One of the most worrying developments of recent years has been a belief that any adult who wants to teach or help children should be suspected of immoral tendencies. This has led to a belief that even the most innocent of actions should be seen as perverted until proved otherwise. It is harder to find a purer expression of this viewpoint than the videos produced by the musicians’ union called ‘Keeping children safe in music’ and backed by the NSPCC.
These videos urge music teachers never to touch children while teaching them. When you consider the process of teaching someone how to play the violin or the piano, you realise just how absurd this instruction is.
The great danger is that no one is prepared to challenge this thinking and so it becomes the norm. So it is refreshing that Michael Gove is using the bully pulpit of his office to take the musicians’ union and the NSPCC on over this.
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