to say this enraged mum has finally told the truth about crap schools?

[auntyitaly]

New Times blog from AN Mum, ranting about the grim primary. No idea where she is or how she got the job, but she seems to have bested most of the experts. Or am I being a bit bitter?

Witty mum on the rant

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

no

she has spoken about a crap school

tbh I am getting a bit sick of school bashing

by and large the vast majority of our children get a good education in this country

[folds arms]

[OrmIrian]

What truth?

The fact that one particular school isn't great and doesn't appreciate the pta. Big whoop

[auntyitaly]

Mmm....such a good education that it comes under 20th in the European league tables (27 countries, and Luxembourg counts.

Shouldn't it be bashed if it's bad? Maybe I am being a little harsh, but hey, it's not as if education is important.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

can't be arsed to get into a row about it, Sept/Oct always sees a huge rise in school bashing on MN

sigh

[TrickOrTrefusis]

No, she hasn't. That is an extended anecdote.

[preciouslillywhite]

you're right, Boys- shall stick it on my (now v long) list of current hidden schoolbashing threads



[yaaaaaawn]

[southeastastra]

that's not even that interesting

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

arf at us yawners here



actually

4

[auntyitaly]

And she's saying teachers suffer a little from inertia....

[Blu]

I would be very surprised if a teacher said that line about 'no you child can't have a book...'

Of course there should be rigourous criticism of bad schools and under-performing education provision. In this anonymous blog we haven't actually learned how the children fare academically. I went to a highly academic and competitive school with rank, dank toilets, peeling paint and plaster and leaking rooves.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

well

my primary has a v low achieving cohort at reception and the children do v well

so ner

[TrickOrTrefusis]

Who's a teacher?

Seriously, aunty - surely you can't be suggesting that this one woman's experience in a reception class is representative of an entire education system? Certainly, the management of the school she describes sound like a shower of assholes. But it's an article about one crap school.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

This is not a traditional AIBU is it

We are all too inert to do anything other than shrug and say, yeah, well one school does not an entire edumacational system make, innit

[SomeGuy]

Why shouldn't she describe her child's crap school? Is she supposed to keep stoically quiet while the government goes on about its tractor production figures achievements on education?

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

yy some guy but one can't extrapolate one crap school to encompass all schools

or summat

I'm too inert to summon the energy to construct more atm

[southeastastra]

my ds(16s) first school was in a london borough, probably really looked down on my the middle class north london masses now. it was fab though and i actually really miss how eclectic and mixed the school was.

[auntyitaly]

I'm not suggesting this lone anecodotal blog entry is an encylopedic enquiry into the UK state system - but the comments from its readers suggest that she's identified some very typical problems in schools that aren't great - and hit a nerve.

Of course some achools are bad, just as companies, plumbers and shops can be - I don't think she's attacking education per se, just pointing out various reasons why problems come about.

And I do think hearing from someone at the coalface but without a vested interest in praising education is a good thing.

It's quite rare to be able to hear from a parent talking about education in the nationals - usually they're a token quote or bumped off into other parenting issues on the back pages. but they represent a lot of people.

Whether you think she's BU in her opinions or not, we ought to hear more of her.

[southeastastra]

is she you?

[SomeGuy]

I think her blog is quite interesting actually. She's obviously a middle-class parent with energy to devote the school, but the school aren't interested.

The reason why is interesting in itself - probably they've had enough experience of parents actually conflicting with their job as teachers that they feel they have to educate the children by themselves and that parents need to be kept out as much as possible.

Or perhaps they are simply worn down and jaded.

Whatever it is, I do think it asks some useful questions.

[Blu]

No, I don't think we should hear more from her while she remians anonymous.
Blogging is different from newspaper coverage.

[diddl]

Just me who didn´t find it amusing/interesting, then?

[SomeGuy]

It is a blog though. And of course she can't put her name on it, that would be damaging to her child's education if it pisses off the teachers.

[OrmIrian]

No diddl. I didn't find it interesting or amusing either.

Bloody hell MN is so party political atm. Every post seems to come with a side order of party fucking politics atm. Quite depressing IMO.

[Blu]

So we can't verify how much is in there to get her into the Times. How dressed up it is. Truly, that book coment sounds like an attempt at a 'PC GORN MAAAD' joke.

But it might be true, I suppose. If a teacher said something like that at DS's (inner-city S LOndon state school) I wouldn't blog and bleat, I would be taking it up with the Head.

[auntyitaly]

No it isn't me! I'm only assuming it's a fake name because I haven't seen her name or writing before (sniffs).

And I'm only keen on her stuff because it's great to have a parent getting a voice about education in the press - no one else is doing this, believe it or not.

All we parents ever get in the papers is a) ripped off by the DM b) graciously allowed to discuss whether children should come to weddings c) first-person stories from people who've had unusual, usually remarkably unpleasant, upbringings.

So I say good luck to her. And she could be a Mumsnetter! (hopeful emoticon).