'A levels' - Political posturing and tosh!

So here we are then, the results have been read and the celebration (and tears) are beginning to abate and all that is left is to look at the tosh that has been spoken by the Schools Minister, Nick Gibbs and sigh at the political posturing from the opposition's Nick Twwigg.

Here we are applauding, as always, an increase in the pass rate. It's what we do at this time of year isn't it? Well we have since 1982 so we can take it as read - more people passing and so our children are getting smarter and the teechers are betterer at their jobs than they were when I was a skolar! Blimey, believe that and you can come and join our church whenever you want (please bring cash as well as a simple mind and the ability to clap!).

The reality is that when you speak to science teachers about Snell's Law and the like, they tellyou that that's no longer on the menu! Discuss mathematics or Chemistry with the teaching staff and you'll find the same story. Science and maths have been watered (should that be dumbed?) down. Nick Gibbs celebrates the increase in those doing maths and physics (an increase of 3.3% and 5% respectively) by telling us that "The number of students pursuing rigorous subjects such as maths and physics continues to rise".

Rigorous? Oh yes, we are looking down the barrel of the moronoscope and seeing at the other end someone who is helping to fuel the 'soft subject' fallacy. That idiotic position that sees our decline in science and engineering laid at the feet of English, Music, Art and all the other 'softies'. Actually the decline in science and engineering (and I speak as someone who has been at some time engaged in both) is due to the crass mismanagement of both by Conservative and Labour governments (alphabetical not listed by error or lack of ability).

This 'soft' subject rubbish is beginning to yield fruit as the fall in those doing modern languages falls (French - 5.2%, Spanish - 3.4% and German - 7.6%). So not only can't we do engineering and science but we aren't even able to understand the way that other European nations must be laughing at us :-)

Still, there is a lighter side to this tale - enter Labour (remember them? Academies, collapse of the state education system, cronies and a bankrupt nation [financially and morally])Stephen Twigg:

"These impressive results are thanks to better teaching, better school leadership and Labour's relentless focus on literacy and numeracy and record investment in schools."

So English might be a 'soft' subject but there's still a place for fiction it seems!

Art, Music, English and all the other 'soft' subjects aren't soft at all. In fact rather than learning formulae and doing experiments (I loved that stuff) it seems to me that learning instruments and compiling portfolios of artwork and all that stuff is a much tougher gig. Horses for courses and whilst there might well be some easy options on the path to collecting UCAS points if the course is relevant to the intended career then it's not soft - it's relevant.

Oh yeah a final thought - why not teach rather than train monkeys to pass exams? Teach first principles and develop things from there? As a nation we are still THE scientific and engineering centre of things so let's recover our industrial, technological and scientific heritage. And then applaud the arts, media, fashion and musical aspects that give us so much credibility in those areas too?

Removing imagination from reading

I was watching an interesting news item last week regarding electronic books and the addition of soundtracks and sound effects to them. What made the news piece more interesting was the cry, in unison, from our four children that such a feature would remove the need to have imagination when reading.

As we discussed this we found that we all regarded the 'mind's eye' images and sounds to be focus and means by which books were special. It was this that made a book great and often made the film of the book weak when the silver screen's interpretation fell short of the book we had read.

This led to the fact that one of the local schools had decided to show the video of Jane Eyre on the grounds that it:

a. saved the cost of n books, and

b. made the story accessible to those who might have struggled a bit with the reading!

Of course the whole point of English at school is surely to teach the language in both written and read forms and so point the second left me wondering if this was one of the reasons we have such poor reading standards displayed by many young people (gosh, don't sound like a young, trendy Vicar this morning, do I?). Secondly the film was an interpretation brought about by editing and modifying the story and so the story as it left the pen was not the same story as that which hit the screen. It might have been an approximation, but often with films there are omissions and quite major changes made to keep running time, cast and cost under control.

The issue of saving the cost of the books is another quite frightening issue as far as I am concerned because as Academies and Free schools and other 'out of the State system' educational bodies become the norm', surely this 'cost-cutting' will become the order of the day in oh so many ways?

Recently the family has seen 'Much ado About Nothing' in a variety of formats ranging from unexpurgated and modernised versions on film to a stage play of the same in a London theatre (more later) and modernised version and play excluded different elements. It was the same story but the journey was different in each. The main points were present but something was lost in each and whilst all three were enjoyable - it was for me - the reading in association with the other media that completed the whole.

One of the people on a London radio station who discussed this suggested that perhaps abridged talking books were a better way of helping our children do English - heaven forbid!

Still, grumble done, let the day begin.

Pax

Buzz Magazine

Just been reminded of 'Buzz' magazine and the work of Music Gospel Outreach (MGO) and Pete Meadows. Our church boasted the person who ran the Buzz store (which was a garage full of stuff offered for mail order in the mag') and we used to go and sell programmes, lift heavy objects and move them around the Royal Albert Hall and do other tasks for the concerts MGO put on.

Time moved on and Buzz eventually gave way to the wonderfully named 21st Century Christian (which always made me think of Gerry Anderson's puppet shows).

But what heady days with acts like the Advocates, Malcolm and Alwyn, Ishmael and Andy and many other names proclaiming the Gospel!

Looking back at some of the magazines that remain I am amazed at who we were then (still play Larry Norman and have the Advocates vinyl offering in the loft!) and the music of emerging people like Graham Kendrick (Fighter - what an album), Adrian Snell and the like.

Makes me realise that Christian music, like computing, was a very different and perhaps much more exciting place to be when I was younger - great leaps forward and very much part of the music scene and yet also so very different.

If you weren't there you need to hear it (I reckons) and you can do a bit of time warp with Kendrick's 'Fighter' by clicking here:

'Fighter'

Enjoy man!