Mum on the Rack

Sarah Maisey tried to get homework for her sick kid, but the school refused, saying ‘We are not legally obliged to do so.’ Another mum on the rack was Mrs. Patricia Amos of Oxfordshire. Mrs. Amos found herself in jail (60 days) because her two girls, 15 and 13 would not go to school. It seems Mrs. Criminal had failed to show up at some bleak teacher/parent indoctrination meeting. Well, perhaps she had a bad back. The judge must have checked. For sure they would catch Mrs. Amos out, that is if she was piking, like just watching the telly. And in all this not a breath of slinging dear old Pop into clink! Not such a soft target, I suppose. But who knows and who cares, after all, it’s all life and those kids well, we love ‘em. [BBC News, May13, 2002]

[Education is not only compulsory, but is backed up by the full force of Law? So, not going to school is crime against the state? Apparently so, that is if we take a look at the Hopi Indians of America. By not sending their kids to school a bunch of the elders ended up in Alcatraz! [Survival International - 1996]

Mom & Pop

Poor parents, unwillingly dragged by the hair through this wretched system. Now is the time to spend tons of time with a battery of therapists, etc. et al, those with renewed powers over sprog, and his ilk. He wants to escape, you know, go out and play. Basically mum and dad you will be made to feel guilty; and goodness knows parents usually feel guilty enough about some vague possibility of mishandling their offspring. Oh, yer, grim. And try not to answer back when judged by middle class folk who really don’t see the beauty of your gal/guy.

So, what’s going on back in blackboard land? Educational academics blame the teachers, kids blame themselves, most everyone blames the government (of course) and absolutely everyone blames the parents. Punish the Parents ran the tabloid headline. And of course governments do feel that they must - ‘for God’s sake - do something.’ It's expected, and so they do. The answer you will be glad to know is to throw Mrs. Mum into prison. ‘Do you realize your parents could go to prison?” That is what they told 11-year-old Gemma. [Times, Jun 5, 2002] ‘They sent her to see an education welfare officer and the first thing they told her was (that).’

Among those who evaded schools wet embrace

Some who did it differently:- Former Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schroeder, was out of school by age 14 (His widowed mother was a charlady.) "John Major never saw the insides of a college." Another prime-minister (back in history) was William Pitt - the great nemesis of Napoleon - Well, he never bothered with school at all. Or perhaps something a bit more contemporary than old Pitt the Younger. Well, what of the man who saved the English bee, Karl Kehrle, the world authority, no less, a genius. Of course he never spent a day in school either. Neither did Martin Bormann, who rose in the odious Nazi Third III Reich to become Hitler's number two; or that Bond girl Honey Rider, she never went to school. Among the famous - Shakespeare stands out; what of he? Well, I don’t know, but one who might is Frankie MacCourt. He tells us in Angela's Ashes, of the time when he spent two months in hospital and there fell in love with reciting the Bard. Education’s response? Humiliation. (When Frankie was finally released, he was summarily put down, back to Grade 5.) Oh, the slings and arrows of misfortune …”

Dame Miriam Rothschild, famed parasitologist held 8 honourary degrees and was FRS, not withstanding any formal schooling at all. [Obituary, Jan 2005] John Davy (1765-1824) great composer of sea songs including ‘The Bay of Biscay.’ At age six he stole 20 to 30 horseshoes from a smithy, selected the ones which would make-up a complete octave and “hung them up in an upper room and imitated the chimes of the church bells in nearby Crediton.” [Everyman’s Book of Sea Songs]

Now, this is truly Terrifying!

The point is there is no damn alternative, but one put forward here; and which shines with a sense-tinted glow. That is Democracy Reaches the Kids / Teachers. This gives value to all subjects and its framework allows any subject to become core. Whilst at the same time demanding high, indeed higher standards in the basics, redefined in the main text, as expressly useful and necessary in the 21st Century. However, with an alternative, such as Democracy Reaches the Kids, it would not matter a monkey's if the child went to school or not. All this nightmare could be sidestepped, and all concerned could - at last - begin to relax. Governments too. How? Because with a Democracy strategy, one that is so broad that there is space within which the child him/herself is allowed to control, set towards their own enthusiasms, own schedules and own dreams. It’s also the saving of tens of billions, too. Whither now the need for dogcatcher style truancy minders and alike?

New Orleans, Levees and Truancy

According to the BBC, 15% of British schoolchildren have done it. That is one million kids. In one Comprehensive School hope has arrived in the form of not one, but two full time Truancy Watch Officers. As the headmaster said, it was worth it. But, in fact, cash has to be slashed from other parts of the budget. Doubtless this was not one of those places that the Prime Minister's then press secretary arrogantly called 'bog-standard comprehensive.' Why, the head became the first of his (humble) level ever to be knighted! “Excuse me, Sir!” [Feb 11, 1999]

It is not at all for Society to agonize over, waste yet more public money on and create a truancy bureaucracy to run around after them. As the Hindu tradition says, the teacher does not tell you anything that you are not yet ready to hear. [Joseph Campbell]

Incidentally, if you want to keep kids at school you might look to my friends the Inupiat Eskimos of Alaska. They keep their kids in school by rewarding perfect attendance with a barrel of heating oil!

The Answer? Let’s dope Brit kids … like the Americans!

The UK’s mighty educational powers have determined “two new developments.” And we are told that they are “important.” What pray may these be?

1/ Training more psychiatrists.
2/ Doping Brit kids like they do in America -- Ritalin. Now there’s answers.
Child psychologists, the likes of Eric Taylor of the Maudsley Hospital, London, says we are “under-treating” our kids! [Economist, Dec 4, 2004]

‘Refuser’ Kids

Some kids find themselves sent on to last hope places called Pupil Referral Units. Here is a glimpse of one PRU candidate: A friend of mine in Kent visits schools and tells the children about his pastime, which is re-enacting Norman period battles. "The teacher had this list of typed, prepared questions, you know” But as soon as he got there (dressed as a Saxon, naturally enough) the kids went wild. They ignored the puny list and charged in with all their own questions.

"One boy had a real understanding, he just hit me with so many great questions -- he was in tears. Excitement!" My friend learnt afterwards that this boy was - you’ve guessed it - already marked down for failure as a ROAWC, and an ensuing life of probable failure and likely unhappiness. It's all SO crucial. And this kid was not even rejecting nothing, he was cherishing the culture of the early English. Now, he really loved that! Never mind the preferred perfect optimum, a quiet (dead) classroom.

It’s the damn system, which rejects all that we cherish. “Fuck” was an early Saxon word our young ROAWC candidate would no doubt be ecstatic to know. And those wonderful Refuser kids? Under Democracy, they would never, ever, be in school in the first place; not at this stage of their lives. For these individuals the timing is all wrong. Utterly so. Some, dangerously so.

Harry Potter’s tells us what Education should be -

“Where everybody recognized your uniqueness.” Bang on! Is that not clear enough? Nobody involved in Democracy education will ever tell a student - sorry customer - what to do. ('Customer' - that is what they call patients now under Britain's famous National Health Service.) That’s the big issue though, there is no widespread and naturally accepted alternative to school; nothing effective has yet been established. We must therefore establish it. You see the urgent need. {If interested, let me know hope@georgemeegan.com}