Natalie Solent |
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Politics, news, libertarianism, Science Fiction, religion, sewing.
You got a problem, bud? I like sewing.
E-mail: nataliesolent-at-aol-dot-com (I assume it's OK to quote senders by name.) Back to main blog RSS thingy 
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A Paladin lacking in Wisdom Stretch yourselves. Answer these questions, if you think you're hard enough: * There were no _________ remarks at the parents' evening. Is the correct word: dissaproving disaproveing dissapproving disapproving? Michael Gove to set out tougher teacher training rules, reports the Telegraph. Mr Gove is to publish new requirements for the "basic skills tests" to be completed before embarking on teacher training. Candidates will also be allowed a maximum of two re-sits for each exam.The questions quoted above were from the current versions of these literacy and numeracy basic skills tests. One in five trainee teachers fails either the literacy or numeracy part of this fiendish Educational Tripos on the first sitting. Oh dear. Is the correct word perthetic, pafetic, or pathetic? Answer: all three, with knobs on. You might think from this that I am going to urge the Secretary of State for Education to an even more drastic reform than allowing only two re-sits. One re-sit! One re-sit and then euthanasia! I make no such urgings. It none of it matters. The trouble is, to put in terms that an old D&D-er like the Minister would understand, is that it is a very bad idea to magic missile the orcs while the lich remains undefeated. The least of the problems with state education is that orcs who made a bad INT roll are let into the profession. Orcs can do quite nicely as teachers. A teacher needs to roll for three characteristics: - knowledge of the subject he or she is to teach, - the knack of teaching, - ability to maintain classroom discipline. Of course it is good to have rolled high in all three, and, to be fair to Mr Gove's latest initiative, he is probably right that a 1 in any of them probably should disqualify the applicant. But a good score in two qualities can usually compensate for one bad roll. But by Garl Glittergold's holy nugget, I did not mean to get distracted by recommending this tweak or that tweak of Mr Gove's new "tougher" criteria! It's all pointless, I tell you. (Particularly as by Mr Gove's express wish, a person who really had passed the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge would be refused a bursary to train as a maths teacher, if he or she had only a third class degree. Yes, really, even if they could work out how many bottles of vinegar were needed.) The point was this. You don't fight the orcs, Gove the Mighty But Deluded. You fight the liches. Give the man his due, allowing for the fact that "Secretary of State for Education" is a useless character class that ought to be deleted from any future editions, he is doing better than any we have had for years. If he survives the liches, he may even take the fight to the Blob itself. Just leave the orcs alone. Head teachers can fight their own orcs, or hire 'em, you don't have to worry which. It is unbecoming for anyone above fifth level to bash an orc. A Paladin lacking in Wisdom Stretch yourselves. Answer these questions, if you think you're hard enough: * There were no _________ remarks at the parents' evening. Is the correct word: dissaproving disaproveing dissapproving disapproving? Michael Gove to set out tougher teacher training rules, reports the Telegraph. Mr Gove is to publish new requirements for the "basic skills tests" to be completed before embarking on teacher training. Candidates will also be allowed a maximum of two re-sits for each exam.The questions quoted above were from the current versions of these literacy and numeracy basic skills tests. One in five trainee teachers fails either the literacy or numeracy part of this fiendish Educational Tripos on the first sitting. Oh dear. Is the correct word perthetic, pafetic, or pathetic? Answer: all three, with knobs on. You might think from this that I am going to urge the Secretary of State for Education to an even more drastic reform than allowing only two re-sits. One re-sit! One re-sit and then euthanasia! I make no such urgings. It none of it matters. The trouble is, to put in terms that an old D&D-er like the Minister would understand, is that it is a very bad idea to magic missile the orcs while the lich remains undefeated. The least of the problems with state education is that orcs who made a bad INT roll are let into the profession. Orcs can do quite nicely as teachers. A teacher needs to roll for three characteristics: - knowledge of the subject he or she is to teach, - the knack of teaching, - ability to maintain classroom discipline. Of course it is good to have rolled high in all three, and, to be fair to Mr Gove's latest initiative, he is probably right that a 1 in any of them probably should disqualify the applicant. But a good score in two qualities can usually compensate for one bad roll. But by Garl Glittergold's holy nugget, I did not mean to get distracted by recommending this tweak or that tweak of Mr Gove's new "tougher" criteria! It's all pointless, I tell you. (Particularly as by Mr Gove's express wish, a person who really had passed the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge would be refused a bursary to train as a maths teacher, if he or she had only a third class degree. Yes, really, even if they could work out how many bottles of vinegar were needed.) The point was this. You don't fight the orcs, Gove the Mighty But Deluded. You fight the liches. Give the man his due, allowing for the fact that "Secretary of State for Education" is a useless character class that ought to be deleted from any future editions, he is doing better than any we have had for years. If he survives the liches, he may even take the fight to the Blob itself. Just leave the orcs alone. Head teachers can fight their own orcs, or hire 'em, you don't have to worry which. It is unbecoming for anyone above fifth level to bash an orc. (Also posted at Samizdata, with comments open.) Monday, June 20, 2011
Form over substance. A few days ago Phlip Davies MP suggested that disabled workers or those with mental health problems could get work more easily if they had the right to voluntarily opt out of the minimum wage. He said, "Given that some of those people with a learning disability clearly, by definition, can't be as productive in their work as somebody who hasn't got a disability of that nature, then it was inevitable that given that the employer was going to have to pay them both the same they were going to take on the person who was going to be more productive, less of a risk, and that was doing those people a huge disservice." Within hours so much outraged commentary flowed out of newspaper columnists, charity representatives and politicians of all parties, including Mr Davies' own, that you'd think there'd been an outbreak of indignation dysentery. Let us look at a few of the responses. "A lower minimum wage if you're disabled? Not acceptable, sorry," says Lucy Glennon in the Guardian. "It is a preposterous suggestion," MIND spokeswoman Sophie Corlett was quoted as saying in the Yorkshire Post, "that someone who has a mental health problem should be prepared to accept less than the minimum wage to get their foot in the door with an employer. "People with mental health problems should not be considered a source of cheap labour and should be paid appropriately for the jobs they do." "Philip Davies's comments are another obstacle to disabled workers being treated as equal," said Paul Farmer, chief executive of MIND, writing in the Telegraph. He added, "He has caused offence to many people who work with a mental health problem and those who want to work on an equal footing, yet struggle to overcome the stigma they face." Jody McIntyre in the Independent was also outraged. His suggestion that Members of Parliament should work for less than minimum wage was not bad, though. Of the mentally disabled, he said "A strong test of any progressive society is how it’s most vulnerable people are valued for their worth, rather than pitied for their faults. Philip Davies clearly places little value on the role of people with learning difficulties in our society; instead of celebrating their diversity, he chooses to reinforce the discriminatory myth that people with learning difficulties are more of a risk to employers." There was more, much more. After reading loads of responses I noticed something that they all had in common... as not having. Not one response of all the many I read even tried to argue that Mr Davies was factually wrong. They were outraged, disgusted. They asserted what no one denies: that mentally disabled people are equal citizens and often prove to be hardworking employees, valued by their employers. But I could not find one article that argued that Davies' description of the way things go when a person with an IQ of 60 or a history of insanity seeks a job was inaccurate, or gave reasons to believe his proposal would not increase their chances of landing one. "Philip Davies is right, of course," says Tim Worstall. "But so profoundly unfashionable that no one will say so". He then goes on to argue that Davies is right. His views will not be purist enough for some libertarians, but the novelty of reading someone bother to put forward a chain of reasoning when talking about this topic is a bit of a thrill. The fact that he bothers to think about what will actually happen to disabled people, particularly mentally disabled people, under various scenarios shows a thousand times more compassion than the people whose response is mostly concerned with their own emotions. A quote from Charles Murray: "It seems that those who legislate and administer and write about social policy can tolerate any increase in actual suffering so long as the system does not explicitly permit it." (Also posted at Samizdata, with comments open.) Friday, June 17, 2011
Examples of spectacular historical ignorance Subsidised artists do economics and my first post for a while for Biased BBC, The wrong sort of diversity Monday, June 06, 2011
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Sound and fury, signifying nothing, fortunately. This one is about a "Cameron-backed report" that will "protect children from commercialisation", and why little will come of it. Nauseating but not scary. Weiner or Wiener or whatever his name is. About someone called something or other. I can't say with certitude. |