Comments on: English Football and Education

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:41:26 +0000

Boris, on my myspace i have you spear tackle against Germany. More of that in english football would be great!!! I am a footballer, a football fan and an academic. I achieved ten GCSEs at B and above (i was a bit annoyed at my Bs in history and french)and yet by the end of this weekend i will have played football three times with three different teams whilst only doing one piece of academic research. I had trials at Charlton as well. My aspirations for professional football were over when i was 12, i chose my education over that and i am happy with that decision. I don’t believe i am the only acasdemic who has done so. Who knows, if more academics had concentrated on football what we would have won? I don’t truly believe i would have made the grade but that’s not due to my education, that’s due to ability!!!

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By: nakliyat

nakliyat — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 08:38:52 +0000

thank you very nıce muck vary very comment…

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By: Patrick Ainley

Patrick Ainley — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:38:48 +0000

Our book ‘EDUCATION MAKE YOU FICK, INNIT? WHAT’S GONE WRONG IN ENGLAND’S SCHOOLS, COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES AND HOW TO START PUTTING IT RIGHT’
explains all this in rather more depth than Uncle Boris.

The book connects teachers and students in schools, colleges and universities to ask what has happened to education in a mass system of lifelong learning from primary to postgraduate schooling. It explains how allegations of ‘dumbing down’ and deskilling contrast with claims of rising standards for a world class workforce, showing how education has become a main means of social control in an increasingly divided and self-destructive society. Rather than emancipating the minds of future generations, it forecloses their possibilities. In this sense, Education Make You Fick, Innit?

We argue that to understand how this occurred and what can be done about it the system has to be understood as a whole. What is happening in schools makes sense only in relation to similar systems of management and control in FE and HE where privatisation in particular is in many ways more advanced. We detail successive perversions of the comprehensive ideal for schools to the latest ‘personalisation’ agenda that stretches across the new raised leaving age of 18, showing how competition and control combine to set institutions and individuals against one another in a market for inflated qualifications. We reject the relentless testing and selection of students in prolonged training that still does not guarantee employment.

From our experience of teaching and researching in schools, FE and HE, we call for democratic control to reverse privatisation and maintain free provision so as to remain true to the Enlightenment ideal of understanding society in order to change it.

Outline contents: The big picture – education and economy, What was ever right with English education? 1944 and all that; Making it worse – Education and the Conservative offensive; Making it even worse – New Labour’s new ideas; Not a learning but a certified society; Putting it back together – reforming education for the 21st century.

Martin Allen is a teacher at Alperton Community School in London. Patrick Ainley is Professor of Training and Education at the University of Greenwich.

‘Education Make You Fick, Innit? What’s gone wrong in England’s schools, colleges and universities and how to start putting it right’ by Martin Allen and Patrick Ainley UK £10.95 USA $19.95 ISBN 1872767672
Publication date 20 March 2007
available from bookshops, Amazon and on order from The Tufnell Press, 47 Dalmeny Rd., London N7 0DY, 0207 272 4861

If you would like to join a discussion about the ideas raised in this book or related matters please go to http://radicaled.wordpress.com/radicaled-home-page/

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By: Nasrin Azadeh

Nasrin Azadeh — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 19:54:59 +0000

A BBC report stated that the young in African/Carribean communities apparently consider carrying out gang crime, and being a victim of it, to be akin to a rite of passage to manhood.

In countries like Thailand and Burma, a period spent as a monk is a rite of passage to manhood. In countries such as South Korea, a period spent in the army is considered a vital rite of passage.

But on the streets of Hackney, Elephant and Castle and Shoreditch?

Source: Guardian, Out on the street, C.Johnson, Comments

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By: Ryszard Linkiewicz

Ryszard Linkiewicz — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 02:04:28 +0000

When I read Boris’s “Blow the whistle on boys’ obsession with football” I thought: “Hallelujah! At last, someone is starting to put the problems of young males centre-stage.”
Unfortunately, if your education system is as gynocratic as ours here in New South Wales then you have a long and hard road ahead of you.
As the only remaining Head of a Languages faculty in a government boys’ high school in this State, I have a daily struggle to keep boys interested in studying foreign languages. In my opinion, it is not entirely coincidental that the area of the curriculum most dominated by women is also that area of the curriculum least likely to be studied by boys. Yet, if boys should be made to study any subject, it should be a foreign language. How often do we hear women berating their menfolk for being uncommunicative: “My husband/son/brother/boyfriend/dad won’t talk/listen to me!”? Why do these same women do nothing about the absence of boys from the foreign language classroom? It is almost as if women have decided to punish boys for the perceived sins of the forefathers. Having gained control of our schools women now ignore the manifold problems of young males and concentrate solely on pushing a feminist agenda. Is it entirely coincidental that the bottom schools in the league tables are largely boys’ schools? I think not.
There is also the wider problem of the deification of the footballer. How can any sane society tolerate a situation whereby a footballer is paid more money per day than a nurse or teacher is paid in a year? No wonder Britain is leading the race to the bottom. I have also heard that the study of ancient history in British secondary schools is about to become just that. Are you vying with Australia and the U.S. for the position of the Global Village’s resident idiot? If so, your young males have a head start.

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By: Ryszard Linkiewicz

Ryszard Linkiewicz — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 02:02:55 +0000

When I read Boris’s “Blow the whistle on boys’ obsession with football” I thought: “Hallelujah! At last, someone is starting to put the problems of young males centre-stage.
Unfortunately, if your education system is as gynocratic as ours here in New South Wales then you have a long and hard road ahead of you.
As the only remaining Head of a Languages faculty in a government boys’ high school in this State, I have a daily struggle to keep boys interested in studying foreign languages. In my opinion, it is not entirely coincidental that the area of the curriculum most dominated by women is also that area of the curriculum least likely to be studied by boys. Yet, if boys should be made to study any subject, it should be a foreign language. How often do we hear women berating their menfolk for being uncommunicative: “My husband/son/brother/boyfriend/dad won’t talk/listen to me!”? Why do these same women do nothing about the absence of boys from the foreign language classroom? It is almost as if women have decided to punish boys for the perceived sins of the forefathers. Having gained control of our schools women now ignore the manifold problems of young males and concentrate solely on pushing a feminist agenda. Is it entirely coincidental that the bottom schools in the league tables are largely boys’ schools? I think not.
There is also the wider problem of the deification of the footballer. How can any sane society tolerate a situation whereby a footballer is paid more money per day than a nurse or teacher is paid in a year? No wonder Britain is leading the race to the bottom. I have also heard that the study of ancient history in British secondary schools is about to become just that. Are you vying with Australia and the U.S. for the position of the Global Village’s resident idiot? If so, your young males have a head start.

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By: dorkingdavina

dorkingdavina — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 18:33:06 +0000

I’m getting a bit fed up of reading through these discussions and being interrupted by the Bullingdon paranoia. Can the following be the final word on Bullingdon?
Fair enough, the Bullingdon Club was not normal student traffic-cone hi jinx. A group of public-schoolboys smashed up a pub then gave the landlord lots of daddy’s money. Perhaps the landlord was happy with the money, but they might have smashed things that couldn’t be replaced, so there might have been a cultural loss to the nation. You might even say it was reminiscent of the behaviour of the German university “freikorps”: right-wing fraternities of the 1930s.
Now can we just leave it at that?

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By: James

James — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:39:04 +0000

While listing intelligent footballers, I must point out that Boris missed Northampton Town’s Kenny Deucher, who is a Doctor! Quite how he could have neglected this I’ll never know…

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By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:47:07 +0000

A little harsh Boris. Robbie Fowler happens to have used his income intelligently and become one of the richest sportsmen despite having suffered a major downturn in his career at his ‘peak’.

Perhaps requests that YTS/Youth teams for clubs offer education and training incase the players don’t end up making it, but you will find that the dedicated atheletes who play for these clubs also often have a strong desire not to drink/take drugs/lead a dodgy life as it may put their football career in jeopardy. This may not amount to an education but it should instil habits that are positive for society.

A key component of all this is that we should be providing a framework that makes it easy for people to move through the social ranks. We need to work towards a society where your parent’s wealth does not dictate how far you can go in life, rather your desire/committment does. It has nothing to do with football, which has an overall positive outcome (exercise/healthy lifestyle/dedication/committment/team work/self discipline etc.), and everything to do with inspiring individuals to live the life that makes them happy, rather than simply pushing them to do a job “because it pays well”. Happiness can’t be bought, it is earnt.

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By: J Clarkson

J Clarkson — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:01:10 +0000

Chase The Dream – There can be neither doubt nor understating the debacle our country finds itself in, and I for one can associate such disconcerting mentality with those who risk debt and prescription money to purchase lottery tickets. It is by no means a dishonourable pursuit to fantasise or aspire to be a professional footballer. As there is no shame in imagining what one would do with all that money that comes with a lottery windfall. However the stark truth is that the probabilities are against you, no matter how much you want it, regardless of how hard you train or how many times you play. By all means try and try your utmost, but exercise a little common sense and acknowledge the reality that it is only good practise to have a back up if things don’t work out, or a serious knee injury cuts short a promising fledgling career at a top flight team. Go to school, go to university and the qualifications will be with you for life. Chase The Dream – Be the next David Beckham, Lord knows we need one, but for every David Beckham there are 5 million who you will just never hear of because they never made it. So do the math, and to do that I’m afraid you will need to go to school!

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