Fodder for the exam machine
Cloistered in rows for the injection
Of narcotising facts.
Memorising and regurgitating
No time to relax.
Tests to be taken.
Exams to be passed.
Tables to move up.
We must not come last.
No room for creativity
In the bright new world
Of numeracy and literacy;
There’s money to be hurled.
Fodder for the exam machine
Fodder for the job market
Fodder for the attainment tables
Chant it, test it, mark it!
Teaching by numbers
In the tick box culture
Where children are sacrificed
To the cash soaring vulture.
No time for fun!
No time for play!
No humanisation;
It gets in the way!
What use is art, music or drama?
Lateral thinking or creativity?
They won’t get you a career
If you can’t recite your ABC.
Back to basics!
In a flight to the days of 1950
When the Empire ruled
And people were nifty.
When discipline ruled
With the cane and the shout
And schools churned out rejects
No one cared about.
So open the gates –
Let the creationists in!
Welcome Big Business
To bring back discipline!
We’ll soon sort the wheat from the chaff
And blame all the failures for having a laugh!
But down a dark alley
Or in the dead of the night
I hope you don’t encounter
A mind filled with hate;
A drop out, a failure
With no hope in their life,
Labelled, excluded
Not caring their fate.
Fodder for the exam machine
Fodder for the job market
Fodder for the attainment tables
Chant it, test it, mark it!
Numbers to crunch!
Heads to fill!
Machines to service!
Young minds to kill!
Opher 6.6.2016
Fodder for the exam machine
Education is the future of the planet.
Education should be inspiring, expanding and illuminating. It is a joyous thing.
Education should never produce failures with no hope; youngsters disenfranchised from society; winners or losers. It should be inclusive of all abilities and disabilities, all cultures, colours and creeds. It should be unifying and a celebration of success.
Briefly it was. Until Gove took over and we had a dive back to the glorious fifties – the days of bullying in the classroom, caning, violence and disparaging put-downs – the days of regimentation, learning by rote; where knowledge and facts were god.
But this is the 21st Century when facts are not so important. We need skills now. We have computers for facts. We need problem solving and creativity.
But this is the brave new world of the tick-box culture, the exam tables, inspections and rigid enforcement – where failure results in redundancy and fear rules. Cash plays the tune. Where teaching is controlled and the profession divided, castigated and cowed.
This is the time for education, for the masses, on the cheap; where we open the gates to the Creationists, Muslims, Jews and Big Business who will pay to get their hands on our kids.
But that’s OK. It’s cheaper.
The ones that matter go to the private schools and the ones who really matter sit on the benches at Eton and Harrow and wait to take their place at the trough. We do not want the masses educated. We do not want them thinking. They are merely units in the economy. They should know their place and pull their weight. They are earning money for those who deserve.