Ministry for Grandstanding
Balls to Davy: Party like it’s 1918
Ed Balls emerges from his dungeon in today's Telegraph, challenging Cameron and the Tories to vote for increasing the school leaving age to 18 on Monday.
Balls writes:
"As things stand, the Tories have set themselves on a collision course to oppose the first Bill to raise the education age since the 1944 Butler Act.
That legislation received cross-party support - as did the Fisher Act of 1918, which remarkably included a provision to increase the education age to 18, but was reneged on in the post-war period of austerity."
Westmonster happens to side with Balls on this one — we can't figure out why Tory Schools spokesman Michael Gove has dismissed this programme as a stunt. It seems to jibe with the Conservative "Opportunity Agenda," providing for vocational training to those who opt for the workforce after age 16.
There's a lot of sense in the Tory education green paper, even if it focuses on the "What?" more than it focuses on the "How?". But if the Conservatives are campaigning on sensible programmes, that means recognising where government programmes are also sensible. Gove's stance here seems reflexive.
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2 Comments
Ah, so Westmonster favours an extra two years of state slavery?
If 20% of people leaving school at 16 -- after 11 years of compulsory education -- functionally illiterate, then what good do you think that another two years is going to do?
DK
DK-
Westmonster does not favour state slavery. However, Westmonster can see the benefit of some kind of compulsory training for school leavers over 16, which is pretty much what the Labour plan calls for.
But in any case, our larger point was: disagree with the policy if you want, but why are the Tories dismissing this as a stunt? It seems to fit right in with the "Opportunity Agenda" being flogged by the Conservatives.
To Westmonster, that looks like a knee-jerk reaction. And, politically, the Tories seem to be moving away from reflexive disagreement with the government — taking great pains to point out where there's common ground. That's smart, and it's the kind of approach that could lead to a Conservative government. But Gove's dismissal isn't smart, it's Howard-esque.