Mugs and Jugs

Serenity by Rock-Well on Aviary

Teachers and schools are always in the news. Tomorrow, some teachers go on strike about changes to their pensions at a time when Michael Gove, Education Secretary, is calling for more teachers with first class degrees.

All this reminded me of  my grandmother who, when in her sixties, used to enjoy doing my Latin homework. She was quick and got full marks, so I let her.

The teachers in Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Carmarthen, which she attended, must have been good.  The formula was simple: they taught and she listened. More than that, she admired them.  Some could sing Nursery Rhymes in Latin, thereby making learning fun and it lodged in her mind and later, she taught, too.

Will more teachers with first class degrees mean better results? I wonder, I wonder and the reason I wonder is this. Knowledge of one's subject is vital. No one can teach what they don't know, obviously, but here's the other side of the coin:  many teachers don't like children and surprise, surprise, the children don't like them.

A teacher should have some empathy with children first of all, then the necessary knowledge needed to teach and to teach in an interesting way.

Dickens's Mr Gradgrind believed in the 'mug and jug' method of education. The teacher was the vessel of knowledge who filled up the empty mugs with information. There was no interaction with the pupils.

Sadly, this mechanistic view of education encouraged the 'scholars' to view themselves as nothing but cogs in an enormous wheel.

I have no advice to offer and I'll let you draw your own conclusions but I shall quote Freud, who usually gets it right.

According to Freud, adolescents have two developmental tasks to accomplish:  they must learn to love and they must learn to work. The rest is simple.

A Little Learning

It was a few months ago. I was in a cafe in Fishguard, all Laura Ashley wallpaper, with a silver sheen, porcelain chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and turquoise leather banquettes in the corners.  Handmade chocolates were decorated with crystallised violets and squiggles of gold.Under a glass dome a ginger cake with lime and coconut frosting winked enticingly at me.

I was feeling contented and indulged, stirring the tea leaves in the pot, when suddenly I heard something that nearly made me burp. Two couples were sitting at a nearby table, middle aged, middle class, middle England. One of the men was speaking: 'The educational standard of most people around here is that of  the average eleven year old'.

One of the women hissed, 'Hush'.

At the time I thought they were holidaymakers who probably imagined they were in a foreign country where the indigenous natives were backward and wild. What had been said seemed so preposterous I had to stop myself laughing out loud.

After this week's revelations that twenty per cent of Welsh eleven year olds are behind in key skills,
perhaps there was more than a grain of truth in the holidaymaker's observation.

Apparently, since the abolition of league tables showing the position of individual schools, standards have dropped.

I'm not sure who is responsible for this state of affairs, though politicians will, obviously, blame the previous government.

A small, educated elite rules this country but a recent report showed that many MP's, whatever  they're political persuasion, are privately educated.

If we look at fee-paying schools, we'll find that they are not failing. On the contrary, their pupils continue to do exceptionally well.

Why is this? Smaller classes and better equipment all help but these schools attract enthusiastic teachers who know they are teaching motivated pupils. And why are the pupils motivated? Because when parents pay they want to see results. Therefore they take an interest in what is happening in class and support the teachers to ensure success. Homework is done on time and pupils take part in extra-curricular activities such as sport, music and drama.

If there is one equation that always works it's this: Teachers plus parents plus pupils=Success.
There's your answer. Simple. QED. Taken as proved.