Education, education, education: A rant

This weekend my one of my friends came to stay. We stayed up until 3am (at least that's when I went to bed, friend and Mr C stayed up for another hour) talking about many things including, politics, religion, forgiveness, people's rules for life, Islam, Jewishness, racist policies in Malaysia, overseas students in England, the university admissions system and many other things, but mainly about education.

Friend is a teacher. She works in a middle-of-the-road school. It's not a fantastically good school, but it's not a failing or particularly 'challenged' school either. In a way, the fact that her school isn't classed as failing is one of the most worrying things about what she says. I won't go into details, but the behaviour of students is appalling at all levels, the behaviour of staff isn't much better and the whole place is a big mess where very little actual education takes place. There is no respect for teachers from students, parents, other members of staff, management or the general public. There is no sense that the students are there to make some effort to learn, they are just there to be told things and spoon fed facts and theories until they can regurgitate them onto an exam paper. Most of a lesson consists of 'crowd control' and very little actual teaching. Even given that friend is prone to whinging about things, it sounds awful.

Whenever I have these conversations with friend I do try not to get upset, but inevitably the seeming hopelessness of the situation gets to me. I wouldn't be so concerned if I thought hers was an isolated case, but I know it's not. I see large numbers of school children on the train every day and I have never had the misfortune to be surrounded by so many selfish, ill-mannered, rude, and ignorant individuals. They just don't care - they don't care that they're ignorant, they don't care that they're rude and they don't care about other people.

The education system is failing thousands of children every year. As a nation, our literacy and numeracy levels are low - employers say they can't find people to employ because school leavers don't have the necessary skills for the working world. The liberal attitudes which started to influence education (and society in general) in the late 1960s and 1970s have created a society where the boundaries of acceptable behaviour are so wide that they're hardly recognised and even when they are people don't seem to care. Teachers can't discipline students for fear of retribution from parents, the government or the students themselves. The entertainment media portrays countless examples of nasty, selfish, rude and slobblish behaviour, but you can count the examples of honour, kindness and compassion on your fingers. Moral behaviour is seen as a weakness, and any kind of authority is reacted to with a mixture of suspicion and mockery.

Government policies have hampered teachers for years. The increase in beauracracy and emphasis on results and league tables hasn't improved anything for teachers or students.

I'm not claiming to know much about this, I just wanted to have a rant and air my views, but here are my (completely unworkable and impractical) solutions to the situation:

1. All subjects taught in schools should be setted according to ability.
2. No one under 16 should have a mobile phone.
3. All schools should have a strict uniform.
4. No swearing should be allowed on TV or radio. It is actually possible to write comedy without it.
5. No more Big Brother.
6. No one under 16 should be allowed to have a computer or a TV in their room.
7. Students should only be examined at 16 and 18.
8. League tables should be abolished.

I did warn you this was a rant. Please don't write in and have a go at me. I'm a shy and retiring librarian and I might not be able to take it.

P.S. I do realise that not all children and young people are horrible.