Letter from the UK (About Education)

'Bog-Standard' Schools are Unacceptable

In New Zealand we are having an on-going debate over the relative value and importance of reading, writing and arithmetic.  There are plenty of professional educational "experts" who argue that while these subject areas are acceptable, there are plenty of other subjects.  Pupils are wired differently.  They ought not to be forced into a one-size-fits-all pedagogical box.

On the other side are plenty of people operating in the "real world" who know that if you cannot read, cannot write, and cannot do arithmetic you cannot function effectively.  These subjects are the foundational sub-stratum of all other learning. 

A similar debate is taking place in the UK.  Graham Archer, writing in The Telegraph tells us his own story of school.