Driving home today I listened to PM on BBC Radio 4.
Eddie Mair introduced Charlotte Leslie MP and Independent journalist Owen Jones and they began discussing whether private or state schools provide better sports education.
Charlotte Leslie was right to identify lack of a competitive ethos in state schools, but I think this is not simply a matter of political correctness (although that is a big factor). Laziness is also a reason teachers do not make any effort (I am speaking as someone who has experienced the inner city comprehensive system at first hand). And I think we need to look at the way teaching has become an increasingly female occupation - attitude surveys indicate women tend to have less interest in sport than men.
Owen Jones was right to condemn all governments, both Conservative and Labour, for allowing local authorities to sell off many school playing fields, but he might have found the generosity to praise the work of the Duke of Edinburgh as President of the National Playing Fields Association.
You can listen to the interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw
Above: the PM interview was later discussed on Twitter.
Note the condescending way in which Owen Jones refers to "red brick universities" as if they were on a lesser level than Oxbridge. One cannot blame him of course. Oxbridge inculcates such arrogance and disparagement - it would not be possible to go through the Oxbridge process and remain unscathed.
Indeed, the whole socialist debate on private education is flawed as it fails to acknowledge that one of the primary reasons parents send their children to public schools is to ultimately get them into Oxbridge, so that they can coast their way into elite positions of power.
Owen Jones might pause to consider that the Oxford University he attended is accorded an elite position on a flawed (indeed, rigged) grading system that aggregates all its constituent colleges. London University on the other hand has all its colleges and institutes graded individually. If London was graded on an aggregate basis it would easily outscore Oxbridge and Owen Jones would have no reason to make his snooty remark.
"Red brick" indeed! Who is he to call other people red brick. If Friedrich Engels were alive today he would probably have referred to such Oxbridge snobbery with his most famous condemnation.
Eddie Mair introduced Charlotte Leslie MP and Independent journalist Owen Jones and they began discussing whether private or state schools provide better sports education.
Charlotte Leslie was right to identify lack of a competitive ethos in state schools, but I think this is not simply a matter of political correctness (although that is a big factor). Laziness is also a reason teachers do not make any effort (I am speaking as someone who has experienced the inner city comprehensive system at first hand). And I think we need to look at the way teaching has become an increasingly female occupation - attitude surveys indicate women tend to have less interest in sport than men.
Owen Jones was right to condemn all governments, both Conservative and Labour, for allowing local authorities to sell off many school playing fields, but he might have found the generosity to praise the work of the Duke of Edinburgh as President of the National Playing Fields Association.
You can listen to the interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw
Above: the PM interview was later discussed on Twitter.
Note the condescending way in which Owen Jones refers to "red brick universities" as if they were on a lesser level than Oxbridge. One cannot blame him of course. Oxbridge inculcates such arrogance and disparagement - it would not be possible to go through the Oxbridge process and remain unscathed.
Indeed, the whole socialist debate on private education is flawed as it fails to acknowledge that one of the primary reasons parents send their children to public schools is to ultimately get them into Oxbridge, so that they can coast their way into elite positions of power.
Owen Jones might pause to consider that the Oxford University he attended is accorded an elite position on a flawed (indeed, rigged) grading system that aggregates all its constituent colleges. London University on the other hand has all its colleges and institutes graded individually. If London was graded on an aggregate basis it would easily outscore Oxbridge and Owen Jones would have no reason to make his snooty remark.
"Red brick" indeed! Who is he to call other people red brick. If Friedrich Engels were alive today he would probably have referred to such Oxbridge snobbery with his most famous condemnation.
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