I have been sent an email by a reader who has corresponded with the Head Teacher of the school which Tony Blair visited yesterday, where he made his non-resignation statement. Pay particular attention to the penultimate paragraph...
Many thanks for your email. I can assure you that this behaviour was not supported by anyone at the school. Indeed we were horrified that our children had been exploited and abused by a political organisation, members of which had been outside the school gates since 8am. Somehow details of the visit, though confidential, had been leaked through a website and a picket and demonstration had been organised without our knowledge or consent.
The school had not been closed specifically for the visit. We had a planned half day induction for students followed by staff training in the afternoon. Organisationally this had been in the school calendar since before the summer break.
Our students were put in serious danger physically and emotionally by the outrageous actions of these political “rabble rousers” who had no concern for them as young people but simply used them as pawns for their own political ends.
I have today held a staff meeting and will be holding a whole school assembly later to explain to the students how the actions of 50 out of 1500 have been perceived and how it clearly reflects so poorly on the school.
We pride ourselves on being one of the most improved schools in the UK. Our students are always our pride and joy. It is completely out of character for them to behave in such an unruly, rude and disrespectful manner. However the role played by these activists was cleverly orchestrated and the children were merely fodder for a political campaign.
I personally remain a big supporter of Tony Blair whose policies I value and who I personally feel is a man of integrity and honesty.
Many thanks for taking the time to contact me. I hope that this will help to set the record straight.
Jo Shuter, Headteacher, QK School
Funny, I always thought Head Teachers should stay out of party politics. Clearly times have changed. It's obviously the only way to get new classrooms and more funding. Welcome to New Labour's Britain.
why should head teachers stay out of politics?
ReplyDeleteThat's ridiculous.
Very interesting, Iain. I guess it largely answers my question from yesterday:
ReplyDelete"it would be interesting to know who was doing the 'organising', whether or not the children were volunteers, and (if they were from the school) what their Head thought about it."
In fact, the head teacher was rather more forthcoming than I expected!
P.S. Did you have a nice lunch?!
ReplyDeletePlenty of teachers are Councillors - being a teacher is no bar to political opinions. I even know a teacher who is a former Conservative Parliamentary Candidate (and I'm reasonably sure that you know him too Iain!).
ReplyDeleteIt's always been like that. Many years ago when a friend with a PhD left the business world to go into teaching in Wales, (you didn't need a teaching qualifification in those days), the first thing he did was to join the Labour Party. He had been told that getting a job in 'West Britain' would be very difficuly without a Party card.
ReplyDeleteThe comments by the head teacher just show how education has deteriorated she should never show any political favouritism, sadly most in education are on the left.as are the BBC.
ReplyDeleteHey henry krinkle
ReplyDeleteDo you think it is right for a head to openly faveor a political party as I dont. I think it is a very proper observation from Iain.
You people make me sick its all ok till someone supports a Tory.
Henry, i was sent this email by someone else. it wasnt sent to me personally.
ReplyDeleteWhat is even worse is the assertion by the Head that the pupils voicing opposition to Blair were in some way wrong.
ReplyDeleteA community head (which any Headmaster is) who decries freedom of speech is nothing short of a disgrace. How typical that he supports the most authoritarian (and incompetant at that) prime minister in the country's history.
Mr Dale, if all the people who 'should not' express their political opinions publicly did not, your and Guido's blogs would be lucky to get a single comment between them.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that during the Mrs Thatcher's long time in 10 Downing Street, her first question about anyone being considered for promotion was "Is he/she one of us?". Pot calling kettle black?
I think the key word (used twice!) is "personally", Iain. I'm sure Jo Shuter's email was a private one; so what is to stop her discussing her political leanings? Teachers are not politically restricted.
ReplyDelete(As an addendum to what russell said: you can't be a teacher employed by the local authority of which you are a member)
Well you would never have got Sir Rhodes boyson........ eerrrrrrr
ReplyDeleteGhastly woman, and a total hypocrite, she deprives her charges of a days education in order to give that jug eared, lying twat Blair a photo opportunity and then has the cheek to complain about others using children for their own political ends. Typical sanctimonious "the rules don't apply to us" New Labour
harridan.
Verity, no doubt you can give this woman an even better shoeing.
I think the point is, as picked up by a few others, that the Head is allowed her political views, but the children aren't. And they wonder why the kids grow up the way they do.
ReplyDeleteTeachers should keep political views out of the classroom, unless thinking that teaching children to think for themselves is a political view, that's allowed since its the whole point of education.
ReplyDeleteI remember a teacher who was very anti-tory, vegetarian, anti-zoo, labour supporter who sought to impose her views on us as impressionable children. We'd have 'debates' in which her views would be put and being 9 or 10 most of us couldn't respond (thankfully I have a father who always posed different views to challenge me and make me think).
Teachers are in a position of responsibility and indoctrination of their pupils is an abuse of this position.
Of course, outside the classroom they can have political views and be involved in politics, that's fine.
Total non-story. Is this the best you can come up with?
ReplyDeleteAny self-respecting head teacher should be proud that their tudents take strong political views in this age of apathy.
ReplyDeleteSurely the criticism isn't that the Head holds political views, but that she chose to express them in an email in which she was acting in her official capacity. By doing so she has undermined the integrity of her position as Head, as well as her criticism of those pupils who chose to exercise their right to express an alternative political opinion to the one being espoused publicly by the school's leadership.
ReplyDeleteReading the email, and considering these quotes in particular...
ReplyDelete"Indeed we were horrified that our children had been exploited and abused by a political organisation..."
"Our students were put in serious danger physically and emotionally by the outrageous actions of these political “rabble rousers” who had no concern for them as young people but simply used them as pawns for their own political ends."
"However the role played by these activists was cleverly orchestrated and the children were merely fodder for a political campaign."
...it wasn't until I got to the penultimate paragraph that I realised she was talking about the Socialists, and not Number 10!
This isn't about free speech or, indeed, education. It's about kids being used by the usual crowd of London Spartists. I don't care what the politics are - as a parent I wouldn't be happy.
ReplyDeleteEvery Head has a right to her personal opinion, but not on school notepaper.
"...exploited and abused..."
ReplyDeleteThat looks defamatory to me.
but how do we know they were the kids politcal views. SWP were there giving them a chance to misbehave, to rebel and be a general teenager. I doubt there were many political debates to be had.
ReplyDeleteJo Shuter isn't getting involved in party politics. She says nothing about political parties. She simply expresses her views on one individual personality who happens to be involved in politics; that's not to say she doesn't have the same views of those on the other side of the political spectrum. Quintin Kynaston is a state school run by Westminster City Council anyway - and I can tell you that Council is not knowingly going to appoint a Labour-supporter to any position of influence.
ReplyDeleteOf course some people might speculate that having experienced a Conservative run education authority, and a Labour run Department of Education, Jo Shuter has come to her own conclusion. I couldn't possibly comment.
PS "Peter Hitchens" has clearly not read the email in which Jo Shuter explains that the school was not closed for the Blair visit.
Well: "our children ...exploited and abused by a political organisation ...put in serious danger physically and emotionally ...". Strong stuff; I do not think it right to involve children in demonstrations (although this seems rather too common now) but what was the abuse (they seemed to be having fun) or danger (Prezza was not there to hit them)? If there was real child abuse why was Yates OTY not called in immediately to make arrests?
ReplyDelete...had no concern for them as young people but simply used them as pawns for their own political ends.
ReplyDelete.. and a prime minister making an important announcement at a school instead of somewhere like parliament isn't?
I don't see what all the fuss was about. If anyone is using the kids for their own political agenda, it is Blair, who always seems to make big announcements (dates of general elections/non-resignation speeches etc) from schools, surrounded by hordes of happy smiling children!
ReplyDeleteAs for the protest, I thought we wanted kids involved in politics?
I think that if Blair visited my son's school (not that he would in a month of Sundays), and dragged a film crew/group of hacks along, I'd be outside protesting at him using the kids, and would certianly remove my child from s school for the day. A private visit without journalists is another matter - and would be very welcome, but it is the element of him using the kids for his own political capital that angers me!
No price is too high in service of the Blair ego. Only Gordon Brown's equals its consumption of financial and human capital.
ReplyDeleteChildren, schools, soldiers, taxpayers, teachers are all expendable earthlings, as the titans battle for media glory.
There is nothing at all to prevent a head teacher being involved in party politics, but the more so he is the more he should check to ensure that NOTHING he does in his job should even imply party political allegiance - this includes ANY letter written by him to anyone in an 'official capacity'.
ReplyDeleteA few observations:
ReplyDeleteIt appears the Head was stitched up by Iain's informant. I'd like to have seen his e-mail to the Head. Did it begin: "Dear Head Teacher, As a strong supporter of the government, I was deeply unhappy to see that a number of your children were encouraged to..."
Teachers, Heads, should however remain neutral in any public utterances about politics. Old style comedians knew that you avoided party politics or you risked losing half of your audience.
North London secondary schools have a small but vociferous number of teachers who belong to the Socialist Worker's Party. They also belong to the National Union of Teachers and get themselves nominated to attend Annual Conferences from their local branches.(normal teachers are too tired to care and happy that someone's keen enough). It was obvious that the SWP would be ready for action outside the school. The Head should have organised to eliminate the problem. ie Sent the younger children home for the day or kept them in.
I agree that teachers should not be persecuted for their political affiliations, so long as they don't use their influence in the classroom. I was very angry, a few years ago, when a teacher was "exposed" as amember of the BNP. There was no evidence that he ever mention politics in the classroom.
Lastly, teachers are sometimes labelled left-wing radicals, usually after one of those Annual Conferences I mentioned earlier. Take my word for it , most teachers are middle of the road types who could vote for any of the main parties.
So many pots, so many kettles, where do we start...
ReplyDeleteI saw one of the demonstrating pupils interviewed yesterday, and she gave very coherent reasoning for her protest. She certainly didn't come across being exploited, and the Headteacher clearly doesn't think much of her pupils if she thinks they are incapable of holding and articulating their own views.
ReplyDeleteYou're right on this Iain. The whole tone of the e-mail is partisan and the penultimate paragraph's a disgrace. She can think what she likes, say what she likes in her private letters but not show open preference like this in an official e-mail. It just equates her with all the other loathesome NuLab. hangers on.
ReplyDeleteAll I know about education is that at various times during my schooling I was given a bloody good flogging by different Heads at different times. I had usually been in the wrong. Looking back I on my schooldays (which at the time I detested), I have got nothing but respect for these people and what they taught me. To this day however I have got no idea as to their political views they gave no clues away in class and separated them from their work.
ReplyDeleteModern educationalists could learn a great deal from their old, poorly paid, sadistic (so called), predesessors, who in my opinion took up teaching as a vocation, not to take part in some politically trendy, highly paid, social experiment.
Ok. These children 'protested' from deeply held political convictions or other rational motives. Absolute bollocks. My first thought upon reading this story in my staff common-room was one of non-surprised disgust at yet another example of child-exploitation by so-called teachers in this country.
ReplyDeleteAC
Children I think we are loosing sight of the main thurst of Iain's point.
ReplyDeleteLook very carefully at what she says -
"I personally remain a big supporter of Tony Blair whose policies I value and who I personally feel is a man of integrity and honesty."
If she cannot see what a two faced liar TB is, do we really want her in charge of the education of our children?
Phoooooeeew! No story here.
ReplyDeleteKids will always grab ANY opportunity to not attend school / to combine this with a chance of 'being on the telly' would be 95% of all teenagers' dreams. if it involves controversy and a bit of an argy-bargy - all the better.
Engage youngsters in the political debate by all means - and then rubbish them by scornfully implying their use/abuse.
As most of this last weeks political debate and media reportage could have been lifted straight out of the junior school playground, not only is it pots and kettles, but legs and what are you standing on.
Leave 'blah,blah'blah Tony' to his long goodbye, at least he was democratically voted in for a third (full) term (by someone). The scary dementor Gorden Brown is a different black,pot,kettle of fish.
Can Harry 'Dave' Potter save us from him? Or are we all doooomed.
Of course she did, Kate. If they'd interviewed everybody else there would have been no footage.
ReplyDeleteThe imperfect and the incomplete doesn't exist in TV land.
So it is OK for children to take part in a political photocall, but not in a demonstration? I wouldn't let my child anywhere near Bliar...unless it was with an egg!
ReplyDeleteHypocritical headteacher!
Oh for god's sake. Given all that has been happening this week this attack is pathetic. To be honest, your blog this week has been very disappointing - have the powers at Conservative HQ asked you to hold back?
ReplyDeleteSo would this head teacher be informing her pupils about both sides of the polictical argument?
ReplyDeleteOr just one?
I remember when I was at school and as I come from a family run business background being rubbised for saying taxes should be lower.
It was not a left enough comment for my teacher.
This Head personally remains a big supporter of Tony Blair and is clearly horrified that the school's "students" would dare to behave in such an unruly, rude and disrespectful manner to such a very important person.
ReplyDeleteThe telescreen in the Head's office is clearly two-way.
I was the individual who sent Iain the story, because I clearly saw it as a mainpulation of kids in a propaganda campaign against the Iraq (and possibly Afghan) interventions. The placards brandished by the kids had clearly come from a single source, and contained a symbol of spilt blood on the word 'GO'. This was not, I suggest, a metaphor for Blair-Brown feuding.
ReplyDeleteI warmed to the head's response, finding her support of Blair unproblematic (I kind of feel she thought that this was what was asked of her). But she needs to find who from her staff - a guess, I admit - leaked this to SWP/Respect or whoever, and go public that she is so doing. A witch hunt? Yes, certainly, if that's what it takes to stop this happening again.
A question; will broadcasters make filmed footage available to those seeking to find out who was behind this?
I spent many years in teaching, and believe me, if any politician had tried to make use of my school as a backdrop for his own personal spinfest, he wouldn't have got a foot over the doorstep.
ReplyDeleteOf course teachers should be allowed political views (aren't their organisations for teachers inside all the main parties?), and she should be free to express them in her personal capacity (she probably didn;t think her email was going to be leaked to Iain, and might have been more discreet about her views had she known - so she deserves some sympathy there perhaps).
ReplyDeleteHowever, she should have drawn the line at having the PM use his visit to her school (which should have been private) for his personal political ends. She should have said 'come visit the school, but I cannot allow you to make any speeches here'.
Ironically - and on an other tack - there was no problem with having the kids in the camer lens yesterday, but at my son's school, we are not allowed to take cameras or video camera's into school plays because of fears over what might happen to the images of the children (i.e. I might be a perv with a secret fascination for 10 year old boys dressed up as 'wise men' or something)!
The other question which no-one has yet asked is, how the hell did the kids get to be outside protesting if the school was open. Why couldn't one of the staff simply enforce school discipline and say 'Oi, you lot. Inside now' (perhaps quickly followed up with 'and you bunch of soap dodging trots can piss off as well before I call the old bill'!) Job done and problem sorted.
That said, It is also crazy that the head seems to be so patronising towards her own pupils that she feels them too 'vulrenable' to be able to express political views.
When I was as secondary school, the NF would regulalry distribute leaflets outside the school gates, and a few of the kids started helping them. Then the Trots turned up to distribute anti-NF leaflets on the other side of the road, and a few kids joined them as well! So, we had these two bunches of nutters staring each other out acrosss the road and distributng faschist/communist leaflets to mostly politically uninterested kids whose only wish was to see if there was going to be a punch up between these skinheads and trots so they could run out as shout 'fight, fight, fight'!!
When the head tried to ban people from distributing leaflets, I called a school strike in order to stand up for freedom of speech (God, I was such a liberal). Half of the school walked out of classes after assembly and sat on the grass demanding that the Head promise not to ban political expression
We lost, and I got suspended for a week - but the head said he 'admired my courage'!!!
Good on the kids. I would be damn proud if I were headteacher and my school children decided to protest the visit of a lying warmongering detestable PM. Then again, any school where I was head wouldn't be hosting the parasite in the first place. Those kids deserve better guidance than that - they are more concerned at the state of the world and have a far more sophisticated understanding of what is going on than their own headteacher. Very worrying indeed.
ReplyDelete"A question; will broadcasters make filmed footage available to those seeking to find out who was behind this?"
ReplyDeleteNewsflash: there are anti-war protests WHEREVER Blair goes. This one was filmed and all over the news because of all the hoo-ha over Blair's future. This is not anything 'sinister' or whatever you are trying to insinuate. Calm down - kids have a right to be angry about Blair's warmongering too. Go on any anti-war demonstration and you will see tons of kids there off their own back. When the war in Iraq started children up and down the country walked out of school - Parliament Square was packed full of school children who joined the demonstration. I'm not exactly sure what you are so alarmed about. What a strange reaction you are displaying towards children empathising with people (mostly other children) caught up in Blair's wars.
rosacassells
ReplyDelete"kids have a right to be angry about Blair's warmongering too."
Total bollox. Children have a right to be interested in sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Forcing them to be interested in politics is just plain WRONG. Allow the poor little buggers some fun, before you condemn them to reading Dale, Guido and LabourHome.
Anonymous 8.58 pm 'I was the individual who sent Iain the story, because I clearly saw it as a mainpulation of kids in a propaganda campaign against the Iraq (and possibly Afghan) interventions.'
ReplyDeleteI assume you would condemn any involvement of children in promoting the views of their teachers, irrespective of whether you happened to agree with the point of the placards or not.
People like 'RosaCassells (9.37pm)' disgust me:
'Good on the kids. I would be damn proud if I were headteacher and my school children decided to protest the visit of a lying warmongering detestable PM.'
You cannot, surely, be that stupid to think these kids made a rational choice to demonstrate from political motives. I simply don't believe it and that leaves me with the choice to believe that you are happy to exploit kids for your own political ends. As I said, you disgust me.
AC
'There are anti-war protests wherever Blair goes'.
ReplyDeleteLet's re-phrase that: 'There are anti-war protests wherever an internationally-known figure followed by the international media goes'.
Go back to school, Rosa
"Forcing" them to demonstrate? Are you for real? Have you seen the footage of that demo? Those kids were by no means 'forced' to do anything, on the contrary, they were LEADING the demonstration. I don't know about you lot but when I was 12 and 13 I certainly had my own mind and my own views. By that age I knew what I liked and disliked. I knew that things like racism upset me for instance (and that was nothing to do with my upbringing by the way). I find it bizarre that some people here find it hard to believe that young people can have opinions too. Or is it that they have the 'wrong' opinions for your liking? For footage of the kids on the demo check out leninology and make up your own minds how exploited these kids appear to you.
ReplyDelete"Let's re-phrase that: 'There are anti-war protests wherever an internationally-known figure followed by the international media goes'.
ReplyDeleteGo back to school, Rosa"
I'm sorry, what is your point here exactly? That there are only protests when the media is around? What are you on about exactly because you are certainly not making much sense? Perhaps it is you that needs to head on back to school and learn to make yourself a bit more coherent.
In fact you can watch the first part of Newsnight from yesterday if you want to see the kids protesting and one very clued up student is also interviewed: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm
ReplyDeleteI wonder why the surprise on here that children are able to form the opinion that war is wrong? I think that this 'disgust' is as a result of your own political views; I wonder if the 'disgust' would be quite as apparent if, for instance, the kids were protesting about the ban on foxhunting? Hmmmm....
http://antonylittle.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteMight choose to disagree about your views on teachers and politics. They are as entitled to be involved as anyone else - even if, like Antony, they are on the wrong side.
The problem only comes if they try to influence the kids in a particular direction.
RosaCassells said ...
ReplyDelete'I wonder why the surprise on here that children are able to form the opinion that war is wrong? I think that this 'disgust' is as a result of your own political views; I wonder if the 'disgust' would be quite as apparent if, for instance, the kids were protesting about the ban on foxhunting? Hmmmm.... '
Of course my disgust is as a result of my own political views - who's views should I have? My disgust arises from teachers or other adults inculcating children with their views and then encouraging them to go and exhibit themselves in front of the press, for the edification of people like yourself getting satisfaction from the spectacle.
Your guess that I am some old tory agitant who would be pro-fox-hunting is also off the mark. However, I am a teacher (I assume you didn't pick the hint up in my last post) who objects to children being used by adults for the advancement of their own political ends.
AC
Rosacassels
ReplyDeleteUpset you a bit have we?
Your enthusiasm for politicising pubescent children remind me of a certain mid-20th century dictator. Fancy joining the Rosacasselles Youth anyone?
Hey, where is Verity tonight! She would be foaming at the mouth on this one I reckon!
ReplyDeleteAC - you are a very naughty boy who should go and see the head for six of the best!
Well done though! A good leak in the best traditions of mischief making and Machiavelian black-arting!
I genuinely have no problem with teachers or kids having political views (even ones I disagree with - and as long as the teachers don't use their influence to 'seduce' minors into political viewpoints), and I am not overly sure I feel that bothered about a few of them going and protesting about the war - who knows, they might even genuinely mean what they were saying (I still think the teachers should have cracked heir heads together and told them to get back to their classes though).
But, the real villian of the peace is TB, who turned the whole school visit into a media circus (again) and used the kids for his own ends (again).
I wouldn't let that slimey, greasy handed, warmongering, lying, two-faced, hypocrite any where near my children or his school. If he did decide to visit, I would take my son out of school for the day unless their was a cast iron guarentee there would be no grandstanding, and there was an opportunity for parents to abuse, sorry, I mean 'question' him over his failed education policies!
Ooooh, I am all riled now. Need to go lie down before the hypertension kicks in!
It seems that some of you subscribe to the view that kids should be seen and not heard which is a tad worrying. I am assuming that you haven't actually watched any of the footage otherwise you would see they hardly seem exploited or forced into anything. From the footage I've seen there's not an adult in sight in fact. Perhaps in your world young people don't have strong views on the state of their world but believe it or not this isn't the case for most youngsters today - thankfully.
ReplyDelete"Your enthusiasm for politicising pubescent children remind me of a certain mid-20th century dictator. Fancy joining the Rosacasselles Youth anyone?"
ReplyDeleteHmm, the 20th century dictator that you refer to was not exactly in the business of making peaceful policies so how is this comparable? Children make up more than 50% of the casualties of Blair's 'foreign policies' and yet the children of Britain should be out playing on bikes and sat behind computer screens rather than worrying about any of that, right..It's a bit sad that those kids are showing more alarm at our 'adventures' abroad than some of the adults posting comments here, that's for sure. I suppose it is indicative of the messed up world that we live in that it is the young teens protesting that is seen as 'wrong' by some of you rather than the issue they are protesting about. What sort of a mentality is that to hold? What on earth are you teaching YOUR children?
One wonders what happened to her control of her students. I can't imagine the head of any well run school allowing that - sure,they can protest, I did in the 60's against Vietnam, just not on school time and on school property.
ReplyDeletePlaying Devil's Advocate here, it is a pretty well known fact that John McIntosh, Head of the London Oratory School has been an advisor to the Conservative Party on education. Having said that, his ethos is not forced on the pupils and I don't think he would be as ill-advised to advertise his political leanings on paper.
If she thinks Blair is a man of integrity and honesty she's either barking mad or extremely dense.
ReplyDeleterosacassells lectures: "Calm down - kids have a right to be angry about Blair's warmongering too." No they don't. They don't pay taxes and they're not of voting age. They have no voice, and who in their right mind wants to listen to the immature, malinformed opinions of children on international politics?
ReplyDelete"Go on any anti-war demonstration and you will see tons of kids there off their own back." Presumably, you meant to write "off their own bat" although you do seem to you know some rather odd children, but if you think the presence of those children was not organised by adults, you are living in a world of your own.
"I suppose it is indicative of the messed up world that we live in that it is the young teens protesting that is seen as 'wrong' by some of you rather than the issue they are protesting about."
Leaving aside that those children looked to be 10 or 11, and rather vicious with it, not "young teens" what do you think their take on Caesar Chavez is? Is he good for Venezuela or very bad? How do you think they feel about Obrador refusing to accept that the conservative Calderon won the election in Mexico? Does it surprise them that the Left are always such sour losers? How do they feel about drilling for oil offshore Santa Barbara? Surely we need the opinions of these 11-yr olds before we can proceed with the running the world?
Rosacassels, still fighting her corner, writes: "From the footage I've seen there's not an adult in sight." They're sly like that Rosacassels. The Left is very sly. You think those identical posters those aggressive children were shaking in the old "one-two-three" template of the Left emerged spontaneously?
Kingbongo - I agree that the head teacher's opinion of Blair verges on lunacy.
Back to rosacassells because it is so much fun: "I find it bizarre that some people here find it hard to believe that young people can have opinions too." I do not believe that a single adult here finds it hard to believe that 'young people' have opinions. Young people are full of nothing but opinions, all of them ill-informed and over-emotional.
Personally, if I had children at school, I would far rather they be spending time learning about offshore funds and sheltering income than shouting infantile political slogans and carrying infantile posters, at the behest of ... who?
Johnny Norfolk said...
ReplyDeletesadly most in education are on the left.
5:01 PM
I don't believe this true. Teachers are natural conservatives but have been severely buggered about by a succession of undistinguished Ministers for Education of both parties.
It is so ridiculous to imply that children cannot form rational political opinions. My 7yr old sent off for some anti MacDonalds leaflets (printed on reycled paper) and distributed them...entirely off her own bat. She vowed never to talk again to any relative who ate there. When she was 11 she thought she would be PM and sort out the country when she grew up. At 13 she decided she would have more luck changing the world from the Foreign Office. At 14 she thought the best thing to do would be to study chemical engineering and design hydrogen cars. Now, at 16, with a fistful of meaninless A* GCSEs, having really only known Tony Bliar's government she thinks her best bet might be to buy some land with a spring and live in a yurt with some goats and a shotgun.... None of the above was instigated by me. (I still have to hide the Big Mac wrappers)
ReplyDeleteI find the headmistress outrageously patronising of her students. The SWP give me the pip, but I still say that the WI, or the children themselves, could just as easily have organised that demo.
greenham woman - Those preteen children all decided not to attend class that afternoon? They went out and got identical posters run up? And paid for them out of their pocket money?
ReplyDeleteThis was a typical islamic demonstration,right down to the nasty little girl with a drapery-like construction on her head. Children should not be allowed to wear headdresses to school. (Neither should teachers.)