Diary
The McCain/Palin ticket
31 August, 2008
Politics, as we well know, is full of surprises. The choice of Sarah Palin as John Mc Cain’s Republican running mate seems to be a perfect example at first glance. Until 2 years ago, Palin was the mayor of a small town in Alaska and her familiarity with high office has been limited to say the least. This fact alone undercuts the central charge of the McCain camp that Obama is a political lightweight whose election represents an untenable gamble with America’s security. Palin can hardly complain about Obama’s inexperience.
McCain is also a 72 year old with a history of health problems. One might have thought that on this basis alone, he would have chosen a credible and experienced running mate who could take up the reins of power in the event of his (possible) incapacitation.
But before you conclude that McCain has been struck by a bout of terminal insanity, consider this. The Arizona senator is desperate to win over diehard ‘blue collar’ Hillary supporters who cannot reconcile themselves to the Obama campaign. Palin may help to win over some of these voters. He is also desperate to ensure the support of female Republicans who are doubtful about the current Presidential candidate. Palin has an aversion to abortion and same sex marriage and she is also a staunch supporter of the gun lobby. All of this will go down well with socially conservative Republicans.
Of course, this is a political gamble of extraordinary proportions. If it succeeds, it is the masterstroke that confirms McCain’s strategic genius. If it fails, it may be seen as yet another cynical short term gesture at the voters’ expense. I still believe the Republicans can pull it off come November, despite Obama’s formidable appeal. At least we are guaranteed a fascinating contest.
topRecycled appeasement from Senator Obama
26 August, 2008
So Barack Obama has started to talk tough on the Iranian threat? As the Jerusalem Post reports today, the Presidential hopeful gave a speech on Monday in which he said that the world had to prevent Iran from becoming a regional nuclear power. Israel, he said, would feel highly threatened if Iran achieved its nuclear ambitions, given the fiery rhetoric of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
This all sounds like a far cry from Obama’s declaration earlier this year that he would sit down with the leaders of rogue states, including Iran and Cuba. No doubt the charge that he is a foreign policy lightweight with little experience has finally got to him. Hence his decision to select the very experienced and knowledgeable Senator Biden as a running mate for the White House. But if one looks carefully at Obama’s speech, it is clear that he was far from endorsing the tough line needed to deter the mullahs of Tehran.
"My job as president would be to try to make sure that we are tightening the screws diplomatically on Iran, that we've mobilized the world community to go after Iran's program in a serious way and to get sanctions in place so that Iran starts making a difficult calculation…”
What does ‘tightening the screws diplomatically’ actually mean? It presumably means yet another round of pointless manoeuvres at the Security Council, producing more watered down and impotent resolutions? It means voting for more sanctions that will be rendered useless by the machinations of China and Russia. There is no sign that Obama would tighten the screws on Iran’s hideous theocratic regime. Commenting on the effect of Iran’s belligerence on Israel, Obama said: "We've got to do that (use diplomacy) before Israel feels like its back is to the wall." But it is precisely because Israel’s allies have renounced military options that Israel feels it may have to act unilaterally.
What does seem certain is that the current Bush line on Iran (acquiescing in tough talk and rejecting tough options) is the Obama line as well. And if anyone thought that Senator Biden would toughen up Obama’s approach to foreign threats, they were much mistaken. This is not change we can believe in. It is recycled appeasement.
topThe great GCSE swindle
22 August, 2008
Many will be celebrating the record rise in GCSE passes recorded yesterday. Once again, there has been an annual rise, not only in the numbers gaining 5 good GCSE (A*-C), but also in those recording the highest grade (over 20%). The students themselves deserve congratulation for their unstinting effort and application over the course of 2 years.
Yet the inexorable rise in passes cannot mask the underlying problems with this examination: grade inflation, the simplification of questions, the reduction in the numbers doing ‘hard’ subjects and the shift away from the traditional curriculum.
Grade inflation is familiar enough to most of us. If you want to artificially raise the numbers passing any exam, you simply lower the grade boundaries and then claim in rather spurious fashion that ‘standards are getting better.’ This has undoubtedly happened across the board, most noticeably in Maths where you can pass with a mark of 16% with one exam board. This gives a highly misleading impression of teaching and learning standards as well as actual pupil progress.
It is not just pass marks that are the problem. The expectations for what students are required to do have also changed with progressive dumbing down now the norm. In one foundation paper for AQA Maths, students were asked to measure a straight line and write down its length in millimetres. In another question, they were asked to look at a diagram of a thermometer which had two clearly visible temperatures and then write down these temperatures. Another question asks students to multiply 350 by 2. None of these questions should have appeared in a supposedly rigorous test of pre A level Mathematics ability.
The world of science fares little better. In 2006, Sir Richard Sykes of Imperial College, London attacked the new science ‘core’ qualification as lacking rigour or adequate scientific content. He warned of a dumbed down syllabus in which discussion of issues like global warming and mobile phone technology was replacing actual knowledge of the sciences. As he and others pointed out, if science teaching ignored the fundamentals of the subject, it was pointless arguing about its application to society. Yet the move away from ‘separate sciences’ has been sadly underway in many schools.
Criticisms of dumbing down are not confined to these subjects alone. Julian Lloyd Webber has slated the GCSE in Music which allowed pupils to pass with little ability to read sheet music. Strong criticisms have been made of a Geography exam that allows pupils to pass by drawing cartoons and writing poetry, all to do with ‘creative pupil presentation methods.’ What these examples have in common is a systematic retreat from the rigorous testing of hard won knowledge. Often pupils are tested for their opinions, no matter how irrelevant or ill informed.
But the problem with GCSEs does not stop there. The uptake for many of the harder subjects, such as foreign languages and history, is getting lower each year as students are pushed towards ‘easier’ subjects. Some schools are trying to artificially massage their figures by getting pupils to do vocational qualifications that are worth several GCSEs. The resulting league table positions are of course fundamentally misleading, both for pupils and parents.
But even if die hard sceptics reject all of the above, the figures themselves are still alarming. We have yet to see half of our current students receive 5 good GCSEs, including the core subjects of English and Maths. If you add a foreign language to the list, this figure drops even further. Yet the government still insists that it wants 50% of pupils to go to university.
Above all, well over 20% of pupils still leave school without a single decent GCSE, meaning that the growing army of NEETS (those not in employment, education or training) will only get bigger. Perhaps that is the greatest indictment of all.
topBrown should cut short his holiday
18 August, 2008
Europe’s leaders continue to labour under the delusion that rogue regimes actually listen to them. This explains why President Sarkozy was so quick to hail the ‘ceasefire’ deal with the Russians. Many regarded it as a diplomatic triumph, the taming of the ‘bear’ by soft diplomacy. But it was nothing of the kind. You cannot have a ceasefire between 2 parties when the aggressor remains on enemy soil. You cannot have a ceasefire which fails to recognise the territorial integrity of the country which has been attacked. Russian troops are still stationed in Georgia, and not even just in South Ossetia. This makes the EU agreement the 2008 equivalent of the Munich agreement, borne of diplomatic and political weakness and desperation.
But then the EU was never designed to confront despots with force or the threat of military intervention. It was always designed as a counterweight to American power, a bastion of ‘soft power’ modelled on the legalistic but lightweight United Nations. Look at the timidity of European troops in Afghanistan and you will understand this point.
Still at least the French leader made the effort to find a diplomatic breakthrough. Weak though he was, Sarko was a highly visible presence on the world stage, attempting Europe’s own version of ‘speaking truth to power.’ As Janet Daley points out in today’s Telegraph, however, one cannot say the same of our own Prime Minister. In this Georgian crisis, Gordon Brown has been noticeable by his absence. He has barely sounded a note of concern in the last fortnight and (unlike David Cameron) made no trips to visit his allies. Instead he has reverted to the Macavity role, disappearing when a difficult issue rears its ugly head.
Brown’s inaction cannot be put down to the summer recess. Last summer he cut short a holiday to deal (quite effectively) with the twin threats of flooding and foot and mouth. Yet these issues pale into significance compared with the global threats we now face in the Baltic region.
Perhaps his domestic bust up with David Miliband is foremost in his mind. He may be plotting how to outmanoeuvre his nemesis and ensure his political survival beyond the next by election. But whatever his private demons, the Prime Minister cannot afford to retreat into isolationism. Britain is a major player on the world scene and Mr. Brown is fully aware of that. The least he owes this country, and our allies around the world, is to offer a firm and resolute voice in an international crisis.
topA level of mediocrity
15 August, 2008
No one should doubt the effort made every year by thousands of students in taking their A levels. But with another year comes the predictable rise in grades and the usual hackneyed excuses offered by big government. This is the 26th year in which the pass rate has gone up, now standing at nearly 97%, while over a quarter of all exams are given an A grade. At this rate no one will fail the exam by 2010 while top grades will have become meaningless. Such is the debasement of standards under New Labour.
Government ministers regularly trot out the line that standards are rising, that teaching standards are improving and that IQs are getting higher. Apparently all is rosy in the classroom. But this facile argument flies in the face of the facts. Since the modular system was introduced and the A level split into 2 parts (AS and A2), students have been retaking exams, sometimes as many as 3 times in a 2 year slot. Naturally this has provided a much better chance to master exam technique and boost grades accordingly.
Grade inflation also seems to be an incontrovertible fact about this exam. It has been estimated that if a student received a C grade in 1988 for an A level, they would now receive an A for the same work, a leap of 2 grades. In Maths, the leap is at least 3 and maybe 4 grades. In each case, the numbers receiving top grades have risen to the point where it is harder to differentiate exceptional candidates from the rest. Hence the familiar litany of complaints about easier exams from universities and employers, and their resort to independent testing for prospective entrants and employees.
The introduction of a new A* grade is a tacit admission that these exams has effectively failed the most exceptional students. It may be that the new A level changes next year (4 modules instead of 6, rigorous essay work and a new top grade) help to restore some confidence in this examination. But you need a truly Panglossian perspective to think that the mess created over the last decade can be cleared up quickly.
topDeviant Cassie
London, UK
19/08/2008
The debasement of standards by New Labour? Have they been in power for the 26 years that the pass rate has gone up? A hypocritical litany of complaints from many who would doubtless defend their own academic success since 1992.
Russia should be thrown out of the G8
12 August, 2008
Georgia may not be blameless in the current Baltic turmoil but it is clear who the real aggressor is. Russia’s attacks in South Ossetia and its incursions into Gori have already claimed thousands of lives, according to some reports. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, let the cat out of the bag yesterday about his country’s aims in this conflict. Far from wanting to ‘protect’ Russians living in South Ossetia, Lavrov said that President Saakashvili ‘had to go.’ In other words, the Russian aim was to enforce regime change in their democratic neighbour.
Russia’s attack on Georgia, and its prior interference in the country’s affairs reflect a long held desire to flex her muscles in the region. Quite simply the Russian leadership, and principally Vladimir Putin, cannot stomach the fact that the Georgian government has been so warmly embraced by the West. The growing links with NATO, indeed the possibility that Georgia could become a NATO member, have fuelled the Kremlin’s fears of creeping Western colonialism in Eurasia.
But it has been a long held ambition of Putin to reassert Russian control in what it sees as its own ‘backyard.’ Putin always believed the collapse of the Soviet Union to be a geopolitical disaster of the first magnitude. He came to view the collapse of the Soviet Empire as an outright humiliation that had to be rectified in the future. The ‘energy bullying’ of Russia’s neighbours, the increase in Russia’s military budget, the harsh confrontation over the nuclear defence shield and the Kremlin’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric all stem from a resurgence of Russian nationalism and a desire to extend Russian muscle in their ‘sphere of influence’. Anything that is seen to get in their way (pro Western neighbours, missile systems) becomes an automatic enemy.
Of course it would be unthinkable for the Western powers to go to war over this issue. Russia still has formidable military forces and is, let us not forget, it is a major nuclear power. But pretending that we have no options here would also be wrong. Russia should be threatened with ejection from the G8 unless it agrees to an internationally mediated settlement that restores Georgia’s sovereignty and sees all forces removed from that country. The country’s membership of other prestigious international bodies should be made dependent on its good behaviour. Above all, the West must realise that the days of East-West co-operation are well and truly over.
topOlympian propaganda
10 August, 2008
It was hard not to be awed by China’s gala exhibition of Olympic might on Friday. The oriental sound and light show, watched by an estimated 4 billion people, set new standards for an Olympic opening ceremony with its fireworks, puppetering and enthralling choreography. The Chinese were intent on producing a crowd pleasing spectacle and they hardly disappointed their audience.
Of course this was also a tremendous propaganda triumph for Chinese autocracy. Under the watchful eye of President Hu Jintao, tens of thousands of Chinese participants displayed the martial virtues of organization and efficiency, showing how a totalitarian regime could harness its nation’s vast resources in the service of sport.
One of China’s Olympic organizers said that he wanted the games to embody China’s dream of a ‘harmonious world.’ This is just the kind of bland catchphrase you might associate with the Olympics. But it also cleverly masks the fact that China is one of the most oppressive states on earth, a country that denies its people basic human rights, a state which perpetuates the suffering of stateless Tibetans and which currently finances some of the most corrupt regimes on earth in order to sustain its ‘miracle’ economic growth.
The pyrotechnic wizardry on display had faint echoes of Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl’s filmic paean to the Berlin Olympics of 1936. Just like Beijing in 2008, the Nazis created a breathtaking arena, a visual spectacle that showcased their nation in all its glory. But at the same time they downplayed domestic anti Semitism to give visitors the impression of an ordered, harmonious society. Their government was portrayed as peaceful and law abiding, far from being the predatory savages they actually were. They realised how sport could be used to prop up their own political system, a lesson not lost on the Chinese Communists today. History has a nasty habit of repeating itself – and of people ignoring its lessons.
topSpelling out educational failure
08 August, 2008
On the face of it, yesterday’s report (www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2510704/University-students-cannot-spell.html) about undergraduate’s poor spelling ought to be fairly unsurprising. Given that only around half of all GCSE students receive 5 good GCSEs (including Maths and English), one would hardly expect our education system to be producing a generation of Byrons. Still when one looks at some of the errors reported, it is hard not to be shocked.
Some students are unable to spell elementary words like ‘Wednesday,’ ‘speech’, ‘weird’ and ‘their.’ According to Dr Ken Smith, a lecturer in criminology at Bucks New University, spelling among new undergraduates is "atrocious" with many “failing to apply basic rules, such as ‘i before e, except after c.’” Indeed Dr Smith thinks that misspelling is so bad that it is better for university teachers to “accept as variant spelling those words our students most commonly misspell.”
Of course this is itself an atrocious idea. Certainly lecturers have got better things to do with their time than endlessly highlight spelling errors. They cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of reversing the educational rot of the last decade. But to turn a blind eye to such mistakes is to condone poor language and illiteracy, in turn ignoring the detrimental impact these problems will have for students later on.
One can only speculate on the reasons for such alarming mistakes. Perhaps one key factor is the ubiquitous presence of the text message with its shortened words and text speak. It is the preferred medium of communication for a great number of people. Perhaps another reason is the (consequent) decline in reading, with large numbers now addicted to ‘instant’ entertainment on their computers and Playstations. Many are too lazy to digest the printed word even though this would hugely improve people’s overall literacy. Whatever the reason, this report gives the lie to the notion that our education system is going from strength to strength.
topThe SATS fiasco
06 August, 2008
Even by New Labour standards the fiasco over this year’s SATS results is bewildering. Hundreds of thousands of pupils have waited weeks to receive their test results and even now, long after the expiry of the initial marking deadline, some schools are still waiting for the return of papers. ETS Europe, as the Tories have recently pointed out, has a history of making mistakes when it comes to marking. According to the New York Times in 2004, mismanagement by ETS was responsible for 40,000 teachers taking a flawed exam while two years later, they were criticised for their handling of graduate examinations. Yet it appears that they were chosen as being the cheapest option. Quite why Mr. Balls has not yet terminated the contract of ETS is beyond me.
Still, this mini crisis over SATS marking pales into insignificance compared to the much bigger one facing the examinations themselves. If the political think tank Civitas is right, our children’s educational future is being harmed by politicized meddling. Civitas carried out a telephone survey of secondary school teachers to see how useful they found the SATS as an indicator of pupil progress. The results are certainly disturbing. As they report on their website:
‘Nearly 80 per cent of the teachers surveyed believed these test scores had tended to exaggerate the level of ability of pupils. Most of these also believed the mismatch had been the result of schools ‘teaching to the test’, i.e. coaching pupils specifically for the tests. Instead of, as intended, reflecting the level of ability of pupils, their scoring well in these tests had become the objective of their schooling.’
The effect of ‘teaching to the test,’ as Civitas point out, is that the curriculum is narrowed to provide a focus on preparing pupils for English, Maths and Science tests. So pupils are being spoon fed the skills needed to pass tests at the expense of learning a broader range of topics, only to find that their subsequent results fail to reflect their actual ability in many cases. This test regime, as the report concludes allows schools to ‘skewer their teaching to boost results with little true educational benefit for their pupils.’
But then is this not the problem with the entire testing regime given to pupils from 11-18? Given the profusion of past exams and mark schemes on offer to teachers at Key Stages 3 and 4, it is hard not to tailor lessons in secondary school to meet the narrow exam agenda. More to the point, the grades achieved in dumbed down GCSEs and A levels also fail to reflect the real abilities of pupils in many cases, as lecturers at university, who constantly bemoan the poor literacy of each year’s intake, never tire of telling us.
The SATS fiasco, which has already let down thousands of children, is only a small part of a much wider problem. The real issue is the culture of target setting which has become an obsession under New Labour. In education, we can see its most pernicious effects. In order to meet government targets, teachers have had to skew teaching to get pupils to pass exams, denying those pupils a broader educational experience while failing to provide a wide enough picture of their strengths. The distorted effects of target setting with crime has also been well documented. The police, desperate to prove that they have increased safety and efficiency, count the conviction of petty offenders as equal to that of serious criminals. Violent crime may rise but as long as targets have been met, the police assure us that all is well. The end result is a grossly distorted picture of the overall crime rate, which is pretty much what you would expect.
The message from the SATS fiasco is that unless government stops its obsessive interference and meddling, we will continue to see a devaluation of what really counts – namely well educated and broad minded pupils.
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