The school situation

A quick snippet from out illustrious leader Golden Brown this morning regarding schools that fail to meet with the government's arbitrary standards '...the management will be replaced, if that doesn't work it'll be taken over, if that doesn't work it'll be closed down' and the pupils sent where exactly? To another school that is already just about coping with its own number of pupils and now has another school load dumped on it; how does that help anyone?

Also if a change of management fails and if the national government taking over from the local government fails; then maybe it's not the fault of the school. Gosh can we perhaps blame the pupils or at least some of them? The answer proposed here is to scatter them to other schools like little seeds of destruction or, as is most likely, dump them on the next nearest school like a cluster bomb.

[at which point I'm now being monitored by GCHQ for using "school" next to "bomb", oh and for using "GCHQ" Hi guys, how's it going?.]

The simple point is that it doesn't take many rotten apples to spoil the barrel, and as it stands with children having the 'right' to education they're just be shunted around from school to school until they can leave. They obviously don't want to be there, it's generally the parents whining about their child's rights. The simple solution is to remove the right and obligation for education and give it only to those who want it and earn it.

Any child misbehaving is removed and if they (or their parents) want them back in either there or elsewhere they're going to have to demonstrate that desire. Screw-up too often and nobody will take you (expect for a big pile of cash). The advantages are obvious; with only those at a school who want to be there education can be done without distraction, and competition between pupils and schools raises standards.

Disadvantages are also obvious. Some schools will be more desirable then others (a situation that already exists) with paid-for schools topping the system due to increased funds. Society may become split between the educated and non-educated and may begin the meritocracy that Bliar kept bleating on about and manifestly didn't want. This form of meritocracy leads naturally to aristocracy (those in power have the ability to give their children the best schooling, which leads to them becoming more likely to gain power), but to be honest how is that truly different from the situation we're already in?

We can stick with the rules we've got or we can change them, at the moment we're trying to stay put maybe a new direction is needed?