POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY ZOE WILLIAMS IN THE GUARDIAN
"...the competitive taper was lit..."
" [faith schools] their disassembly..."
Do you not appreciate, Zoe Williams, words like those above in an essay on education bring a smile to readers' lips?
Faith schools owe their success largely to pupil selection. Never having to keep the local thugs from destroying the educational environment is an immense advantage.
They also owe their success to authority. Teachers in what we call public schools in North America have no authority left, and they are constantly harassed by pushy, demanding, or angry parents and threatened by disruptive, even dangerous, children.
In a faith school, there is an implicit sense of authority. Parents and students are much less likely to generate difficulties for teachers out of fear of losing their places.
Faith schools have another effect, and not a good one: they can drain the public schools of the better teachers and students seeking a more peaceful learning environment, thus concentrating further the problems of the public schools.
The basic issue really isn't faith versus public schools, it is what do we do with children who have no desire, or ability, to learn.
