Toby Young Toby Young

Must try harder, Education Secretary

[Getty Images] 
issue 16 November 2024

The headmaster of one of the best comprehensives in the country was once asked the following question by Tony Blair: ‘If you could do one thing to improve state education in this country, what would it be?’ ‘Oh, that’s easy,’ he said. ‘I’d line up every civil servant in the education department and machine gun the lot of ’em.’

No prime minister has ever asked me that question, but my answer would be more diplomatic. It would be to insist that every incoming education secretary memorise the serenity prayer. This is the prayer that members of Alcoholics Anonymous recite at the end of their meetings: ‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.’

Had Bridget Phillipson committed that to memory, there’s just a chance she wouldn’t have made a speech last week in which she said schools shouldn’t focus exclusively on ‘exam results’ but give equal weight to children’s ‘wellbeing’.

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