The state of British education: requiring old solutions and missing morality | Alex Brown
‘Education, education, education’. Tony Blair was right to emphasize its importance. But for years both he and his successors have failed to resolve nor understand the problems facing the British education system. For example, 30 percent of GCSE results in 2019 were under a grade 4 (or C in old money), teachers continue to be far too lax where discipline is concerned as students treat the adult/child relationship as one of equality rather than hierarchy. British universities were oversaturated with over 2.3 million students in higher education in 2018. With seemingly everyone being pushed toward ‘further education’ this ultimately means that degrees lose their value as their exclusivity continues to shrink combined with record levels of bad mental health in youth and a lack of moral direction, it’s safe to say British education is in crisis.
All successive governments have done is throw money at the problem. The one time some real change was in sight, it was with David Cameron’s academy system, and even he managed to poorly execute it in pursuit of marketisation. It may come as no surprise that I intend to discuss the problems facing the British education system today then; from bottom to top, for all ages, as well as outline how the solutions of educational diversity and reintroduction of morality offer a new opportunity to restructure the system in favour of tried and tested methods because fundamentally there is no need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ when it comes to education, only modify it.
Wherever you look in education today, students are tunnelled into two certain option paths. They either attain A-Levels and then go onto university, or they go straight from GCSE’s to an apprenticeship. Around 55% of students post A-Level went on to university in 2018 with only 9% going into apprenticeships in the same year. This creates not only a massive oversaturation of university as an institution which further undermines the value of the degree but creates a skills deficit in the labour market. We need to push for a new, diverse and exciting option to recognize the ever-developing desire for a third option for students, and we need only look to the past to find it.
I propose that we reintroduce the lost option of military national service in order to bolster individual confidence, purposefulness and duty, all of which are lacking in the moral abattoir which is the British education system as students reject the idea that their lives have purpose, a truly shocking thing to see. Research has found that national service can “contribute to educational and occupational development” as well as help combat socioeconomic inequality as those from a poorer background can benefit massively from uptake in this field. Grammar schools have always achieved this well in Britain, and their reintroduction en-masse would be most welcome.
Whilst we must recognize that there has been difficulty in post-military transitions, this is not a new problem and is something related to veterans’ affairs at large. I envisage this a third option to be taken in the 16-18 age group if the citizen feels they wouldn’t thrive in an academic or trade environment. Furthermore, to reward such an honourable commitment to one’s nation, a person choosing this should automatically be given employment (should they wish to take it) at the end of their two-year tenure.
However, this still leaves university students, many of which will struggle to find employment post-university. They could also be compelled to participate in national service post-university, but without the guaranteed employment at the end, since they didn’t choose it as their initial option. This will help to combat extended unemployment that befalls many university students, whilst also helping to instil a sense of discipline and groundedness that will aid them in whatever sector they then decide to work in. This, again, could be enacted military service, as seen in nations such as Norway, Finland and Switzerland, or merely as community volunteering. Though, it is doubtless necessary for our aimless children.
Alongside the problem of a lack of diversity, there are numerous failures amongst teachers to follow a regimented, fair and consistent reward and punishment system. This is a hard area to research and prove but I am confident that experiences across the education system are consistent. Teachers often reward a select exceptional few with accolades and positive praise whilst neglecting most of the cohort who are statistically average of just above.
This is a dangerous process to follow since it mentally undermines most of the cohort who then begin to see their efforts bearing little fruit as they are not praised. They then may slip into disruption and disorder as they crave attention from the teacher. Teachers then neglect sanctioning for they fear it will exacerbate the problem but will not reward such behaviour of course, so it persists until into adulthood they take their poor educational experience and apply it to more concerning matters of imprinting their own bad experiences onto their children.
This is simply a working theory and would need firm data to affirm my beliefs, but I am certain that the above is the case, however if we take B.F Skinner’s ‘Mice Experiment’ then we can see the benefits of positive and negative reinforcement as mice were given food and electrical shocks respectively to teach them to move a lever to either receive food or stop the shocks. This theory can be easily applied to students who, given the right incentives/ deterrents will learn to respect teachers and increase their productivity. We must encourage and create new systems of fair reward that aren’t exclusive to a selected few, and rigorous punishment to cut off bad behaviour before it gets out of control into adulthood and is transferred to their children. In 2014, a report into children’s experiences at primary school highlighted that some students felt marginalised and left behind by teachers proving there some basis for the issue.
These new systems must be based on Christian religious morality which is the base for all legal and political morality in the modern world as well as being conducive to social cohesion and individual wellbeing. This will not only ensure that the new systems are fair, but hopefully the promotion of Christianity to the wider youth which itself is at a low.
Punishment must be harsh and yet fair relative to the behaviour displayed. But this should still be tempered with forgiveness and tolerance, for if someone changes their ways after instances of bad behaviour, this should be recognized, rewarded and the individual forgiven.
Teachers must reward students who have a positive attitude towards education, not just those who are simply good (in terms of grades). That attitude is one that promotes learning and individuality - even if incorrect. These two attributes within the attitude specifically are essential to the wider world of work as many will call upon people to be original thinkers and willing learners.
To conclude I shall say that my points can be summarised in a simple phrase – ‘New choices and old morals’. Just because we may be moving towards a more secular destination doesn’t mean that religion is of no value. It should play a key role in regulating the principles not just by which we are educated but by which we live. I have proven how the two basic choices of past times need to be tempered with a third exciting yet traditional option and how at the same time, education must be modified to reaffirm its moral duties with a new system of reward and punishment. We must recognize that it is through looking to the past that we will find our solutions for the future.
