Those who CAN, DO, Those who CAN'T, TEACH and those who CANT teach TEACH teachers.
The original source of that apparently smart ass nonsense is buried in the mists of time (the author makes no claim to it) but there is a ring of truth. We all have some experience of incompetent organizations and incompetent people in them. As time passes the situation seems to get worse but in all likelihood life was always like this. But not in schools.
Those of us old enough to remember schooling in the post war years still remember the drudgery of alphabet, and spelling and Times Tables = six sevens equals forty two, seven sevens equals forty nine, eight sevens equals fifty six. It was quite scary at the time, knowing any minute we could be asked to stand and recite something we learned weeks ago.
But I remember quite clearly some were better than others but at age eleven there was nobody in our class who couldn't read, add up and use fractions. That was the measure of successful primary schooling – the three Rs – Reading, Riteing and Rithmetic.
For years there's been a suggestion in the UK that somewhere our education system has failed. Universities need to provide remedial classes for new entrants, teaching them how to learn before teaching them what to learn. Businesses complain bitterly they can't employ kids with the most basic skills in language and mathematics. They're unemployable. Old Grizzlies like us blame all this new fangled education and everybody laughs complaining we're just living in the past.
Well apparently not.
The BBC has started running a series investigating a report which concludes the education system isn't fit for purpose. In the first programme the guru is brought in to excite the kids with his ideas about maths. Its interesting to see somebody who really enjoys his subject light a fire in kids who had no idea it could be both accessible and fun.
But the programme soon runs into the real problem. It's not leaking roofs, or lack of books, or social demographics, or class sizes, or lack of classroom assistants.
The real problem is the people teaching our kids maths don't understand maths themselves, even though they're supposedly taught how to teach the subject.
So here's my revolutionary proposal for turning our education system upside down – improving education, reducing social exclusion, minimizing crime and raising living standards all at a stroke.
ONLY EMPLOY TEACHERS WHO CAN READ, WRITE AND ADD UP.
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