A Labour idea I wholeheartedly endorse!

[longfingernails]

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9386840/Why-the-military-must-invade-our-schools.html

Service schools are a fantastic idea. Michael Gove should adopt them as government policy immediately.

hope you are joking!

'cadets tend to have high levels of respect for authority and others, and high levels of self-esteem. They are likely to be committed citizens and have heightened aspirations.?

same could be said for kids who join judo classes, or even football

Cadets choose to be cadets.

I suspect soldier might not go down quite so well in classrooms where the occupants are less fond of authority.

Gove is a twat.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine Gove is the finest minister in the Cabinet.

That said, this isn't his idea. This comes from Labour (albeit the Blairites Twigg and Murphy) - see the title.

Give may very well be a twat, but this idea is from Labours loins.

"I suspect soldier might not go down quite so well in classrooms where the occupants are less fond of authority. "

Who cares if it "goes down well"? If it works, it works.

I am frankly amazed that Labour, with their hatred of the military and contempt for our armed services, came up with this - but credit where credit is due.

The govt are going to make so many soldiers redundant they have to find something to do with them. On the radio this morning they were talking about how a lot of them have psychological problems and they are expecting a rise in the crime rate when they start hitting the streets.

As I understand it, far from having high levels of self esteem, when they are kicked out of the army many feel depressed, unwanted and lack self-respect - wouldn't you? It's really not on to expect them to be prepared to die for their country and then to chuck them out of the army with nothing to give them instead.

So they'll need counselling, training and job opportunities. Now that anyone can start up a school, I'm sure there will be a few service schools and I hope they are successful, if that's what people want. But although I love the thought of adventure play and survival training, I hate the idea of militarising youngsters. Children parading in uniform, unquestioningly obeying authority figures - no thanks!

'cadets tend to have high levels of respect for authority and others, and high levels of self-esteem. They are likely to be committed citizens and have heightened aspirations.

First of all, respect for authority should be earned, not automatically given. Our rulers and leaders are not respected because they shouldn't be; they are corrupt and beholden to corporate interests. Teaching 'respect for authority' without 'respect for authority based on merit' is nothing more than teaching people to be unquestioning, docile, slaves.

Secondly, There is evidence that people who serve in the military commit more violent sexual assaults whilst in the military, and afterwards when they return to civilian life.

So why do we need to get the military involved in our education? It's clearly not necessary, since many countries don't involve their military in children's education, and many of these Western european countries produce highly educated and well-rounded children, who are also more suited to work than many UK children who leave school without basic grammar.

Solopower "Children parading in uniform, unquestioningly obeying authority figures"

I don't know what school you went to but my former comprehensive would fit that description and, as far as I can remember, there was no ex-service personnel on the teaching staff.

This initiative won't work for all kids but some will respond positively. It might also counteract some of the marxist cretins that currently infest some of our schools!

soldiers are a very particular demographic and if their offending rate is higher than average, that might be endemic to the demographic rather than the job.

this is a stupid idea, from Labour.
i find it interesting people have slated it as one of Gove's, when it isn't...

I sometimes teach people who have come up through the Chinese education system, which is, arguably, considered to be one of the best in the world. Chinese children do a lot of parading in uniform and are very obedient, at least on the surface. The young people I have met are impressive, especially in their ability to organise themselves and in their self discipline. But from what I am able to gather, there seems to be a lack of flexibility in the system, and in modern China imagination and creativity are not valued as much as we value them. But their results in the academic subjects are better than ours.

Is that the way to go then? To replace traditional Western individualism with a more selfless, communal, all for one and one for all approach?