Education, education, etc...

I spent my lunch hour listening to Boris Johnson despair about the education system. He rattled off various depressing statistics: 8m adults cannot read or write, 40% of pupils leave primary school unable to read or write, 43% of pupils taking A Level Maths get a grade A compared with 7% in 1965 due to dumbing down rather than an incredible improvement in mathematical skills. He partially blames the dreadful performance of primary schools on the fact that the ratio of female to male teachers has risen to 13:1. He thinks that boys need a male role model, particularly if they come from single parent (ie just a mother) families and that if this is lacking, discipline deteriorates and less is learned by everybody in the class. One is no longer allowed to mention the word "failure" in the education sector. "Failure" has been renamed "deferred success". He also made the point that the policy of "bringing back failure to the classroom" in order to improve standards was one supported by people in a group but not supported by people as individuals who are very anxious for their own children to get "good" grades, whatever the true meaning of "good".