Backlash over Blair's school revolution; plans condemned by ex-Sec. of Ed.

[JohnLocke]

Backlash over Blair's school revolution
By Patrick Wintour and Rebecca Smithers -- The Guardian
Monday, September 12, 2005
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An acceleration of plans to reform state education, including the speeding up of the creation of the independently funded city academy schools, will be announced today by Tony Blair.
But the increasingly controversial nature of the policy was highlighted when the former education secretary Estelle Morris accused the government of "serial meddling" in secondary eduction.
In an article in tomorrow's Education Guardian she writes: "Another round of structural change won't by itself achieve universally high standards. Worse than that it could be a distraction. In five years' time, whose children will be going to these new academies? Will choice and market forces once again squeeze out the children of the disadvantaged?"
(...)
The academies replace failing schools, normally on new sites, in challenging inner-city areas. The number of academies will rise to between 40 and 50 by next September. This month 10 city academies started, bringing the total to 27, and Mr Blair will insist the government is on target to reach 200 by 2010. City academies have proved to be among the most hotly debated aspects of his public sector reforms. The Commons education select committee has criticised them as divisive and teaching union leaders have also denounced the expansion of an "unproven" scheme.
However, this will not deter Mr Blair who will point out that in the last academic year the proportion of pupils receiving five good GCSEs in city academies rose by 8 per cent, four times the national average.
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Read the rest here.
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Blair sounds like Jeb Bush.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. The worrying thing is the linked story

Almost half the Government's planned new flagship city schools are sponsored by religious organisations, prompting fears that the programme could become a 'Trojan horse' for radical evangelicals.

The next wave of privately-funded City Academies includes at least one school planning to teach children creationism - the doctrine that the earth was created by God and that the Darwinian model accepted by scientists is therefore wrong.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/newschools/story/0,14729,1544829,00.html

[Southpaw Bookworm]

2. Bush is dragging Britain and Blair down with us

Apparently having one theoretically first-world country move back 500 years isn't enough. I wonder if Bush has Tony under the Imperious Curse?

[goforit]

3. No, Blair acts on his own accord!!....No excuses from me on this one.

They purposely want an uneducated society!!!

It will be if we the people let it!!!!

[xxqqqzme]

4. has poodle become a

norquistian devotee? margie thwackered the pension system; poodle boy is dismantling their health care system and now his starts in on education.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Not Norquist-like - more "private companies are always more efficient"

Blair hasn't made any move to cut funding of healthcare or education - indeed he's increased it. But he's always tried to allow private firms to do more of the providing - cleaning and catering contracts (note that MRSA is a major problem in British hospitals, and the standard of cleaning is generally thought abysmal), the Private Finance Initiative, whereby companies build and own hospitals and schools, do the maintenance of them, and lease them to the government (who are held over a barrel in the contracts); private companies cherry-picking the easy surgical operations which allows them easy profits, and so on.

What he does think, which is so different to previous Labour leaders, is that the only incentive for people is profit, and that the unions can't be trusted.

[non sociopath skin]

5. The Academy which the ghastly Blairite toadies at County Hall ...

... here in Northumberland are contemplating foisting on Ashington will be a joint venture by the Good Ol' C of E and the Duke of Northumberland, chinless wonder, millionaire businessman and Master of Alnwick Castle aka Hogwarts.

What price the Harry Potter Academy?

http://www.blyth-wansbecktoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1115&ArticleID=1111019

The Skin