Are the "activists" taking over?

There was a column in the paper yesterday suggesting that "activists" are "taking over" the education system. Yes we are short of teachers and too many of the good teachers do seem to be leaving. Is that trend really leaving behind only "activist" teachers, those who want to be there to influence young minds into "politically correct" ways of thinking?

It would be ridiculous to believe that of course but there might also be more than a grain of truth in the idea that some of those teachers who have remained do believe this is their role. I talked to a small group of them recently. They all saw it as their role to "inform" their students about issues like "climate change", "racism" and "gender diversity". What they were in schools to teach was something very different. One was there to teach Chinese, another to teach social sciences and the rest to teach maths and science. They all said they would like to have more actual teaching time but, even as they said this, they were telling me that "other things are just as important now". Really? I find that hard to believe.

I am now wondering what school should be about. What is so important about school? When I was a very small kitten by no means all children went to "kindy" or kindergarten. There was no "day care" or "pre-school" either. If your parents, usually your mother, felt so inclined you went to kindergarten for a few hours a week. A good many children arrived at school with no ability to read anything, not even their own name. I remember all the pictures above the hooks on which we hung our coats and hats and bags. The teacher had given each child a choice of picture. Like one or two others mine was marked out by my name because I could read. I could read not just my name but read actual books. It was considered very interesting to have any child who recognised their name at all.

Now things are different. If a child reaches school age unable to read their name and recognise letters then that child is considered to be "behind". It is also expected they will be familiar with a great many other ideas, some of them very "woke" ideas indeed. There is apparently a need to ensure they are "informed" about all sorts of issues, many of them perhaps beyond their understanding. That does not matter of course. What matters is that they know and, hopefully, believe what is "correct". This is how the earnest activists see their role as teachers.

These ideas pervade all of education now, even into universities. It is important to ensure the students are "aware". I would say "indoctrinated" but that would mark me out as a dangerous radical - probably of the far right! If I suggested that students should be taught to actually think about issues and the potentially many sides to an idea it would be met with horror. We cannot have children exposed to different points of view. If we do then they may not believe the correct position. Such things could be dangerous.

Taking a "gap year" was not something we knew anything about when I was at school. I am now wondering whether it might not be the best possible thing for students to do. If they have to get out into the "real" world, even for just a short time, then it is just possible that they might be confronted with a range of ideas. It will be hard, perhaps almost impossible, to change opinions by then but perhaps it might cause black and white thinking to turn to grey sometimes. It might help and we might return to some of the genuinely creative thinking we need in order to progress.