An acquaintance of mine called Daisy Christodoulou has just published a book called Seven Myths about Education. It’s a merciless demolition of the received wisdom of the educational establishment, such as the view that there’s no point in asking children to memorise anything, because they can look it up on Google. I’m a huge fan, not least because she combines a conservative attitude towards education with a socially progressive outlook. As I’ve often argued, those two positions are complementary rather than incompatible.
One of the myths she touches upon is the idea that the progressive education endorsed by the left teaches children how to think for themselves, whereas the knowledge-based education favoured by nasty Mr Gove produces mindless conformists who do not challenge the status quo. Opponents of the coalition’s education reforms often claim that this is the secret motive of the Education Secretary, the idea being that unthinking automatons are more likely to vote Conservative.
There was a good example of this nonsense in the Guardian last week. Rayhan Uddin, a 19-year-old student at the LSE, did his GCSEs at a comprehensive and then A-levels at a grammar school. He wrote a piece attacking grammar schools for favouring ‘rote learning’ and praising comprehensives for teaching children how ‘to think outside the box’. He blamed this state of affairs on the lack of ‘socio-economic diversity’ at grammar schools, something that was brought home to him when discussing unemployment benefits in his politics A-level class. ‘I was suddenly propelled into the role of standalone lefty,’ he wrote. He concluded grammars only teach children how to do well in exams, whereas comprehensives teach them to think on their feet and ‘engage with people from different backgrounds’.
Now, the obvious question is: if his comprehensive was so marvellous, why did he choose to go on to a grammar school? Presumably, this was an act of unthinking conformism, which is weird considering his comp had taught him ‘to think outside the box’.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in