“Mr Point”
http://www.activehistory.co.uk/gove.php
“I really don’t mind that Mr. Gove chose to single my resources out for criticism. His points were so flimsy that rebutting them had all of the academic challenge of competing with a Year 7 student in a school debating society. Instead, the really unfortunate thing about this saga is that the ensuing debate has descended into a pointless battle between “traditionalists” on the one hand, “modernisers” on the other or – in twisted Conservative parlance – “high standards” versus “dumbing down”. In terms of history teaching, this is expressed in terms of a “fact-based, teacher led” curriculum versus an “interpretation-based, student-centered” one. However, I argue that this is a false dichotomy. It is not possible to form valid interpretations without facts, so the “modern” approach is necessarily the inclusive and open-minded one. However, it is certainly possible to simply require students to cram more and more politically-selected names, dates and places into their heads without demanding that they develop interpretative and evaluative skills at the same time.
This latter approach, clearly favoured by Mr. Gove and his supporters, would merely produce a generation of people unable to research properly, unable to debate effectively (as outlined above), and unable to listen to any views other than those narrowly nationalistic perspectives drilled into them from an early age and which they have decided are the only ones worth hearing.
A generation, in other words, created in Gove’s own image.”
Russel Tarr (@russeltarr)
GovWatch: Not the only “Mr Point” on the Con Party either.
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