Shutting the door

Having received both a private and state education, I have long been fascinated by the bile-laden crusade against independent schools that the Left has been leading for some decades now.

The latest chapter opened today:

Independent schools forced to be ‘more open’

Independent schools are to be made to open their doors to more children from poor homes under guidelines announced to stop them being run as “exclusive clubs”.

Schools failing to meet the regulations could have bank accounts frozen, trustees suspended, buildings seized or even be closed down under a range of sanctions.
…
The recommendations, which come in a landmark document [from the Charity Commission], are designed to ensure independent schools justify their charitable status by meeting a “public benefit” test.

Schools may be subjected to “random” spot checks and inspections to ensure they comply.

Meeting a “public benefit” test? Because educating the next generation isn’t enough? Because having a third of pupils already receiving assistance with fees isn’t enough? Because, therefore, more than two thirds of private school parents already pay twice for education?

If the Government were serious about helping the poor into a private education they wouldn’t have, in a typically misguided bout of envy and spite, abolished the assisted places scheme. Yet after eleven years of “education education education” and pouring money into the state system, haven’t they worked out that it’s not just about money? Or that helping those at the bottom is not about pulling down those nearer the top?

The irony is that some schools may choose to voluntarily relinquish their charitable status, freeing themselves from the attention of the Charity Commission stormtroopers inspectors. One of the first casualties of that, in filling the resultant financial hole, would be the bursaries, thus shutting the door on the very sort of pupils Labour are supposedly trying to help. Nice one, Gordon.

Schooling 1958 vs. 2008

This has been doing the rounds recently. It’s clearly from a US perspective, but sadly it’s just as relevant to the UK. (And it means my blog post for the day comes ready-made!)

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fight after school.
1958 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.
2008 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.
1958 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good caning by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2008 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbour’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1958 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normally, goes to uni, and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy’s Mum has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1958 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal.
2008 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1958 - Pedro gets extra tuition, passes English, goes to Uni.
2008 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. Class action lawsuit filed by anti discrimination commissioner against Education Dept and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model aeroplane paint bottle, blows up an ant bed.
1958 - Ants die.
2008 - Local police & AFP called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, parents investigated, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during morning tea and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1958 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2008 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in prison while Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

Back to School for the Race Industry

So there I was, sitting outside the headmaster’s office, waiting to be seen – yet I wasn’t nervous in the slightest. More than once I had been called to answer for some transgression, yet this time was different … probably because it was eighteen years after I had actually left the school (St. Olave’s Grammar School, Orpington) and here I was, visiting my alma mater for the first time since leaving, 3 A-levels in hand, to venture into the big wide world.

As I am now a governor of the St. Olave’s and St. Saviours Schools’ Foundation, I had taken it upon myself to tag along with Bob Neill MP, and former Chislehurst MP and Old Olavian Sir Roger Sims, to the old place. In some ways it was like I’d only left yesterday, except I’d occasionally come across a point where there should have been a door, or a classroom had suddenly grown in size. Olave’s though is fortunate in that it is backed in capital by the Foundation which has enabled it to grow in size – both physically and in pupil roll – and a new science block, sports pavilion and sixth form block have appeared where once was grass or tennis courts.

And they now have girls. Not just a few Newstead Wood lasses visiting from across the valley, but a full cohort in the Sixth Form – which prepares both sexes for co-ed life at University, apparently.

And as with most Grammar Schools – as opposed to good comprehensives (of which there are many good examples in Bromley, of course) – entry is not dependent on parents’ ability to afford to move into the catchment area. And the egalitarianism doesn’t stop there (someone tell the Left, please):

A visitor from the Commission for Racial Equality asked once about the impressive performance of Afro-Caribbean boys at the school compared to the average for that racial pigeonhole group (in fact, around a third of the intake is from an ethnic minority). “What compensatory courses do you run then?” they asked innocently. “What do you mean?” was the reply, “we just treat them the same as everyone else.”

Quaint though the “colour blind” view may be in current race-relations groupthink (albeit held by the majority of people outside the professional equality industry), this school is an example, among many, of how you don’t need to pander to the victimhood culture that too many people are earning a salary on the back of. It’s not the colour of your skin that counts, but your attitude to life and those around you.

And fellow Old Olavians may not be surprised to learn that the swimming pool was temporarily out of order! (One for the Foundation’s “to do” list, methinks.)