is repaid automatically through payroll at a very high marginal rate of 9% when salary reaches a predefined limit. I would like to see:
- Student loans written-off for medical students after 10-years of full NHS employment
- Scrapping interest on student loans
- Nurses' bursaries immediately reintroduced to cover student loan fees to address the shortage of nurses
- Zero interest rate on student loans as per official Reform UK policy
- Reworking university funding so that it is more financially advantageous to offer places to UK rather than overseas students
- Revisiting some university courses to cut the duration from 3 years to 2 years