Fundamentally speaking

I was reading Nietzsche, as you do, when it became clear that much of the foundation for our thought and the pronouncements we make about our fellow man, his habits,his ethics, his morals, his basis for believing and what he believes could be flawed.   What then ????

His thinking covered many aspects of the human condition.
Much of what we believe as the foundation of human ideas and ideals come from Ancient Greece and the philosophers who considered  man and the known world around them. The "noble" constructs pertaining to ethics and morals, good and bad, right and wrong, were born and largely have stayed with us from those days.



They were the construct of a Philosophical Nobility who developed an ideal born of the concept of nobility and the hierarchy that was established between people.
The noble instinct for being magnanimous towards others. The concept of behaviour towards each other. The concept of right and wrong but always with the caveat that certain rights and certain wrongs were different according to the position of the person in the social hierarchy. We find this thinking, echoing in our ears today !!
 

But what of pre-history before the Greeks, before the Indus Valley, before the  Egyptians, before, before, before.  Pre history before we had writing or grew crops, before we gathered in groups to socialise and divide labour, when man was close to the animals he hunted, in this time there was no concept of conscience, no good or evil, only survival.

Were these people, "lesser people" than the people of later stages in our development ?  Is the the construct that we hold correct, that people have values which are innate and are ingrained, or is it a "learnt" trade, a philosophical concoction imposed by the people in power.  
 
How often the claim that we all have a moral compass that governs our lives and on which many of our laws are based. It would indeed be a sad world without some sort of a common ground to evaluate each other against our own beliefs. Of course we tear ourselves apart when confronted by groups of people even nations who have a very different concept of what is good and bad.
If these concepts are not fundamental to mankind then what if anything is ?   
  

Satisfying others !!

"I'm a little drunk tonight and I need you" ! So the words to the song go.

Many songs that entole  this heartfelt desire to share our very being with another. The blood rising, contemplating the special link, the desire to open up and confess our deepest thoughts. There is no other combination that has this effect of destabilising a perfectly rational human being, turning them into a gibbering idiot. They call it chemistry, they call it the sexual urge, they call it a primeval.
The rational, balanced, considerate approach to life is demolished with an irrational response that overwhelms the senses and makes a mockery of a persons ego and self respect.
Yet as an alternative, who would swop,those moments of being "head over heel in love". As 

Oscar Wilde famously said "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" 

How we fall under the perversive influence of society and its norms. How we mimic the culture we are brought up in and sell ourselves to the high table of conformity.How we forget our youth and the irrational urges that made us, unknowable to our parents. Urges that are at the root of our existence but are quickly sublimated in the need to conform to a common denominator.

I was remembering how dancing released a deep-seated sense of ones individuality, an ability to extend oneself through music and its exciting rhythms to mimic real dancers who, in the grace of their movement, speak a very attractive poetry.

Music, songs from ones era, act as a trigger to remind us of who we were  and what was important all those years ago. Are we better for all the self imposed constraint that plague us today. The artificial barriers that we erect to proclaim, who we think "others" would be impressed with.
What a proverbial corner we paste ourselves into, satisfying others !!    
____________________________________________

Good value for £10

On Thursday  I got a call from a friend who is over here from Australia and was due to fly out on Monday,so we arranged to meet on Saturday in London.

The Tube, at one of its furthest points, reaches Epping, a small town on the edge of Epping Forest, The Forest is historically quite famous as the place where Dick Turpin used to hang out after repeatedly robbing the London stage coach and a lovely place to walk, amongst the huge trees with the dappled light filtering down through the branches A beautiful setting to walk and contemplate that many of these giants trees were growing before I was born and will be around after I am gone !!   
 
The travel card £8.50 and the Parking £1.50. Ten quid to get to London and back with the last train just after midnight,  late enough for an old toppie like me. The opportunity to visit one of the top visitor destinations in the world and return to the security of ones own bed afterwards has to be a plus ?
Sticking my parking ticket onto the car windscreen I hurried onto the tube train as it pulled off on the 50 minutes trip to Liverpool Street Station where I had arranged to meet my friend.
Its always a revelation to sit on the tube. One is forced to eyeball the passengers, we stare at each other and begin to deduce who we "they" are what "they" do. 


They seem a rum lot (me included) and stretch the imagination as they stare into the distance preoccupied with some drama or reflecting on another opportunity missed. Dressed from rags to riches, one wonders where they are going and why. That pair seem to be wedding guests (what a funny hat)  another chap is obviously off to a building site and the group over there are on a family day out. A long legged girl is talking animatedly into her mobile, announcing to the world "she" has a friend who needs to know that "she" also "had" a boyfriend last night !!
Diving into the tunnel, we leave Stratford, the train lurching and swaying around as the line carves through the blackness to points west.  I get out at Liverpool Station, ascending to the surface like a mole on a day out (an oxymoron).

The concourse is as always full of people rushing in and rushing out for the train or standing around expectantly waiting for a friend hoping to recognise or be recognised in the crowd. It represents our society, always on the move and waiting for recognition. 

My friend was there, I hadn't seen him for a couple of years but it was a warm comfortable meeting and we were soon outside stepping out West towards St Paul's before cutting down towards the Tate Gallery and along the Embankment towards Parliament. 

The weather was perfect, the river busy with boats, and history was all around. What's that building, what's that statue. That Government Buildings, once the centre of the "directives", for good and bad, which played out across the world with famous statesmen plotting their design for mankind.
We walked and walked and talked and talked until hungry we left the tourists and Parliament behind, across St James Park,across the Mall with Queen Victoria's statue,the 
gold brilliant in the evening sun.


Watered and fed we retuned to Regent St and on to Piccadilly Circus. 

We've all had our photo taken with Eros as background. I was there on the spot in 1952 with my Dad, a slightly rebellious twelve year old. Also had had the mandatory photo taken outside number ten Downing street in those "innocent years" when you could stand on the doorstep of number 10 !!
             
Anyway it was a great day and the legs were tired but for £10, very good value for money.

Education

Education - another commitment to change, another alternative, another promise !!!

The Government has announced the start of a new journey the "English Baccalaureate" in their never ending attempt to find a solution to our abysmal attempt to educate our young. Will it work ?
The problems are many and in lots of ways each successive government has tinkered around the edges, as this one intends to do with its focus on the end result, not the totality of the system by which we educate our kids.

The exam system fore instance, has many flaws, not least that there is more than one examination body setting the exam syllabus. Given the mantra that the market place is great at providing the most efficient outcome, we have a competition between exam boards to see who is best !   Instead of improving the quality of the exam system, privatisation coupled with competition produced a rush to secure the highest number of successful pupils. Each exam board strove to make their exam syllabus easier than the other to get more pupils to pass  !!
Anyway the government has seized the initiative and is to set up one exam body with a wider prospectus covering a number of basic subjects the, Baccalaureate and not the sharply focused A level.

But it is not the Governments action that I wish to comment on, rather I want to write about the inadequacies of our dysfunctional educational system and an equally dysfunctional society.

How do we pick the culprits.

1.  School funding
2.  The intransigence to "change" by the teacher. .
3.  The "wasteful" experiment of the comprehensive school.
4.   The wide and "varied" backgrounds of our children.
5.   The "social" and "cultural" norms that effect parents.
 
Each of these headings deserves a "Phd analysis" on its own but in each there exists a question about ourselves and how we view, not only our own roll but our vision for our kids and our view of society at large.         

For those interested I will attempt to answer, obviously from my perspective, each of what I call the culprits, where they went wrong and why, with my  brand of a solution.

1.   School funding.  Money has been thrown at the schools over the last number of years, particularly at the condition of the school buildings and IT systems within the building. The lack of funds and subsequent disrepair, over the Thatcher years, had run the schools down and because of the poor condition was not an ideal environment to teach in.  Head teachers and senior teaching staff have also secured good remuneration package.

Today's money, what there is of it, should now be spent on applying a disproportionate amount of teaching time and teaching quality on the bottom achievers of the school population. Instead of disparaging or generally ignoring the underachievers we should throw resources at them in the attempt to end the classroom apartheid.
To a large extent the clever student will self teach themselves, given the material and the attention when needed.
The ones who battle and need constant, one to one tuition are the ones who "don't get it Sir". A success at this end of the scholastic spectrum and you begin to narrow the gap. As you breed confidence, eventually you begin to remove the unruly element, which currently blights the modern classroom.

I have mentioned before my own experience of the Open University and how this excellent, media teaching tool, the University, offered expertise in computer driven imagery and the representation of mathematical modelling as well as problem solving. Especially relevant to me was the unfurling of an interlinking relationship between the world of equations and the physical world they represent through the use of interactive curves describing the effect of changes to the equation. The black board and chalk never stood a chance !!

These could be the teaching tools to release the teacher from their role of creating the primary understanding (they maintain their secondary roll of reinforcement) and allow more time for their pastoral role within the class. I believe the "proverbial penny's" will begin to drop as the children learn through one of the best teaching tools ever devised. We should capitalise on it now having provided all schools  with an internet connection and the presentation facility of an interactive white board.

Centralised teaching and a uniform curriculum provides a level playing field for all students, not the lucky dip of a good teacher here and a bad one there. 
The teacher is released to spend more time bridging the gap between the quick and the slow learner. A professionally presented media driven lesson allows all to grasp the basic concept and takes away much of the stigma a pupil feels when wishing to ask a question or a request to go over part of the lesson again since the lesson can be handed out to the class for replay at home.

2.  The reluctance to change by the teacher.

We must embrace new methods of thinking and of teaching as outlined above.
I fear that a great deal of inertia will come from teachers, believing their roll diminished. 
The teachers goal must be, up-lifting the pupil from the position, (according to international league tables) that current, "traditional" methods have brought.
We are sinking on comparative league tables in all methods of measurement and evaluation. Its simply not good enough to protect the shibboleth of the teachers training collage and the unions who support the status quo.

3. The wasteful experiment of comprehensive education 

After the Education Act of 1944 (The Butler Education Act) Education was in three tiers, Private (Public ?), Grammar School and Secondary Modern.
Private (fee paying) schools continued to maintain the gulf between the classes.
Grammar Schools, where places to attend the school were awarded on passing and exam at 11 years of age.
Secondary Modern Schools were where the rest went, to spend the next 4 years, marching time, until relatively unskilled employment awaited at 15.

The categorising and in effect, institutionalising children, based on an exam at 11 years, which some primary schools were woefully inadequate at preparing their pupils, was a situation that bordered on the criminal. There were no bridges to escape out from the Secondary Modern. The pupils were the fodder destined for the factory and the mill !!

Comprehensives  were seen as the solution to this inequity.

Doing away with the Grammar School, (notice they dare not interfere with the Private Schools from which the self serving decision makers came) and merging the Secondary School children with the Grammar School child into a Comprehensive, would, so it was thought, mix the academic with the non academic to achieve a hybrid.
Well it certainly achieved that but the hybrid, in many cases, has been seen to fail miserably and no amount of nurturing can make a silk purse out of a pigs ear !!!
It is not to say the experiment did not have merit since it gave the Secondary Modern child the way out and up and removed from that child the stigma of failure at 11 years of age.
The concept of the poorest achievers being up-lifted through their proximity to the more able was skewed and not, on the whole, a success. If anything, it dragged down all but the high flyers. The ethic of "achievement through learning", fostered in the Grammar School was quashed in many Comprehensive Schools, particularly the inner city schools, by the unruly behaviour of some of the pupils.
I believe we should consider returning to the concept of the Grammar School with two conditions. The Primary School must provide the level of teaching to prepare the child for an examination at 11 or 12. Two there has to be a route for the late developer to move up into Grammar School education.
Lastly the teaching emphasis and money has to be focused on the school below the Grammar school status to prevent the school from becoming a sink school.
Examinations have to be available to the pupils of that school equivalent and the same for those who can attain them and it is my belief that they will given the money and teaching skills I feel are necessary to equip the child for life after school.
Which Government will take on the task ? They would get my vote !!!

4.  The wide and varied background of our children 

Children are a reflection of the society in which we live and this society has undergone a tremendous change and is unrecognisable from that three decades ago.
Our educationalists constantly have to adjust to the children and the backgrounds they reflect

These children, from these varied backgrounds and cultures are required, (in the classroom), to mix and are expected to present an homogenised outlook which the establishment  hopes will blend into the conformist society we so desire.
The schoolchild's "badge" of self assessment,and one of the ways to ways they identify who they are, in this multi-ethnic mix, is their ethnicity. The group the child feels closest to. This might not be a Politically Correct view but it is reality. Others outside the group have their own badge and any disharmony or conflict comes when child feels dis-associated and undervalued.

 5.  The "social" and "cultural" norms that effect parents.
Parents have always performed an important roll, perhaps even the most important roll in the education of the child.
The stimulus to learn comes from the success the child sees around them, particularly at home.The home as a place for study, the books that are part of the home environment, the encouragement a parent gives are all ingredients for success. Dysfunctional families, or families where a stressed single parent bares all of the responsibility for being breadwinner,home-maker,cook and bottle-washer, these are environments where potentially a problem can arise. It is exceptional when such an environment, creates for the child the opportunity it needs.
Parents reflect their own inadequacy can become aggressive and demanding, often sighting the teacher as the weakness in the mother/fathers desire to obtain the best for their child.

I believe the more parents, teachers and the school as an academic entity, come together often, not just end of term report back but encouraged  to be as integrated in the school as is possible, throughout their child's school career.
Of course the parent who is prepared to give of their time in this way doesn't usually represent the parent of a troubled child and it is these parents that often are the most difficult. One can only try to take them on board and offer them a partnership. Maybe the concept of a shared roll in the education of their child has escaped them, they see that as the schools job !!
 
Culture plays an enormous part for the parent in the way the academic achievement of their child affects them.
The Chinese and Indian families are famously, ferocious in their desire to see their offspring succeed academically.
West Indian mothers are equally ferocious regarding their children and how they should behave and show respect. Sadly without the backing of the male to reinforce the message the kids grow into teenagers and become difficult to reason with.
The school having to rely on the good faith of a self indulgent, unwritten contract between teacher and pupil have little ammunition to enforce it. 

  

Sydney in 1963

My first visit to Sydney was back in sixty three, yes 1963 !
The iconic scenes were in place, except the Opera House, the Architect and the City Hall were arguing about the scale of the interior, the accountants had got in on the act and Utzons brilliant grandiose concept was being watered down. The splendidly beautiful dome roof or sails were under construction and it was some time before Joan Sutherland sang, bringing tears to the eyes of those hardened Aussies.


The Harbour Bridge, built to last, reminded one of an age when designs were simple, big and strong like the confidence of the people behind it. Things were made to last and last.

This concept, at that time, was the basis of much of our understanding of value, a far cry from today's built in obsolescence.


The evidence of Colonial days lay in the dark, time worn buildings in the city centre, can be seen in many countries around the world where the British have been influential. 
In those days it was satisfying to be British. One felt history all around, our own history which had infected other peoples, their concepts towards law and order, towards the system of government and much else.


Sydney has its own Soho,  Kings Cross a rabbit warren of clubs and bars,prostitutes, and sleaze. You could buy anything you wanted in the Cross. LSD parties were the norm within certain circles. 


I saw the perils of that particular drug with friends hallucinating, loosing their minds and whilst I enjoyed the trip down to the pub to loose my inhibitions but never a total disconnect !!

The harbour was magical with the ferries bolting out of Circular Key to Manly for a visit to the beaches, to Curl Curl and De Why. 

The yachts heeling over on a stiff breeze, sailing under the Bridge to explore the nooks and crannies of this beautiful harbour, the banks lined with expensive suburban real estate.

The harbour and its tributaries are the salient geographical factor which govern the ability to move around this sprawling, ever expanding city. The suburban growth, each house and family having multiple cars, has a road system that creaks every morning and evening as commuters try to get to work.     

Overall, the beauty, the scale, the interlink with real estate and the water, the iconic landscape on the other side of the world, in an ideal climate with sunshine and a lifestyle that adores the open air. Very different from the "mother country"that spawned her.  







                

Winning regardless

How sad, how bereft we are of the sense of "doing the right thing" irrespective of whether we gain an advantage or not.

Kevin Pietersen has a history of being a difficult personality, very self centred, quite ruthless, not the team player you might want on your team.
Andrew Strauss knew well enough what a difficult man he had on his team and eventually, after the disparaging emails sent by Pietersen to his former countrymen the South African team, about Strauss and his captaincy. Strauss called it a day.



Strauss seemed a good man, a fine person and a very good captain. He is a loss, not only as a man to lead England but as a man who we and our kids could look up to as a roll model. 
Remember our continuing call for "roll models" to step forward and lead our youngsters away from the second grade celebrities that punctuate our TV screens.

I have just watched Pietersen, read  an apology for the unhappiness he caused and reiterate, that he had not passed any tactical information to the South Africans. His whole demeanour was not one of contrition, he seemed to be simply going through the paces.  Ok it was not tactical information but it was about his captain and as such it was an unforgivable breach of trust.

My reason for writing is the opinion amongst cricket writers and commentators that we should welcome back Pietersen as soon as possible since we need his batting skills to bolster the team.
It seems to me that we value "winning" above the corruptive influence he has brought to the world of English cricket and worse, we have forgotten or choose to ignore the damage to Strauss.   
Do we have no ethical values no moral compass to guide us, other than the questionable ability of winning regardless !!!
____________________________________________

What others tell us.

This issue of parental over-protectiveness towards children these days is one that will not go away. The resultant lack of a self rooted knowledge stemming from ones own experience, will be lost.
 
I mentioned in a blog I wrote not long ago, how impressive the energy and self belief of people like Victor Serge.
How unselfish were the aims of many in society in those days, as they struggled to overthrow the tyranny of the Aristocratic Establishment at the turn of the twentieth century.

Somehow I can't imagine the current crop of young people (other than the ones with religious conviction) giving up their career and and engrossing themselves in the argument abut the egalitarianism within society.
I venture to say that the youth of today, given some notable exceptions,has its focus on self projection and the reward accruing to the individual.
The slavish worship of celebrity, a roll model for so many.The massively inflated salaries, completely disassociated from the ordinary man in the street. How removed from the ideals of Victor Serge and others of his generation.
When I was young it was common for people to collect in a public meeting, in halls and at group meetings held on waste ground in the city centre.     People were acutely aware of the importance that politics play in our lives. Decisions made by a small "collective", effect us radically but in terms of democracy we are limited to a single opportunity, every four years, to register our own views.
Yet there is nearly total antipathy, particularly amongst the young, towards any sort of engagement in the political landscape.
Why and how has it come about ?

I could be wrong and of course and its not the whole story but perhaps the lack of connection to those around, a connection we absorbed as we played out with friends went camping with friends caught buses and shared our space with everyone, all without the filter of a parent !!

1.   How disabling to ones development to have someone heralding the dangers of this and that at every turn. The word "don't", "mustn't", "shouldn't"  must ring in every child's ear from a very early stage.

2.  It then gets taken up by the State, as it nannies the people to guide them through a centred, cotton wool environment without any sense of risk.

3.  Combine this with the ideological straitjacket that has been fed the populous for the last 30 years and you understand how confined we are to what 
    "others"  tell us !!