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Friday 5 December 2008

Boris's new man

"At the time, I couldn't stand the Conservatives, I thought they were all a bunch of greedy bastards..."  Ray Lewis's appointment makes headlines in the Caribbean media:

Having first-hand experience in prison of what often happens to those who have no education, Lewis realized there had to be something better than locking young people up and he believed he had found it. Lewis returned to London and with minimal funding, opened the Eastside Young Leaders' Academy where, with parental agreement, local schools send pupils who may be disruptive or  violent after school. 

It has a military feel about it. The children march in line; Lewis barks high-decibel orders at them; there is mentoring. They read classics and poetry, but most importantly, they achieve self-worth and they pass exams. Many pupils were the most badly behaved at school, but Lewis aims that 100 per cent of the students achieve at least two A-levels and that 75 per cent of them are offered a university place. More importantly, zero per cent of them have any further involvement with the criminal justice system.

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