Canopus wrote:
1. The Greens want kids to walk or cycle to school. They know that one of the biggest reasons why so many kids are transported by car is because they don't attend the nearest school, and therefore, are outside of a reasonable walking and cycling range.
Has it ever occurred to the Greens that if children were HE then there would be no need for a school run twice each day? Somehow I think the Greens are overlooking the obvious when it comes to finding solutions to reduce the number of children transported to and from school in cars.
Quote:
2. Allowing parents to choose which school their kids attend has created 'ghettoisation' in some towns and cities. It is quite common to find a school with a high proportion of kids from one ethnic group only half a mile away from a school with a high proportion of kids from a different ethnic group. The Greens are strongly in favour of multiculturalism and multicultural societies. They are opposed to any form of segregation even if it is self imposed by the personal wishes of parents and kids wanting to be with their own types more than others. Denying parents the choice of which school their kids attend will reduce this ghettoisation.
The issue of the Green Party's obsession with multiculturalism in education has been mentioned in the summary of
party policies on home education.
Quote:
3. Allowing parents to choose which school their kids attend has resulted in good schools being heavily oversubscribed and bad schools left with a surplus of places in some areas. Some bad schools have ended up verging on dustbins for low ability or badly behaved kids because no parent with a child of average or high ability will dream of sending them to such a school. Denying parents the choice of which school their kids attend will reduce pressure on oversubscribed schools and help to improve bad schools by improving the overall quality of the kids that attend - although I dispute this last point.
There are many good reasons why parents don't want their children to attend the local school. Notable examples include:
1. Bullying.
2. Having to mix with obnoxious or unfriendly children resulting from their background or poor parenting.
3. Lacking staff who are knowledgeable about a specific type of SEN.
4. The school has more serious problems to deal with that there is no time or money to address the SEN of a handful of children.
It's quite common for parents of children with SEN to initially send them to a local school then move them to a different school at a later date because services are better there. Has the Green Party ever discussed their educational policies with the parents of children with SEN?
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 6:31 am 