What’s a thing you wish schools actually taught?
I was discussing this on another blog yesterday after reading Paul Carney’s article.
https://paulcarneyartist.blog/2021/05/09/sequencing-learning-in-art-and-design-dont-ask-the-dfe/
We were discussing how the UK have failed, and continue to fail, their creative students. Art and music have been sidelined since the early 2010s and the situation is just getting worse. Our creative industries contributed nearly £150billion to the economy last year, according to UK government estimates, a figure that grew year on year by over 5% compared to the overall growth rate of the economy of less than 2%. Sport, which is prioritised in a way that the arts aren’t in school, contributed less than half of that, £63billion. Now, I am definitely not saying we should replace sport with art, but at Primary school level the children don’t need to be getting 5 maths and 5 English lessons every week, taking up their entire morning every day of the week (as Michael Gove the Gradgrindian Education Secretary decided and enforced). Get rid of two of each and suddenly art and sport have the room to breathe. You can have an art lesson every week like I used to, you can have a music lesson every week like I used to, you can have two extra P.E. lessons or you can combine the two and teach dance to boys as well as girls. That way, dance can once again be seen as something everyone can do and maybe, just maybe, boys who enjoy it won’t be subjected to the current level of mindless bullying by a society who refuse to see it as something only girls do. Actually, that’s never going to happen because men and boys are desperately afraid of creativity or self expression that might show another side to them.
By the way, everything I am suggesting here for state schools already happens at fee paying schools. That’s why the vast majority of our creatives and the majority of our high level sports people, apart from footballers, come from the highest strata of society. We have created a situation where a level playing field is impossible, particularly since the Thatcher government forced the sell off of the vast majority of them in the 1980s. A balanced education should not be the norm for the privileged few, it should be a right for everyone.
Share a photo of your pet and tell us one thing that makes them uniquely them.
Why share one picture of Albus when I can share four? Albus is simply the most affectionate cat you can imagine. He loves to be where people are and even when he is outside you know he’s keeping an eye on you. When anyone goes into the garden to hang the washing out he comes over to supervise! When we sit out in the afternoon or evening he will come and sit nearby.
He rules the house like a benevolent furry dictator but according to my wife and daughter that’s my fault for indulging every whim of his. They’re right! I wake up when he scratches the carpet to be let out, but on the very rare occasions when I don’t he gets a far cooler reception because I don’t mind being woken up, but they do! He’s got me well trained and I don’t mind admitting it. The love and affection he shows us is worth any number of slightly disturbed nights. We picked him from our local Cats Protection nearly nine years ago and our lives have been richer and happier as a result. Remember, Adopt don’t Shop! Give an animal from a shelter a second chance to be loved and they will return that love in spades like Albus has.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
It’s still one of my favourite songs and I would like to share that song with you now!
The song Sunscreen, which was a global hit in the late 90s was based on a fictitious and humorous college graduation speech that was published in an American newspaper. It was written by Mary Schmich and entitled ‘Advice like youth is wasted in the young’ and was originally delivered to the fictitious Class of 97. This was updated to the The Class of 99 in the song. The advice in the song varies from the humorous to the profound and I have often used it in my teaching. Advice is only worthwhile if it is relevant to your situation so Sunscreen tries to be as wide ranging as possible. Accordingly I used to ask my students to pick out the three pieces of advice that resonated most with them.
It’s still one of my favourite songs and I would like to share it with you now!
What’s something you used to worry about but don’t anymore?
When I was a child I lived in a household where the ageing process was seen as something threatening, especially by my Dad. He did everything he could to keep that process at bay, but what he feared came to pass when he died far too young at the age of just 60. I took that fear on board and ran with it.
I dreaded my 50th birthday like it was some sort of omen of doom. Looking back, I think the process started in earnest after I reached 40, and from then on I dreaded each birthday as I moved one year on. I spoilt so many birthdays and wasted so many opportunities for fun with my family and that was entirely on me. The children never had a birthday with me that was fun for them and I really regret that now. One of my colleagues at INTO St George’s found out it was my birthday when my daughter came to the centre to meet me for a birthday trip one year. She told me I was being selfish not just in keeping my birthday secret from work colleagues but also not wanting to celebrate it at all. As she so rightly pointed out, other people wanted to celebrate my birthday and I should just accept it. It took me many more years to put that into practice.
Last year was my 60th, and I would never have admitted that publicly before then but I marked this one by making it a real turning point and resigning from my job! This year, I was taken to The Crystal Maze Experience in London and the whole family played as a team and absolutely smashed it!! It’s too late to make up for the wasted birthdays of years gone by, but however many are left in front of me are going to be savoured from now on.
What’s a quote that perfectly describes your outlook on life?
We had a daily prompt about quotes three months ago, and again three days ago. Has the AI generator got some rogue code somewhere? I included a quote about repetition three days ago and another about time so I am not giving you any more quotes. Instead I will give you a reflection on my blogging over the past year.
I have posted every day for over a year and in that time my views have increased from single figures each day to 50 plus views pretty much every day except Saturdays, oddly enough! I have mentioned the dopamine hit I get from that before but it’s got a knock on effect in making me more determined to improve my posts. If there are more people reading them they had better be worth reading! The daily prompt drives both the increased views and the focus on improvement so even on days like today I appreciate both the discipline and the visibility. In a couple of weeks I will have finished my summer teaching and I will start to add extra posts to my daily prompt, but I still haven’t quite worked out how to get more people reading them yet. That’s the next step I suppose. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate the support 🙏
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 