Things have come to a pretty pass when the Secretary of State for Education endorses ignorance and scoffs at knowledge pretending, one is given to understand, that it’s just a kind of posh irrelevance favoured only by the terminally stuffy and fuddy-duddy and out-of-touch. Such, however, seems to be the case for you poor English folk, lumbered as you are with the grim Mr Edward Balls. I’d thought Boris must be exaggerrating matters in his Telegraph column today. As the Mayor puts it:
That’s bad enough, but not, apparently, the limit of Balls’ vainglorious Philistinism. Here’s Jane Thynne in the Independent:“Speaking on the radio, Spheroids dismissed the idea that Latin could inspire or motivate pupils. Head teachers often took him to see the benefits of dance, or technology, or sport, said this intergalactic ass, and continued: “No one has ever taken me to a Latin lesson to make the same point. Very few parents are pushing for it, very few pupils want to study it.”
Emphasis added. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that a mediocrity such as Balls can rise so far but it remains a depressing commentary on our political class that he can. One need not think latin should be a compulsory subject (though lord knows it wouldn’t do any harm if more people were taught classics) to believe that removing Mr Balls from office, and preferably parliament too, ought to be a priority and reason enough to desire a change in government.“Even when he wasn’t speaking, the figure of our education minister dominated this excellent documentary like the bully at the back of the class. He is anti-Latin, for example, because “very few businesses are asking for it”. Which would suggest he thinks business should decide what gets taught in school. “Cui bono?” asked Anne, but if he got her meaning, he certainly wasn’t letting on.”
It’s not so much that Balls is anti-latin, though that’s depressing anyway, but the “reasons” (if they can be so dignified) for his prejudice and what these in turn reveal about his approach to education and all the rest of it. Grim.
UPDTE: Bella Gerens is also unhappy with Mr Colei.
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