Labour’s education divide

An unruly classroom

Labour is confusingly ambivalent about a policy of its own making

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Recently I undertook work experience in a local school, and from my observation, the number one issue holding back school performance isn't the schools status as an academy, or under local authority control. It is isn't the curriculum, the quality of the teachers, or the school philosophy. It is the breakdown in discipline.

It has become increasingly difficult for teachers to control their classes, and actually teach. In the school I observed, the school's discipline policy effectively left teachers powerless, at most students could get a 15 minute detention at lunch, no after school detentions allowed by the school. Often the school's official discipline team didn't enforce that.

The whole philosphy of the school was wrong. They were interested in engaging with the disruptive pupils, trying to be inclusive and keep them in the classroom. Ignoring the effect that the disruptive pupils had on the other students and their education. One boy was repeatedly thrown out of class, came back and still misbehaved. With him in the classroom, the other 30 pupils had no chance of learning anything.

Want to improve education? Then make it about the majority of well behaved students. If a student is repeatedly disruptive, call in their parents. If they can't control their child, then their child loses the place at the school. That may not seem fair, but ruining the lives of the majority of students to protect a misbehaving minority that have no interest in learning is not fair either.

iThinker in reply to Mad Hatter

Exactly. The liberals' unwillingness to accept the plain truth that people are born with different abilities causes us to pour millions into equalizing "opportunities" when what they're really looking for is "equal outcome", which will never happen regardless of how much money we spend. Not everyone can be a doctor, scientist, mathematician, architect or engineer, and if you aren't looking to be in the STEM field, then high level math and science are useless. Better just let these dim wits graduate after middle school and send them off to vocational schools to learn a trade. Make agriculture one of those trades. We need farmers and farm workers too, can't just keep importing cheap foreign illiterates to all eternity while our own semi-illiterates sit around and smoke pot, watch TV, get their girlfriends pregnant and collect welfare.

Mad Hatter in reply to iThinker

Every politician wrings his/her hands when talking about social inequality and lack of upward mobility, disadvantaged this, lack of opportunity that - ad nauseum. They attribute much of it to the educational system.
Where once there were grammar schools, and assisted place schemes, until recently, in the interest of “social inclusion”, removal of meritocracy and the ambition to send the miserable little blighters home with a positive victory every day, no wonder it’s a mess.
Yet no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room – most of this segment of society are just thick, it doesn’t matter what opportunity you give them, they are doomed to have the lives they have, and produce lots of even thicker kids to keep them company.
At least the re-introduction of selection for ability (11+ exams or equivalent) might give the few that have the ability to escape their backgrounds.


"Inequality" is the new politically correct term for "low IQ". Anytime you hear the term "inequality", esp. in education, just substitute it for "low IQ" and you'll understand what the politicians are really trying to say.

Also, "culture" is the new politically correct term for "race". When you hear someone blaming "culture" for a certain demographics low performance, just substitute it for "race" because that's what they really meant but don't have the guts to say.

iThinker in reply to bartelbe

Right on. This is why I always say the only way to fix bad schools is to put a military soldier in each classroom to maintain order, so that the teacher can actually teach and those who want to learn can actually hear him/her. But liberals and politicians are basically spineless morons, they'd blame the teachers, the administrators, inequality, anything and everything over the ones who are truely responsible for this mess -- the stupid kids and their stupid parents.


Sounds like the UK has also fallen into the "choice" and "Charter schools" trap like in the US. Let's be honest shall we? Schools cannot fail. People, or more specifically, the students, fail. They fail because they're lazy and have stupid parents, and that's the long and short of it.

The truth hurts but it's time we all face the truth, because we can no longer afford to keep pouring millions into fixing something that cannot be fixed except by the students and the parents themselves.

In Gold I Trust

Having had the misfortune to go through the misleadingly labelled British "comprehensive" school system myself, my kids go to school in Denmark and it's just like the Swedish system with a very 3 tier system, surprisingly. There are state schools, then free schools (then private schools. If you choose private school, the state will pay 75% of the bill in return for you opting out of state schooling, but they and the free will assess your child for being suitable academically. So, loads of choice, very little government interference like school inspectors and motivated teachers who care. Fantastic system compared to the UK, which is dire need of giving teachers a kick up the backside and the sacking of 1000s of self-interested, interfering ofsted inspectors etc.


Everyone is having issues with education reform, at least stand behind your policies, whatever they are.

shaun39 in reply to bartelbe

Yet, the right to education persists (as does the right of parents to have a life besides having to constantly run after an emotionally disturbed kid).

We need to reintroduce and expand special schools, where such children can receive more individual attention, supervision and tuition (and, ultimately, to act as a good deterent to keep potentially disruptive kids in line - a few days in such a school would be enough motivation for many).

2mdbv82xzB in reply to iThinker


If culture = race, then I & the boys I used to play board games with in primary school constitute a race.

Perhaps distinctions are a semantic necessity and not merely a leftist blight?


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