Birmingham University Labour Students

What really gets to me about Tory policy is the lack of humanity behind it all. Take, for example, today’s suggestion that the one-in-five pupils who don’t reach minimum standards on leaving primary school be help back a year. Aside from the logistical issues (lack of space, facilities, teachers, what if they fail again, etc) burns the question- how the hell would it make the child feel? Being very publically branded as a “failure” in such a way, being held back while their friends go on to secondary school without them, is not going to do wonders for a child’s self esteem. The last year of primary education is already trememdously stressful for a lot of children, with the mad rush for SATs and the anxiety of changing schools, and I can’t see how added pressure is going to help. Taking a year out for extra tuition and catch-up might sound good in theory, but in reality I can only see it creating a whole load more children disillusioned with a school system that doesn’t work for them. There must surely be more sensible and humane ways to go about helping those who fall behind.

Since I seem to be on a  bit of a rant, I’ll drawn on a couple of old topics that show an equal lack of human understanding, to illustrate my point- firstly, obviously, grammar schools. I see nothing wrong with educating children in classes according to ability, but why on Earth is there a need to segregate them into different schools? It’s the whole “failure” mentality all over again, branding children and families very plainly by their uniforms and school runs into different classes of people. The second is that blog of mine which sparked a bit of controversy, about Tory plans to pay couples to stay together. They just don’t seem to get it. Relationships are hugely complex human issues, not business decisions. Education is a human right of everyone, and should not be used as a tool to create social divides. Children can be really bloody harsh, and will probably tease the hell out of anyone held back a year at school. I could go on and on with examples of cold heaarted Tory policy but this blog is probably long enough already…