Sorry K - as I said at the very beginning of this thread, I have had my criticisms of Anne, but it sounds to me like your position has been completely demolished. Previous comments have lead me to believe that you like old fashioned sense - so here are some things my Grandad used to say, as they seem entirely apposite:
A. Manners cost nothing and
B. Manners maketh the man
... to which I'd also add, if you act in an offensive way, why do you think you are owed a response by anyone? I doubt Anne's refusal to respond is based on the political point you're trying to make, as you've already destroyed your own credibility if your questions are so poorly written as to be nearly incomprehensible.
If you've a good point to make, make it clearly and at least with the pretence of civility and someone might bother to read it. But as a tip, don't bother forwarding North American neo-con rubbish. People with a level of sophistication are likely to find it offensive.
But before you think I'm getting cozy with Ms Snelgrove quite so quickly:
.....and don't get me started on his spelling, punctuation and grammar. Clearly Mr Reynolds was not educated under a Labour Government.
A good practical point - but cheapened by making it political Anne - and a highly questionable one for a lot of the public who've experienced education across the ebb and flow of several governments:
1: Employers can see through the smokescreen of supposed year-on-year exam improvements and are at pains to complain over the fact that school leavers with apparently good grades appear incapable of basic literacy or numeracy (a comment borne out by comments from University lecturers too - NOT a group of people famous for their right-wing inclinations)
2: The Government YOU served in introduced student loans. Instead of
helping students from lower income families, you actually
added to their financial burden and exacerbated a problem begun by the tories when they froze grants. Perhaps Mr Reynolds would have benefited from a return to University as a mature student - but a degree which would once have been free to him is now likely to see him saddled with a £30k+ loan. The stats speak for themselves - fewer people from poorer backgrounds are seeking higher education. That this process of recreating a new class system was continued under a Labour government seems incredible.
3: Documentaries like 'That'll Teach 'em' showed that claims for the improvement of educational standards and achievement are at best HIGHLY questionable:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1440188/Is-this-the-proof-that-GCSEs-are-easier-than-the-old-O-level-exams.html4: No doubt the success of your policies explain the lack of support they received by so many teachers - staff who were utterly fed up with the micro-management, the ever changing sets of spurious criteria (not to mention the enormous waste of time) and the mountains of increasing bureaucracy. Slow-clapping at a teachers conference is not the enthusiastic response your marvellous policies should have engendered amongst the professionals expected to enact them - especially as so many of those same professionals are ordinarily of a left-leaning persuasion.
5. The 'fact' that O/GCSE and A pass rates have
supposedly being going up for the past 28 years proves not that kids are getting a better education - but that teachers and governments are getting better at getting them through exams to generate the positive statistics upon which future funding (and consequently their careers) depend. The people at the sharp end though can clearly see that education standards in terms of applicable skills appear to have declined.
6. CASE EXAMPLE: I am currently studying at a college where four disruptive younger students have openly stated that they are
only there for their EMA. As they are through the probationary period of their first six weeks - and the college depends upon low-to-zero drop our after this period so as not to effect future funding - these four idiots are going to end up with THE SAME qualification as the rest of us who are putting in the effort. EMA was an appallingly short-sighted way to bribe unsuitable students into staying on for irrelevant qualifications.
7. CASE EXAMPLE: Another student has a two year old degree qualification in Geography - and yet has failed a basic level two English exam twice and a basic Health and Safety exam once - and repeatedly demonstrates that he has difficulty with his reading and writing (no, he doesn't have a learning disability or dyslexia either). A nearly illiterate recent graduate in a subject supposedly requiring essay writing skills. Coincidence?
These things happened under the tenure of your party. I don't think you have anything to crow about.
