/the_right_to_choose_yes_prime_minister/
Sweden has been operating a choice–based school funding system since the early 1990s. Families are allowed complete freedom to choose a school, whereupon public funding goes to the institution of their choice, whether it be a government–run or an independent school.
To promote the right to choose within UK schooling, three proposals are recommended. The first is that parents should be entitled to remove their children from schools that are failing, and choose any other school (state or independent) instead.
The second proposal is a Swedish–style universal user choice system. Public finance, representing about 70% of the per–student cost of state education, would be available to all schools on the basis of the number of students they could attract.
The third proposal is for a non-refundable tax credit to provide parents with a pound–for–pound reduction in their income–tax liability (up to an agreed limit) for each child they have in non-state education.
As soon as ideas are as clearly defined as the above, its easier to see where the problems are. I see a number of problems with allowing a 'free market' in schooling. First, school is the place we learn about the adult world. In a 'free market', some schools will fulfil the wish of parents to have their children indoctrinated in some hippy fantasy like the Steiner schools, or perhaps some bizarre cult. Would it be ok for the state to support them in this? If not, where would you draw the line between say a Seventh Day Adventist school (very strict protestant sect) and a Branch Davidian school (almost exactly the same as the Seventh Day Adventists but basically a child-abusing millinarian cult)?
Also, school is the place where children learn history and get a grounding in thier nations identity, achievements, cock-ups and particular nature. History is very often the first part of learning where those promoting an identity other than the orthodox national identity feel the need to change the narrative. Would that be policed? How could you successfully police it?
Mass education by the state has its own problems and inherent weaknesses. But it does mitigate towards a 'standard' education that then goes on to form part of a 'standard' national identity. Its not an exact science, but I believe it tends towards that end. I would see the fragmentation of that as problematic because what would replace it would almost certainly speed up the disintegration of Britain in hundreds and thousands of micro-cultures, many of which are openly antipathetical to the historic character of English men and women. If you could send your child across town to the Pagan Satanist school, where they could learn how to make blood sacrifices and hate Christians, would that make Britain a better place to live? In discussions about Choice, I am often struck how vague the proponents of Choice are about the genuine advantages which Choice will bring.
If by Choice, these learned folk mean "every child will have a choice between going to a crap local comprehensive or to an Eton-standard public school", then thats great. But Choice in this case may mean muslims taking all their children out of mainstream schools, and using taxpayers money to fund their indoctrination in Jew-hating, Britain-hating, male supremacy and wife-beating. And not just the muslims- there are many groups who I'm happy to see spend their own money on promoting their own particular brand of idiocy- but not my money.
I have no beef with independant schools of any type (with the exception of those that teach treason as part of the curriculum), but they should not get government funds. To a certain extent (and I believe this is the tacit assumption of many millions of Britons) I am happy to have a state school system which provides a standard, orthodox, good-enough education to every child, as long as there are other outlets for that minority of parents who are fanatical about their childs education. The extent of my dissatisfaction is that the state school system is not necessarily apolitical, and is somewhat open to being ideologically penetrated by anti-nationalist people who then do not perform the necessary function of turning out Britons, but rather Britain-denigraters, Britain-despisers and Britain-loathers. Being a subject of the Queen trumps party-political and post-nationalist ideology, or at least in any reasonable polity it should. And if schools don't encourage good citizenship, aware citizenship, positive citizenship of Britain (not some meaningless supra-national identity) they aren't doing one of their main jobs.
The last idea, the tax credit is not really a very good one. It would mean that only those people who are not particularly anxious about education would fund public education- which to my mind would be inequitable because the state would not be able to fund much of an education if half the population weren't contributing. Perhaps a rebate of half the cost of a years state education would be reasonable. Needs further consideration.
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