Balls to make exclusion uncool again...

Dropping or getting kicked out of high-school and still succeeding in life is just about one of the coolest things that you can do. Period. It's an act that demonstrates a strength of character so much more refined than that of the average schmuck that, when you hear stories of the people who have managed to do so, you can't help but think that education is just for idiots anyway.

Famous high-school drop outs include: David Bowie (Musician), Luc Besson (Director), Humphrey Bogart (Actor), Richard Branson (Entrepreneur), Jim Carrey (Actor), Kurt Cobain (Musician), Billy Connelly (Comedian), Simon Cowell (Cunt), Robert DeNiro (Actor), Johnny Depp (Actor), and Diana, Princess of Wales. If that isn't enough to make you pack up your bags and get ready to turn on, tune in, and drop out then we don't know what will be.

Perhaps Ed Balls latest plans to help expelled high-school pupils will help you on your way?

In a new move announced today via the BBC website Balls has said that private companies could be asked to help educate pupils excluded from schools in England. This will essentially involve the funding of Pupil Referral Units, along with earlier intervention to ensure that the units perform as well as they possibly can. Further alternatives would involve something called 'vocational centres'.

The proposal has obviously caused a certain degree of outrage from some people. Jerry Glazier from the National Union of Teachers teaches at a Pupil Referral Unit in Essex and has said the union is opposed to the growing trend of involving private companies in education:

"We think it's absolutely crucial that local authorities work with their own resources, with schools, to provide the best quality provision and I'm unconvinced that a private provider will be able to do that effectively."

Others feel that it is not an issue of who runs the centres in question but the quality at which they are maintained.

All we can say is that the move doesn't make dropping out as cool as it used to be. Though maybe that's the point...

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 20 May 2008 11:55 AM. Permalink