I’m writing from a Stateside perspective. First, I wonder whether you (both Graydon and Mr. Burbidge) have read the works of Richard Mitchell, especially The Graves of Academe? Professor Mitchell was an eloquent and mordantly witty critic of educational blather, and also (as his emphasis shifted over time) of the ideology behind it. The typical educrat is not a political conservative, but the failure of the educational bureaucracy to teach children well (especially children whose parents weren’t educated themselves, don’t have books in the home, aren’t likely to agitate for their children to receive more rigorous academic instruction, etc.) ends up serving reactionary goals, Mitchell argued. The poorly educated may commit muggings and occasionally riot, but they aren’t likely to organize to demand intelligent reform, or to compete with the children of the elite for places at Harvard.
At least in the U.S., blind conservatives have certainly not been in power since 1980; we have had the Clinton and Obama administrations, we have had increases in spending on schooling, and we have quite a number of leftist teachers and administrators. One is tempted to believe in a conspiracy to prevent education while pouring ever more money into schooling, but I don’t seriously think that things are that simple.
One other point: I have seen the argument that smaller class sizes are actually harmful; having fifteen or so instead of thirty children in a class does not enable much more individual attention or academic improvement, and by forcing the school system to hire larger numbers of teachers, it drives down standards, and assures that some of those teachers will be incompetent and barely literate or numerate themselves.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2021-01-04 11:37 pm (UTC)At least in the U.S., blind conservatives have certainly not been in power since 1980; we have had the Clinton and Obama administrations, we have had increases in spending on schooling, and we have quite a number of leftist teachers and administrators. One is tempted to believe in a conspiracy to prevent education while pouring ever more money into schooling, but I don’t seriously think that things are that simple.
One other point: I have seen the argument that smaller class sizes are actually harmful; having fifteen or so instead of thirty children in a class does not enable much more individual attention or academic improvement, and by forcing the school system to hire larger numbers of teachers, it drives down standards, and assures that some of those teachers will be incompetent and barely literate or numerate themselves.