Malcolm McLean's Blog: Faith schools and Catholic culture.
April 26, 2017
Building maintenance
I recently acquired by grandmother's old house. She was already quite elderly when she bought it from Margaret Thatcher in the great giveaway of council houses in the 1980s. Yes, Millennials, you read that right. They gave away houses practically for free in the 1980s.
Anyway, she passed away some years ago, and my mother let it out to tenants who didn't take very god care of the place. Finally I have got it. As you might imagine, it needs a lot spending on it, from new doors to a new kitchen and bathroom. All the rooms need redecorating, the chimney has been boarded up and needs something doing with, the ceiling in the downstairs room needs replastering.
That's what happens when you don't spend about 1% of a building's capital cost each year on repairs. Eventually it starts to look shabby, and then it's a big bill for emergency refurbishment just to get it looking acceptable. And it's the same for schools. The snag is that you can always put off necessary maintenance to next year. But it's a false economy, a case of pretending to balance the books. It very rapidly catches up with you, and sends a powerful message to children that their education doesn't matter.
British schools have been doing this big time. So much so that the Labour government had to embark on a massive programme of refurbishment, at vast public expense. It's the sort of mismanagement you get in top down systems, where you have yearly budgets but no-one actually responsible for the institution in the long term.
Anyway, she passed away some years ago, and my mother let it out to tenants who didn't take very god care of the place. Finally I have got it. As you might imagine, it needs a lot spending on it, from new doors to a new kitchen and bathroom. All the rooms need redecorating, the chimney has been boarded up and needs something doing with, the ceiling in the downstairs room needs replastering.
That's what happens when you don't spend about 1% of a building's capital cost each year on repairs. Eventually it starts to look shabby, and then it's a big bill for emergency refurbishment just to get it looking acceptable. And it's the same for schools. The snag is that you can always put off necessary maintenance to next year. But it's a false economy, a case of pretending to balance the books. It very rapidly catches up with you, and sends a powerful message to children that their education doesn't matter.
British schools have been doing this big time. So much so that the Labour government had to embark on a massive programme of refurbishment, at vast public expense. It's the sort of mismanagement you get in top down systems, where you have yearly budgets but no-one actually responsible for the institution in the long term.
April 17, 2017
Easter Sunday
At mass for the ritual of Easter Sunday. In fact the three days - Maunday Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter vigil on Easter Saturday, technically form one mass, one connected whole. In the middle there is the great Sabbath, from the miraculous darkness on the afternoon of Good Friday, to Jesus's resurrection, some time in the night of Holy Saturday/Easter Sunday.
It all makes one coherent whole. It's important to teach children the meaning of Christian rituals, otherwise they just pass by in a confusing blur. The word "maunday" has dropped out of common use, for example, except for "Maunday Thursday". If children are not taught it means "command" they will not know.
I can recommend Joanna Bogle's Book of Feasts and Seasons It goes through the entire Christian year, explaining every day and tradition.
Also, parents must observe traditions in their own houses. If Easter is observed grudgingly, that sends a terrible message to children, which is that religion is a burden to be cast off as soon as possible. There should be a simnel cake and roast lamb dinner, just as there should be a Christmas cake and roast turkey for Christmas. Lenten abstinence is of course abandoned, which is only meaningful if it has been serious. If you observe the year, you find that there is far less need for artificial, more expensive amusements like foreign holidays.
It all makes one coherent whole. It's important to teach children the meaning of Christian rituals, otherwise they just pass by in a confusing blur. The word "maunday" has dropped out of common use, for example, except for "Maunday Thursday". If children are not taught it means "command" they will not know.
I can recommend Joanna Bogle's Book of Feasts and Seasons It goes through the entire Christian year, explaining every day and tradition.
Also, parents must observe traditions in their own houses. If Easter is observed grudgingly, that sends a terrible message to children, which is that religion is a burden to be cast off as soon as possible. There should be a simnel cake and roast lamb dinner, just as there should be a Christmas cake and roast turkey for Christmas. Lenten abstinence is of course abandoned, which is only meaningful if it has been serious. If you observe the year, you find that there is far less need for artificial, more expensive amusements like foreign holidays.
April 10, 2017
Hereford
Just been away for a whole week on a business trip to Hereford.
Hereford is a nice little town, completely dominated by the cathedral (so technically it's a city). In many ways, it represents how people would have lived, prior to the growth of the big urban conurbations. You don't know everyone you pass in the streets, but there's a fair chance of recognising someone. And all the pubs have regulars, and every shop is known. It only takes about ten minutes to cross the town centre on foot.
The great cattle market has now been moved and turned into an upmarket street of chain restaurants. Hereford is not immune to the forces of McDonaldisation. And there's a threat to the cider brewery, a pillar of the town's economy and character. No-one wants to see a town preserved in aspic, but it is sad to see character gradually drain away.
Re-invigoration of the cathedral must be the priority. Currently it appears to be mainly a tourist attraction. It could be so much more than that, as with every passing year the conflict with Islam gets more serious. Young British people, not all of them from the sub-continent, are looking for answers to the fundamental questions of life, and if they can't get them from Christianity, they will go for the false simplicities of Islam.
Oh, and Hereford is also the base of the Special Air Service.
Hereford is a nice little town, completely dominated by the cathedral (so technically it's a city). In many ways, it represents how people would have lived, prior to the growth of the big urban conurbations. You don't know everyone you pass in the streets, but there's a fair chance of recognising someone. And all the pubs have regulars, and every shop is known. It only takes about ten minutes to cross the town centre on foot.
The great cattle market has now been moved and turned into an upmarket street of chain restaurants. Hereford is not immune to the forces of McDonaldisation. And there's a threat to the cider brewery, a pillar of the town's economy and character. No-one wants to see a town preserved in aspic, but it is sad to see character gradually drain away.
Re-invigoration of the cathedral must be the priority. Currently it appears to be mainly a tourist attraction. It could be so much more than that, as with every passing year the conflict with Islam gets more serious. Young British people, not all of them from the sub-continent, are looking for answers to the fundamental questions of life, and if they can't get them from Christianity, they will go for the false simplicities of Islam.
Oh, and Hereford is also the base of the Special Air Service.
March 30, 2017
Testing at 7
In Britain, we currently have formal public examinations known as SATs which children take at 7. Really the school rather than the child is being examined, since children don't use their SATs to determine entry to secondary school. They have now been eliminated.
The problem with British education policy is that every management procedure which the government (of either party) brings in is immediately subverted by gaming of the system. Education lends itself to that. Measure schools by SAT, and children will be drilled endlessly and uselessly on SATs. Then there's the issue of how hard to make the SAT. Too hard, and there's no point in entering the weaker pupils for it, they might as well be sitting a Cambridge physics final paper.
The answer is that the SATs should stay, but be reformed. Essentially you are testing whether children can write and do simple arithmetic - reading is tested automatically. So all the English paper needs to be is "write a story about a unicorn" and you can go from there. No arguments about fancy paper design. The arithmetic paper is much less important (because children need English to access the rest of the curriculum, but the time they need non-trivial maths for science is many years away), But it just needs to be a few expressions to simplify. Again, the more it is designed, the more vulnerable to gaming.
But teachers also need to be able to exercise their right not to enter children for the examination, If the child transparently can't make an attempt at the paper, he mustn't be forced to sit like a monkey reading Shakespeare. That's just commonsense. Of course he has then failed the SAT, which you need to know.
However the SATs at 7 should be thought of as just a preliminary check. The tests that really matter, as far as a primary is concerned, are the tests taken as children leave. You judge the cake when it comes out of the oven. Children must be literate and ideally should be numerate if they are to progress to secondary school. If they are not, they shouldn't be allowed in a regular secondary school, because those are also the children who undermine discipline and damage the learning of others. Their place is in a special school for illiterate 11 year old's.
The problem with British education policy is that every management procedure which the government (of either party) brings in is immediately subverted by gaming of the system. Education lends itself to that. Measure schools by SAT, and children will be drilled endlessly and uselessly on SATs. Then there's the issue of how hard to make the SAT. Too hard, and there's no point in entering the weaker pupils for it, they might as well be sitting a Cambridge physics final paper.
The answer is that the SATs should stay, but be reformed. Essentially you are testing whether children can write and do simple arithmetic - reading is tested automatically. So all the English paper needs to be is "write a story about a unicorn" and you can go from there. No arguments about fancy paper design. The arithmetic paper is much less important (because children need English to access the rest of the curriculum, but the time they need non-trivial maths for science is many years away), But it just needs to be a few expressions to simplify. Again, the more it is designed, the more vulnerable to gaming.
But teachers also need to be able to exercise their right not to enter children for the examination, If the child transparently can't make an attempt at the paper, he mustn't be forced to sit like a monkey reading Shakespeare. That's just commonsense. Of course he has then failed the SAT, which you need to know.
However the SATs at 7 should be thought of as just a preliminary check. The tests that really matter, as far as a primary is concerned, are the tests taken as children leave. You judge the cake when it comes out of the oven. Children must be literate and ideally should be numerate if they are to progress to secondary school. If they are not, they shouldn't be allowed in a regular secondary school, because those are also the children who undermine discipline and damage the learning of others. Their place is in a special school for illiterate 11 year old's.
March 29, 2017
New College of the Humanities
The philosopher AC Grayling has actually founded and set up his own college of higher education, the New College of the Humanities. Plenty of people fantasise about doing this, Cardinal Newman wrote a book about it ( The Idea of a University but Grayling has done it.
It's possible to be too cynical, It sells itself as an alternative to Oxford and Cambridge. But Oxford and Cambridge retain their cachet largely because it is so difficult to obtain places there. Not because of the one to one tutorial system. The New College of the Humanities can't help but be a place where rich kids who can't accept that they are no clever enough for one of the two ancient universities go. However that's inevitable for any new institution. You can't start off at the top of the pile.
The main problem with the project is that Grayling is a leftie, and academic life is absolutely riddled with lefties. That includes Oxford and Cambridge. But at Oxford at least, there are always countervailing currents. The students know that their colleges are ancient theological foundations, some of the residual practices survive - most colleges have a chapel, for example. And conservative political organisations are quite strong amongst students, if conservative staff are getting rarer and rarer. Grayling has eliminated theology from his college. It seems to me that it's teaching a narrow little left-wing vision, parasitic on the works of great men, but refusing to take seriously the ideas that those men took seriously.
Adam and Abagail Go to St Tom's is another fantasy paper institution of learning. Grayling's is real, I have to give him that.
It's possible to be too cynical, It sells itself as an alternative to Oxford and Cambridge. But Oxford and Cambridge retain their cachet largely because it is so difficult to obtain places there. Not because of the one to one tutorial system. The New College of the Humanities can't help but be a place where rich kids who can't accept that they are no clever enough for one of the two ancient universities go. However that's inevitable for any new institution. You can't start off at the top of the pile.
The main problem with the project is that Grayling is a leftie, and academic life is absolutely riddled with lefties. That includes Oxford and Cambridge. But at Oxford at least, there are always countervailing currents. The students know that their colleges are ancient theological foundations, some of the residual practices survive - most colleges have a chapel, for example. And conservative political organisations are quite strong amongst students, if conservative staff are getting rarer and rarer. Grayling has eliminated theology from his college. It seems to me that it's teaching a narrow little left-wing vision, parasitic on the works of great men, but refusing to take seriously the ideas that those men took seriously.
Adam and Abagail Go to St Tom's is another fantasy paper institution of learning. Grayling's is real, I have to give him that.
March 28, 2017
Alternatives to college
In the UK, university participation has increased from about 10% of the population to about 50% within the past generation. Part of this is artificial because the polytechnics were relabelled "universities" (so you've got universities with the word "city"in their names to distinguish from the city's established university). But mostly it's real, it's a massive expansion of higher education.
One unfortunate effect is that government is no longer able to fund it. So students now have to borrow about 50,000 pounds to fund tuition fees and living costs. A lot of that money is proving difficult to repay, despite the fact that the repayments are deducted directly from wages. It's privileged debt. 50 thousand pounds is two to three years' gross earnings for most people.
Another unfortunate effect is that being in the 50% who don't go to university is very different socially from being in the 90% who don't go. If 9 out of 10 don't go, then except for a few professions, most jobs have to be open to non-graduates. if 50% go, then employers use a degree as an automatic filter. There's no easy alternative, as of yet.
However the seemingly impregnable position of higher education is in fact very delicate. The students, once you get beyond the top few institutions, care little for any academic subject for its own sake. They're looking for certification as a member of the top 50% of society, and they resent having to pay so much money for it. And a few large companies are starting to offer high quality apprenticeships. If these apprenticeships proliferate, children who would have been to middle-ranking universities will compete ferociously for them. That then creates a situation whereby if you have a degree, that means that you applied for an apprenticeship at 18 and was rejected. And no-one wants to pay 50,000 pounds for something with a stigma attached to it. I think we are close to the end of the mass higher education era.
One unfortunate effect is that government is no longer able to fund it. So students now have to borrow about 50,000 pounds to fund tuition fees and living costs. A lot of that money is proving difficult to repay, despite the fact that the repayments are deducted directly from wages. It's privileged debt. 50 thousand pounds is two to three years' gross earnings for most people.
Another unfortunate effect is that being in the 50% who don't go to university is very different socially from being in the 90% who don't go. If 9 out of 10 don't go, then except for a few professions, most jobs have to be open to non-graduates. if 50% go, then employers use a degree as an automatic filter. There's no easy alternative, as of yet.
However the seemingly impregnable position of higher education is in fact very delicate. The students, once you get beyond the top few institutions, care little for any academic subject for its own sake. They're looking for certification as a member of the top 50% of society, and they resent having to pay so much money for it. And a few large companies are starting to offer high quality apprenticeships. If these apprenticeships proliferate, children who would have been to middle-ranking universities will compete ferociously for them. That then creates a situation whereby if you have a degree, that means that you applied for an apprenticeship at 18 and was rejected. And no-one wants to pay 50,000 pounds for something with a stigma attached to it. I think we are close to the end of the mass higher education era.
March 27, 2017
Retreat
When I started this blog I resolved to write one post per day. Regular readers will have noticed that I've had to break that. I've been on retreat, away from my electronic gizmos. It's meant to be a quiet period for spiritual reflection.
Most of us won't attend a monastic school like St Tom's, and very few of us will become monks or nuns. But retreats are quite widely available to all. Normally they are booked by a parish or similar group, but you don't have to be an active member of the parish to be welcome. Some retreats are silent, others are more relaxed, and the definition of a "silent retreat" varies from place to place. It's a taste of monastic life, though you can't normally share the life of the monks or nuns - the problem there is that whilst they can welcome new people every two weeks or so as guests, they can't welcome them as temporary members and keep their sanity. So there has to be a certain distance, you'll only get to interact much with the members especially designated to work with the retreat.
In a world of 24/7 electronic communication, retreats are more important than ever before. I removed all mobile devices from St Tom's, partly for plot reasons - online exchanges are hard to write up well - but also to make the point that being constantly in contact isn't good for children's development, and isn't good for adults either. I don't normally carry a mobile phone (I have one because when going to work meetings, if something crops up, it's not acceptable to say I couldn't phone because I am too eccentric to have a mobile phone).
Most of us won't attend a monastic school like St Tom's, and very few of us will become monks or nuns. But retreats are quite widely available to all. Normally they are booked by a parish or similar group, but you don't have to be an active member of the parish to be welcome. Some retreats are silent, others are more relaxed, and the definition of a "silent retreat" varies from place to place. It's a taste of monastic life, though you can't normally share the life of the monks or nuns - the problem there is that whilst they can welcome new people every two weeks or so as guests, they can't welcome them as temporary members and keep their sanity. So there has to be a certain distance, you'll only get to interact much with the members especially designated to work with the retreat.
In a world of 24/7 electronic communication, retreats are more important than ever before. I removed all mobile devices from St Tom's, partly for plot reasons - online exchanges are hard to write up well - but also to make the point that being constantly in contact isn't good for children's development, and isn't good for adults either. I don't normally carry a mobile phone (I have one because when going to work meetings, if something crops up, it's not acceptable to say I couldn't phone because I am too eccentric to have a mobile phone).
March 23, 2017
No-fault divorce
There's a move to have so-called "no fault" divorce in this country. Currently the law is that you can have a divorce immediately for unreasonable behaviour, or after two years' separation by mutual consent, or after five years' separation by unilateral demand of one partner. The truth is that "unreasonable behaviour" is drawn so widely that it's effectively divorce on demand. But at least lip-service is paid to the fact that the couple agreed to marry. No-fault divorce sweeps even that away.
Whenever you make divorce easier, you get more of it. As you would expect. So the question is whether an easy divorce is worth the price of more divorces. You always get individuals who claim that divorce made their lives happier. But divorce is almost never good for children.
In Adam and Abagail Go to St Tom's I've tried to show several types of intact and divorced family. So the twins have a particularly poisonous divorce, as has James. The two Marys also have divorced parents, and Mandy has a chaotic, collapsed family life. Cecilia , OTOH, comes from a loving home, whilst Sebastian's parents have a troubled but intact marriage. Albert also has parents who are together.
What I didn't show was a fighting couple who ought to divorce, because I doubt, certainly where children are involved, that there are such couples. Almost every couple can put on a bit of a front for open day at their child's school, and that is what the child really needs - a set of two parents who are interested in him and are his.
No fault divorce is a lie, because whilst the fault might be mutually shared, it's not possible for a marriage to fail without one or both partners being at fault. it also completely ignores the interests of children.
Whenever you make divorce easier, you get more of it. As you would expect. So the question is whether an easy divorce is worth the price of more divorces. You always get individuals who claim that divorce made their lives happier. But divorce is almost never good for children.
In Adam and Abagail Go to St Tom's I've tried to show several types of intact and divorced family. So the twins have a particularly poisonous divorce, as has James. The two Marys also have divorced parents, and Mandy has a chaotic, collapsed family life. Cecilia , OTOH, comes from a loving home, whilst Sebastian's parents have a troubled but intact marriage. Albert also has parents who are together.
What I didn't show was a fighting couple who ought to divorce, because I doubt, certainly where children are involved, that there are such couples. Almost every couple can put on a bit of a front for open day at their child's school, and that is what the child really needs - a set of two parents who are interested in him and are his.
No fault divorce is a lie, because whilst the fault might be mutually shared, it's not possible for a marriage to fail without one or both partners being at fault. it also completely ignores the interests of children.
March 22, 2017
Sick notes
A schools has been clamping down on non-attendance due to minor illness. 6th formers (that is, children 16-18 years of age) have been told to come in if they have a minor infection or stomach complaint. The school was too diplomatic to mention hangovers and adverse effects from illegal drugs.
I'm with Norton Knatchbull school on this. A few years ago, schools demanded doctors' notes for absences, but that was hopeless as GPs were overwhelmed with trivial cases. So you have to rely on a parental certification. And it's a grammar school, selective, which means that generally parents' judgement can be trusted.
However 6th formers are beyond "mum writes a sick note" stage. So the school is stuck with self-certification. Most employers take a pretty intolerant line on staff who keep on pulling sickies, it depends on the business of course, but generally it's a nuisance to the business and unfair to other staff who have to cover. Schools should be similar. Non-attendance breaks the chain of lessons, it's damaging to education and needs to be clamped down upon.
But ultimately 6th form is meant to be voluntary education. So whilst sarcastic comments and demands to justify to head of 6th form are appropriate as a non-attendance problem develops, ultimately the non-attendees should be allowed to win. They fail their exams and don't get into a good university.
There's also the issue of stress due to excessive pressure to pass exams manifesting itself as psycho-somatic symptoms. Girls are particularly susceptible to this, often it presents as self-harming, or eating disorders. A robust approach to sick notes won't help here, but it won't harm either, except in the general context of being a contributor to the excessive pressure to succeed in exams. If a school has a sick note problem, it needs to look to itself as well as to the pupils. It's a sign that not all is well.
I'm with Norton Knatchbull school on this. A few years ago, schools demanded doctors' notes for absences, but that was hopeless as GPs were overwhelmed with trivial cases. So you have to rely on a parental certification. And it's a grammar school, selective, which means that generally parents' judgement can be trusted.
However 6th formers are beyond "mum writes a sick note" stage. So the school is stuck with self-certification. Most employers take a pretty intolerant line on staff who keep on pulling sickies, it depends on the business of course, but generally it's a nuisance to the business and unfair to other staff who have to cover. Schools should be similar. Non-attendance breaks the chain of lessons, it's damaging to education and needs to be clamped down upon.
But ultimately 6th form is meant to be voluntary education. So whilst sarcastic comments and demands to justify to head of 6th form are appropriate as a non-attendance problem develops, ultimately the non-attendees should be allowed to win. They fail their exams and don't get into a good university.
There's also the issue of stress due to excessive pressure to pass exams manifesting itself as psycho-somatic symptoms. Girls are particularly susceptible to this, often it presents as self-harming, or eating disorders. A robust approach to sick notes won't help here, but it won't harm either, except in the general context of being a contributor to the excessive pressure to succeed in exams. If a school has a sick note problem, it needs to look to itself as well as to the pupils. It's a sign that not all is well.
March 21, 2017
Technical innovations in the classroom
There's constantly a call to introduce new technology in the classroom, to overcome a perceived lack of adult engineers, computer programmers, scientists and so on in the wider economy. Sometimes there is also the claim that new technology can accelerate learning.
On the first, what limits the economy, as far as schools are concerned, is the number of 6th formers leaving school with good qualifications in maths, physics and chemistry. ,But all of those subjects can be taught up to a good pre-university standard with technology available in the first half of the 20th century. It's only at university level itself that students need to be taught state of the art techniques.
On the second, the claim that technology can accelerate learning, yes there will always be instances where that is true. But use of technology is not a good way to judge a school, it's not a factory. There's no point teaching industry standard software packages except in the last years of secretarial qualifications, because by the time the children enter the workforce, the packages will have changed. There is a case for getting children familiar with a mouse and keyboard, if only because typing is a lot faster than hand-writing material, and easier for teacher to read. Technology can also be used as a gimmick. Gimmicks by definition lose their effectiveness if you try them too often, but that doesn't mean you should have no gimmicks. Just that the gimmick - a 3D printed molecule or whatever - can't be the mainstay of your educational strategy.
Finally, programming is addictive. A "code junkie" is better than a real junkie, but it's still something to avoid.
On the first, what limits the economy, as far as schools are concerned, is the number of 6th formers leaving school with good qualifications in maths, physics and chemistry. ,But all of those subjects can be taught up to a good pre-university standard with technology available in the first half of the 20th century. It's only at university level itself that students need to be taught state of the art techniques.
On the second, the claim that technology can accelerate learning, yes there will always be instances where that is true. But use of technology is not a good way to judge a school, it's not a factory. There's no point teaching industry standard software packages except in the last years of secretarial qualifications, because by the time the children enter the workforce, the packages will have changed. There is a case for getting children familiar with a mouse and keyboard, if only because typing is a lot faster than hand-writing material, and easier for teacher to read. Technology can also be used as a gimmick. Gimmicks by definition lose their effectiveness if you try them too often, but that doesn't mean you should have no gimmicks. Just that the gimmick - a 3D printed molecule or whatever - can't be the mainstay of your educational strategy.
Finally, programming is addictive. A "code junkie" is better than a real junkie, but it's still something to avoid.
Faith schools and Catholic culture.
The blog deals mainly with my book Adam and Abagail Go to St Tom's. Like many British Catholic boarding schools, St Tom's is a monastic school. I intend to deal with issues concerning education, and h
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