Wealth does not matter in schooling. Willingness to learn, ability to learn and the effort of the education system are the ONLY things that should determine the level of education available in a free and fair society. Blair tells you this because, if he says it enough times, you will believe it. Don’t believe it. The government want you to believe that if you are not one of the very privileged few then you should expect your children to fail at school. This is the worst possible kind of lie. It defeats all hope of a change and all chance of a debate. When the country was on its knees during World War II. Children without enough food, clean water and clothing passed exams in run-down, sometimes blown-up schools. Ask yourself this simple question. You lack the financial means to compete with the “rich kids” because you have to pay an average of 5 and a half months of your salary into a tax system which is supposed to guarantee you an education for your child. If the child is not receiving that education then why not give back our money and then we can send them ALL to private schools like the Blairs do? South Korea is a very poor, very downtrodden nation…they have just come top of the list for world education. How do they do it if only rich people can get a decent education for their children? The children are our future…not the rich lists children. |
Monday 12th September 2005 | The Press Association
The Prime Minister has admitted that the better-off had choice and power over the education system.
And he said he was not naive enough to believe they would ever achieve a situation where wealth did not matter in schooling.
"But neither am I defeatist enough to believe we cannot improve what we have," he said.
Mr Blair, speaking at the City of London Academy, said that city academies were designed "to escape the straitjacket of the traditional comprehensive school and embrace the idea of genuinely independent non-fee paying state schools. Academies are independent schools, which are free to parents."
He said there had been much improvement in schools over the past few years, and said that being tough on failure had already ensured that more than 1,200 primary and secondary schools had been successfully turned around.
He said the logic of changing to the specialist schools, of starting city academies, of giving greater freedom to schools in whom they hire, what they pay, how they run their school day, was very clear.
He said that academies were here to stay: "More than 40 will be open by this time next year, and we will meet our pledge to have at least 200 open or in the pipeline within five years."
Mr Blair, speaking on the first day of the new school year at the academy, said: "The purpose is very simple: fairness and opportunity for all. Public services exist so that those who cannot afford to buy good health care or schooling are not at a disadvantage."
He went on: "And let's be brutally honest here. In schooling, the better-off do have choice and power over the system.
"If they are sufficiently wealthy, they can send their children to a range of independent, fee-paying schools which, by and large, provide excellent education. Or they can move house to be next to the best state schools. Or they can buy private tuition."