If we advertised schools the way other businesses advertise their services:
“Over her ** year career, Mrs Jones has enabled thousands of children to release their potential. Children she has taught, have become embassadors for societies across the globe. She has saved a grand total 1,300 lives in reinstated self esteem and secured attachment.” If you were an interested parent, working all the hours to provide, this would catch your eye!
“Our SLT team will pull out every stop to prevent parent complaints. We have on staff, teachers with patience of saints who have a hundred percent success rate in replacing failed parenting. Inclusion rates are so high, your child will never be thrown out of class for their behavior. We have on site therapists to help you guide your child through divorce or domestic violence.”
If you wanted somewhere for your kid to learn a bit of street smarts or to contain an unruly toddler, or you just knew the sort of help your kid is gonna need because of your own lifestyle, you’d head here.
These are just two examples.
Kids would end up at school where there were skills to support them, teachers would be using their skills in their own way. Fewer disruption issues as children are being taught around other children who want and listen the same way and who are interested in the same things. They might even have some of the same learning needs! Shock!
Or better yet, advertise schools by interest. Creative schools over there, sporty schools over there. I remember school being like this, some schools were arty and kids who went there learned music and dance and drama. The sporty schools attracted sporty, highly active, kids. Kids with short attention spans would suit this method of teaching too. That left ‘community’ schools to fill the bowl of children who were academic, and children who were neither academic nor sporty nor creative, kids who might become labourers or manual workers (no offence here just an observation of job titles of people from the economic age bracket I’m focusing on). Yes, the odd kid whose mum wasn’t able to get them to scout club, might miss a calling in the army. Big DEAL. Life working hard SHOULD be better than a life where money was scarce, for whatever reason. It creates a reason for people to work hard!!!!!!! Man is governed by internal motivations, yet society at large, believes that giving access to everything from day dot, removing the motivation, won’t be a problem? Really you’re selling your children to the state the minute you register them.
But back to the school specialisms.
Yeh no sprout knows what they might be into when they’re 5 but parents can guide, THEY DO KNOW THEIR OWN CHILDREN. More emphasis should be given to parents to make choices regarding their kids education. Free clubs in communities to try new things, doesn’t need to be a school thing! If a kid shows an interest or a talent for something, you can start thinking about a specialist school. But these would be in most towns so it wasn’t like a class thing. Then if you don’t take your kids to them, is it anyone else’s fault that they end up bored in school because it doesn’t interest them and nobodies thought to see what they might be interested in? No. NO. It is YOUR fault your kid is struggling. Take some RESPONSIBILITY.
Can I watch it happen? With difficulty.
Can I let it happen? Most certainly.
It’s the lesser of two evils.
But it has to be done right. Creative schools need to have attainment levels to meet. Parents can’t just ‘pay’ for a creative education just because they want their kid to go there. Leave that up to private schools. Kids will be required to go to schools where they are attaining. If they aren’t attaining I a specialist school, try an academic focused school or a lower attainment bracket school that gives lots of support. If they still aren’t attaining or behaving, new community groups could be recommended to find an interest or an outlet. Who knows, maybe 80% of the time, this action may correct the problem entirely. If a parent doesn’t play ball, it’s up to the social workers to get involved. Or the justice system. If a parent still doesn’t play ball, they should be home schooled. Then it’s entirely the parents issue if the child doesn’t learn or acquire any registered skills. They won’t get jobs, unless they have a skill and thus the skills we are trying to harness from the hidden lost kids, will be found anyway and no harm done, the rest will wither away in self enduced Lala Land. If anything you’ve allowed evolution to bring more people out of poverty.
Beauty pageant queens across the world would be quivering.
FaerieFalls 