Gove and his astonishingly poor grasp on reality

http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/education/2013/03/rote-sets

Let's not try and defend this Tory parasite... He's already tried to single-handedly destroy the history national curriculum.

The man is an arse of immense magnitude. His recent comments just highlight this.

Also, teachers should use whatever resource is available to engage with students. I don't think you'll find a professional teacher in the country who would say otherwise.

Blackadder episodes at school worked for me, and I'm sure have also inspired others too.
 
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Gove is the worst type of politician - one who pontificates his ignorant opinions as if they are fact. He's totally untrained and unsuitable to be in his position.
 
PlacidCasual said:
I reckon Gove will in retrospect turn out to have been one of the most succesfsul and respected coalition ministers. He has faced down the intrenched and complacent teaching unions and seems to be implementing some gernally sensible policies. But the media narrative is very negative and it will only be when his policies bear fruit that this is finally successfuly countered.
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Ha ha. Good one :D
 
leaskovski said:
At the end of the day they should use all sources to teach, but then having said that, using blackadder to teach ww1... I'm sorry, but really? Next thing you know they will be using the green zone to teach the gulf war.
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Three Kings is better teaching material.

Anyway, this Gove chap seems alright. Ask him nicely, take him out to dinner and he'll give you some buildings and playing fields.
 
ChroniC said:
However that said, why is what he said wrong? I think he makes a fairly valid point! Teachers shouldn't be using Blackadder, its a comedy ffs. I don't believe WW1 was a shambles either.
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He didn't say Blackadder wasn't valid because it was a work of fiction, he sees it as a leftist view and that shouldn't be taught in school. Trying to turn people's opinions on The Great War into a partisan issue.
 
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Hellsmk2 said:
Let's not try and defend this Tory parasite... He's already tried to single-handedly destroy the history national curriculum.
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Ah.... is that the same National Curriculum that has us placed behind many less developed countries in terms of education quality?

Ripping it to shreds sounds like a good idea to me but then again it means change and our army of militant union loving teachers would oppose anything resembling modernisation or not having 25% of the year off.

Can't say I was initially a fan of Gove but since he's upset the unions and tried to go against them he's gone up in my estimations, long may it continue.

Oh and this is a sore topic in my household as my wife is a teacher....:D
 
Columbo said:
Can't say I was initially a fan of Gove but since he's upset the unions and tried to go against them he's gone up in my estimations, long may it continue.
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So... upsetting the group of people with the most experience of how to do something makes him a better candidate in your eyes? o_O
 
Columbo said:
Ah.... is that the same National Curriculum that has us placed behind many less developed countries in terms of education quality?
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According to which study?

I assume you're cluelessly referring to the PISA tests without realising that they don't test history?
 
Caged said:
He didn't say Blackadder wasn't valid because it was a work of fiction, he sees it as a leftist view and that shouldn't be taught in school. Trying to turn people's opinions on The Great War into a partisan issue.
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Where exactly? I found no such claim of him saying saying that he see's it like that, except from the Op's rebuttal from some belittled historian.
 
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Columbo said:
Perhaps a slight over exaggeration on my part but you get my point.
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Sort of, but I know teachers and they're out the house before 7 each morning and still going through marking or lesson prep stuff at 8 or 9 that evening, and when they do have a half term it's more of a 8 hour working from home occasion.

Are all teachers great? Far from it, there are some awful ones like in any line of work, but it's not some sort of well paid free time utopia either.
 
Columbo said:
Ah.... is that the same National Curriculum that has us placed behind many less developed countries in terms of education quality?

Ripping it to shreds sounds like a good idea to me but then again it means change and our army of militant union loving teachers would oppose anything resembling modernisation or not having 25% of the year off.

Can't say I was initially a fan of Gove but since he's upset the unions and tried to go against them he's gone up in my estimations, long may it continue.

Oh and this is a sore topic in my household as my wife is a teacher....:D
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I don't think you'll find anyone who disagrees with trying to improve the national curriculum. That is not what Gove is trying to do... which the new statesman article link explains.

I'd suggest reading it. The man is an arse and should not be in his current position- if he has his way history will be rewritten to show Britain as a squeaky clean shining knight where everyone is happy and mistakes were never made.
 
ChroniC said:
Where exactly? I found no such claim.
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I said sees, not claims. It's by association such as sending the article straight to The Mail, and using it in his headline. It would have been possible for him to criticise how some people view the conflict without mentioning where they sit on the political spectrum at all.
 
Caged said:
I said sees, not claims. It's by association such as sending the article straight to The Mail, and using it in his headline. It would have been possible for him to criticise how some people view the conflict without mentioning where they sit on the political spectrum at all.
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Well since he didn't say it, and your not his spokesman, how can claim he see as such. I'm not defending this guys past, as there is a lot of hate for him, but so far I'm yet to see anything wrong with his statement.
 
His only criticism of using Blackadder to teach people has been that it promotes a view of the war (shambles, series of catastrophic mistakes) that are apparently myths peddled by Left-wing academics.

Criticise it for being a work of fiction if you want, or a comedy, but he hasn't done that. He sees the issue with Blackadder being that it promotes views that are also those held by Left wing academics.

I don't see anything else when I read that paragraph of his article.
 
I don't have any problems with Gove's comments and it seems to be a storm in a teacup to be honest. By Gove's standards, they're pretty tame.
 
Caged said:
His only criticism of using Blackadder to teach people has been that it promotes a view of the war (shambles, series of catastrophic mistakes) that are apparently myths peddled by Left-wing academics.
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That's that's why he's a total fool. WWI was a shambles and it was a series of catastrophic mistakes. There's more to it than that but no serious historian doubts those basic points. WWI was an absolute mess. WWII may have been worse in many ways but at least there was a worthwhile cause to fight for. WWI was a war fought over petty disagreements not a grand battle of ideologies.
 
Disagreements are one thing. Building up a huge military and invading other countries with a view of creating a new powerful empire is another. This is why there was a war and so many countries got involved.
 
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