Education ... Education.... Education

It's a great privilege having teenagers in the house, especially when it's not just your own and you can go beyond the parental moans about tidying your room (you should see Dad's study!!), doing some work for your GCSE's and squandering the family inheritance before we've even popped our clogs. You hear some interesting, inspiring and sometimes alarming things, at least when the've stopped reciting the middle names of all the characters in "Friends".

I think the most alarming thing these days is what our society and schools are doing to our youngsters. It's bad enough that schools are mainly a sausage machine pumping out GCSE passes and A Level grades to keep them near the top of the league tables. And it's mainly an emphasis on pretty mechanical and boring subjects.. now in my day even O level latin had its interesting side. I also remember teachers who were both inspiring about their subjects and quite good fun as well (though I know I've obliterated from my memory the horrible ones). I don't hear kids saying that about many teachers these days.. and when I meet them I think I know why.

Then there is the emphasis on conformity, apparently at one local school you can get a yellow card and put in solitary confinement for not having your tie straight and leaving your top neck button undone. Well back in the 60's we did have to wear school caps or berets... but I can't remember anyone getting in trouble for wearing them backwards.

Finally and worst of all is what I hear about surveillance in schools. Of course there is CCTV everywhere and electronic registration sytems. At one local school all the kids are fingerprinted and need to use their fingerprints to get into the classroom. Of course the really serious burglar only has to kidnap a student, chop off the middle finger and use this as a magic key to gain access. At another local, quite elite school, they are installing metal detectors and apparently the police are often waiting outside randomly frisking youths for weapons or whatever.

What is all this paranoia and social control doing to our young people? Why is no-one willing to trust young people as a species?