Tag: school

Posted on by Tim Worstall

So Who Is To Blame For The American Education System?

The Washington Monthly talks about the lingering effects of slavery and the effects that has on racism and thus the socio-economic position of blacks in the US. There being the one rather important thing we might want to say about this:

To many liberals, these inequities are the obvious legacy of slavery and decades of legalized discrimination, such as under Jim Crow. The substandard education to which black Americans have been relegated has meant fewer students succeed in school and in the workforce.

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Paying the School Lunch Debts Isn’t The Point – Making The Parents Give A Toss Is

A school district in Pennsylvania has told parents that if they don’t pay off the debts their kids have run up for school lunches then those kids might be whipped off into foster care. Then a local business type says he’ll pay off those debts but the school district doesn’t seem to want the money.

The point of all of this not being about the money nor the debts at all. It’s most certainly not about wanting to drag all the kids off into foster care either.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

So, Labour Wants To Steal All The Money From Eton

To be against private schools, well, chacun a son gout as the enemy say. That parents sending their kids to them also already pay the taxes to fund the state education system is one of those things people like to conveniently forget. But, you know, we must eliminate privilege and all that.

So says a part of Labour. But that’s not all they’re saying either:

While Labour’s current policies include adding VAT to school fees, the motion urges Labour to “go further to challenge the elite privilege of private schools and break up the establishment network that dominates the top professions”.

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Parents Like School Choice Even Though It Makes No Difference

Or rather, school choice appears to make no difference to exam results. And yet parents still prefer it. On the grounds that there are other things that schools teach or inculcate than just exam results. This should be regarded as something of a victory for the left wing ideal of education of course. It isn’t all about rote teaching to the test. Somehow they’re not going to take it that way though, are they?

The short- and long-run effects of attending the schools that parents prefer
Diether W.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Apparently Britain Does Something About Schooling Right – Starting Early

Most countries start school later than the UK does. This appears to be something the UK has got right too. Get ’em young so they start learning young:

The benefits of starting school early
Thomas Cornelissen, Christian Dustmann 08 June 2019

Primary education starts at age 6 or 7 in most OECD countries, but in the UK children start primary school at the age of 4 or 5. This column exploits local variation in school entry rules in the UK to investigate the effects of schooling at an early age on cognitive and non-cognitive development.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Myleene Klass Fails The Sieve Of History Test

The idea that we should teach Stormzy in schools rather than Mozart. It’s unlikely that British schoolchildren will have an inadequate exposure to the popular beat combo these days so the idea that they should and must have the music pointed out to them is absurd. But perhaps they should still be taught it, in order to gain their attention?

There being nothing wrong with coopting popular culture to get the little snotmachines to pay attention, obviously.…

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Posted on by Jacob Rosser

When Progressive Teaching Meets The Reality Of Human Children – Not A Pretty Sight

That progressive ideas have a certain problem when they meet – and thus conflict – with reality is obvious. If we really all were the entirely cooperative beings that certain economic theories suppose then socialism would work. As it doesn’t then we have to question that core belief about the inherent cooperativeness. Another way of saying much the same thing is that if incentives didn’t matter then that same socialism would work. It don’t so therefore serious consideration must be given to the idea that incentives – direct and personal incentives – matter.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

There’s A Simple Solution To Teacher Stress – Abolish School Holidays

We’re told that teachers suffer terribly from stress. Given the source I’d not want to put all that much weight on the finding. What, more stress than commission only salesmen? Than firefighters? Paramedics?

Still, take the finding as true. There’s a simple solution here:

Teachers endure greater job-related stress than other professionals, according to the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). With pupil numbers rising and an increasing proportion of teachers leaving the profession, the report found that one in five felt tense about their job most or all of the time, compared with 13% of those in similar occupations.

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

British Universities, State Schools And The Lake Wobegon Effect

Shocking figures out today from the Higher Education Statistical Authority today as we’re told that half of British universities are letting in more of those poor dullards from state schools. Quite why they’ve taken it upon themselves to pollute the learning environment by importing more of those children too stupid to be born into the right families is…..

Ah, no, that’s not it is it? Rather, half of British universities are managing to overcome the tenor and fashion of the times to not allow more chavs into hallowed halls of learning…

Oh, not that?…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Scottish Teacher Recruitment Problems – So, Abolish National Pay Rates

It appears that there are problems in recruiting teachers in Scotland – the answer therefore is to abolish those national pay scales. For quite obviously it is not true that all teaching jobs are of the same value, therefore not all teaching jobs should pay the same amount.

There’s more to it as well – costs of living vary across the country. Therefore a national pay scale isn’t going to provide the same standard of living to the people doing the same job in different areas.…

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