Teacher Katherine Birbalsingh makes an excoriating critique (in a speech and in print) of the progressive educational ideology she once held dear:
(I quoted some of it, but it's well worth reading in full)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L2l-MA-8Dk http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1319025/KATHARINE-BIRBALSINGH-I-wont-silenced-children-betrayed-schools.html"The real problem is our educational culture, so full of sloppiness and sentimentality, dumbing-down and deceit. Bad behaviour is tolerated too easily, poor performance covered-up.
Yes there is racism in the system, but it usually comes from guilt-ridden white liberals who allow young blacks to remain trapped in the downward cycle of failure.
When I spelled out these truths to the Tories, the conference was generous enough to give me a standing ovation.
But my own school was far less happy with my challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy. I was told to work from home pending a decision on my future. My whole career hung in the balance.
That just shows how teachers are denied any real freedom of speech. We are all meant to be professional cheerleaders for the system. Dissent is regarded as a form of heresy. In one sense I can understand the outlook of my school.
The headteacher and governors inhabit a competitive world where any negative publicity can be seen as a threat to school’s status, funding and league table position.
But I would point out that I certainly was not criticising my own school, to which I moved only a few weeks ago.
My attack was directed at the overall educational culture – created by politicians, bureaucrats and theorists – which has let down our children and our country so badly.
It is absurd to keep pretending that the system is a glorious success. In fact, the very eagerness to crush any criticism shows that its leaders know they have something to hide."