Private schools - public scandal!

New Labour is a body of people given to bouts of control freakery, petty jealousies and a cavalier attitude to tradition. In fact, tradition is a dirty word in their vocabulary. Another thing this New Labour regime is fond of doing is sneaking in contentious legislation as a hidden-away clause in a bill that is designed for totally different legislation. That's why retired colonels, teachers, political activists, anyone campaigning or complaining can find themselves banged up in a police cell under terrorism laws. And the real hook-handed terrorists get to run rings round the likes of the useless Jack Straw.

New Labour had the public schools in its sights. It has got the Charity Commission to show the world that public schools (private in the UK!) can "demonstrate how they bring real benefit to the public". If not, all manner of measures will be taken against them. Now these independent schools in England are protesting about "too narrow" rules for charitable status - as two out of five test-case schools fail to qualify under the testing.

I know there has always been an ongoing argument/discussion about children being educated privately. But this is a sneaky New Labour ploy to encourage their social engineering fantasies. Of course, most of the New Labour front bench are walking talking hypocrites, no greater one of which is Harriet Harman, who would sniff mightily at the thought of her children going any where near the local school. Same went for Tony Blair, who moved heaven and hell to fix it for his kids. They are the last people on this planet to moralise seeing that their moral compasses have long since ceased to meet any scientific purpose.

So we could get the situation of several of the smaller private schools closing. Far from being a benefit to children from a less fortunate background, the state system will be increased by an influx of children requiring education at the hands of Ed Balls. The costs on the public purse of such increased demand will far outweigh the benefits of any charitable status change. They never think things through properly. Any casual viewing of the debates in the House of Lords on BBC Parliament will confirm how utterly devoid of logic this current government is.

Male teachers and the lack of them

Today the BBC is running a news item about the lack of male teachers in primary schools. It is being portrayed as problem because the children lack a male role model whilst learning. That is undoubtedly true. However, those in the teaching profession sound utterly devoid of a reason as to why this should be. Lack of male teachers, that is.

I'd venture to say it is three main reasons. The first is that many men would shudder at the thought of teaching young children for fear of one day having a paedophile label stuck on their backs. Whether this is at the forefront of one's mind or not, it is certainly a reason for caution. With so much publicity about teachers being involved in accusations and enquiries, is it little wonder that a frisson of fear goes down a man's spine when asked if teaching is a career option? Unruly children, albeit a minority, are definitely a handful.

The second is that, from the outside, teaching in primary schools is seen as a female-dominated occupation. The fact that it is and that change is being sought is neither here nor there. It is the perception that is uppermost in current thinking. It is a brave man who will do what we used to say in the sixties and "break the ice of the party". And thirdly, the issue of pay is not seen as sufficiently attractive.

I hope they can attract more male teachers for the very reasons that are being stated. But I think they should tackle the problems of attitude head-on and not stand in wonderment at the diffidence of men in a primary school teaching role.

Teachers' pets bite back!

This never happened to Doris Day. When she was Teacher's Pet she was demure and very docile. Er-hum! Fast forward to the present day and we have a load of jaw-snapping children apparently biting teacher at any opportune moment. Even a crocodile would find it hard to understand.

Only human behaviour is like this. Animals never bite the hand that feeds them, unless of course the human spooks them! A teachers' union conference has been told that biting in special schools is "quite a big issue". Suzanne Nantcurvis said, "Due to the nature of the assaults they face, often teachers in special schools have to have vaccines such as tetanus and hepatitis B. I know that for some colleagues this has come at a personal cost of around £80 for a hepatitis B injection."

This is outrageous. The trouble is that as we "progress" towards a more secularised and selfish society, the libertines are placing all manner of crazy rules and regulations in our way. The risk of facing accusations as a result of managing such violent incidents left staff "worried sick", said Ms Nantcurvis. I have no doubt. False allegations are not uncommon. Money rears its ugly head.

Fifty years ago I was starting out on a wonderful education. There was discipline, but there was fun. We had "in loco parentis", something quite lost on today's educational establishment. Teachers now appear to be hostages on some kind of Guantanomo Camp for the educationally-challenged. Ed Balls carries on with his sats and his stats, but none of it will be of any use.

You can teach a dog to do tricks but you can't educate it. Education, I was told, is about "leading out". Basic Latin reveals it is duco not docio. In a country with an ever-increasing number of sleazy politicians, corrupt bankers, immoral TV producers and greedy people in general, is it any wonder that children are biting their teachers!

Miss Rusty teaches fantastically and gets sacked!

In another teacher row, the powers-that-be (mainly self-righteous politically-correct prigs!) have deemed a sexual fantasy too much for pupils to bear. This teacher, known as Miss Rusty (her name is Leonora Rustamova) wrote an account in a book of pupils' sex fantasies, flirting and truancy. This has had a devastating impact in the real world, where fantasies of this kind are not allowed. No, the real fantasies are those like the ones Gordon Brown has at G20 summits. All fantastic!

So she gets sacked. Has anyone complained about her book? No! In fact, there have been mass demonstrations by pupils and a campaign by parents to have her reinstated, along with another teacher who was also dismissed for supporting her. This draconian Calvinistic action was deemed appropriate, but I think it smacks of the worst kind of Yorkshire nonconformism.

Have these people ever read the Song of Solomon in the Bible? Their action is a lot of pious nonsense. We had all that with Lady Chatterly's Lover. The judge asking if it was a book that his butler could read and all the rest of it.

Pornography? Some say it's in the mind. I think there should be a sense of proportion. We are being held to ransom in this country by an unelected army of pen-pushing poseurs all hell-bent on their gender studies and politically correct poison. The real pornography carries on regardless.

We are fools to let it continue!

School's Out!

I've been off the air for almost two weeks. In my blogging experience that's quite a long time. It seems longer as I've been wrapped up in end of term activities at my son's school. He's leaving (well left now!) his infant school and going round to the primary school next term. For the end of term various activities were put on. I attended, with my wife, the "leavers' assembly". It was a very good show. No fluffed lines from what I could gather. It is a good school with the added advantage that most of the teachers have additional skills. One teacher galvanises the music activity, so the parents get to see a musical assembly. It is all good fun.

At the end of the proceedings, the Head Teacher got up to "say a few words". It was pointed out to the parents that, if a child went to nursery as well, most of the children had spent more that half their lives at the school! There was suddenly a lot of blinking and bewilderment as this piece of learning settled in! But of course she was right. In some ways the school had just become an extension of the high chair routine and the playpen, with subtle changes along the way. I for one have just gone along with the simple progressions, being helpfully cajoled (in the nicest possible way, of course) by the staff.

Next year will be different! I noticed the body language of the Head Teacher of the primary school was somewhat different. The message was that the children were growing up. It goes by quickly, but then we can't mollycoddle children. It will be a new phase of our lives!