SamHarrisBlog

English, mathematics, science… and politics?

At present the national curriculum states that all students must have English, maths and science lessons up until the conclusion of GCSEs. Politics, at present, doesn’t even have a supporting role. The majority of schools do not actually offer any form of political education options at either GCSE or AS/A level education. To many this will not cause a great deal of concern, but perhaps it should.

Maths, English and science (and IT to a certain extent) are seen as being the most academic and useful subjects that employers and higher education institutions look for. This view is almost as draconian and outdated as Michael Gove and the curriculum itself. When I was applying to university, I was asked for relevant qualifications linked to my chosen course; none of the above subjects satisfied these parameters. My experiences were not out of the ordinary, classmates at school who chose to go straight into the workplace after GCSEs/A-Levels were asked about relevant experience for the job. The number of qualifications (GCSEs, AS levels, A levels, BTECs etc) were often asked for, but more often than not the specific subject of the qualification was not required.

It is without doubt that a basic knowledge of English as a subject, can help greatly with the ability to read and write, and structure essays. But after reading and writing skills are obtained, are there any benefits in day to day life, that justify English being a compulsory subject up to the age of 16? Essay writing is a great skill to obtain for future education courses, but the truth of the matter is that with university fees sky rocketing, the number of applicants are falling, and therefore the need for universal essay writing skills is diminishing also. Maths and science, from the age of 12, cater for the needs of a select few professions. In all honesty no topics covered in maths after basic adding/subtracting, dividing etc, have been useful to my life, and science was deathly boring. Whether that be due to the teaching styles I encountered, or the structure of the national curriculum I cannot be sure, but if you have little interest in a subject then why should you be forced to study it? 

The question of what our children want to learn is of paramount importance. Once you get past the utopian dreams of having just two lessons and a four hour lunch break each day, many of the students I spoke to are quick to point out the lack of relevance of learning the compulsory subjects, in particular maths and science (although many also felt the reading and dissection of novels in English was rather dull, and did not see the relevance). Instead they were calling for life skills, the skills that they would require and find useful in day to day life. Encompassed in these life skills is politics, quite possibly the most important subject to learn when considering the impact of politics in each of our lives.

So instead of spending over half the school week on three subjects, the consensus appears to be that the learning of life skills classes + a full choice of subjects = utopia… Whoever thought freedom of choice would be described as utopia!

A lack of political education and political knowledge can lead to some potentially dangerous outcomes. Many bloggers/journalists such as myself are quick to point out the failings of governments, or of prospective policies of political parties, in the hope that the pressure applied by the population will have a positive effect. So how do we expect to hold politicians to account for their actions, if our younger generations do not have any knowledge about our political system and how politics affects our everyday lives?

We are, in effect, building a time bomb. Over the next 30 years, that bomb will explode and shatter our claim of being a leading democratic nation, if immediate action is not taken to reverse the current trend.

Perhaps the best solution to all the above issues is to remove all compulsory subjects once students reach key-stage 3. Instead the government should insist that all LEAs ensure each state school under their authority provide the option for every student to learn English, mathematics, science, IT, politics, the arts and physical education, and at least one school or college in each local authority should offer specialist subjects.That way every child can tailor the education system to their individual needs. It is vital that the government and LEAs also understand that we are in 2012, not 1962. Therefore the proposed return of a two-tier system with GCEs and O levels was preposterous. Ironically Mr Gove shelved these ideas after a torrent of negative comments in the media, a weapon we may soon lose due to our prehistoric educational curriculum refusing to politically educate students. Hopefully Michael Gove is beginning to realise evolution is natural and positive, and regression is simply a misguided delusion of an outdated and out-of-touch bureaucrat.