When the first seeds of the idea of comprehensive schools were planted in the 1950s, they fell on fertile ground. It was not merely educational and political ideologues who supported the idea — so, too, did parents whose children were left out of grammar schools and who were, by definition, in the majority. Whatever the rights and wrongs of comprehensive schools, the woeful failure of British education to deal with “the rest” has hardly changed. Bright children, to a greater or lesser extent, will succeed. But the too many average or below average children have been failed.
The phrase “the knowledge economy” is a cliché about globalisation. Britain cannot compete — and win — in manufacturing and other industries which depend on unskilled labour. For years workers in places such as South Korea have been willing to do an equal if not more proficient job than British employees for a fraction of the pay. Add the astonishing growth of the Chinese economy and it is clear where the future lies.
It is this brutal reality — that we have to find new ways of competing — which makes it more important than ever that we get to grips with our long-standing failure to educate the less academic pupils. This is not just about competing with workers in far away countries such as China and South Korea. It is on our doorsteps. Take the issue of immigrants from eastern Europe. It is wholly to the good that the taboo on discussing immigration has been broken, not because there is a “right” or “wrong” number which should be permitted, but because there will be problems with immigration at any level unless there is widespread consent to it. Why is there a perception that immigrants from the new European Union accession countries are “taking jobs”? Because the failure of British education means there are so many school leavers who are not in a position to train for essential skilled jobs such as plumbing and building work — which have, as urban legend has it, become the preserve of the Poles.
Employers are crying out for such workers and it is a standing rebuke to generations of politicians that they have not been able to manage so basic a task as producing school leavers with the basic skills that make them employable. It is all very well throwing ever-larger sums of money at the problem, but as our experience of public spending shows — not least in the wasted billions thrown into the National Health Service black hole — money per se is not the answer. It is how the money is spent that really matters.
It is disappointing that all the Conservatives seem to offer under David Cameron is to match Labour’s spending. Why? What is missing is any serious Conservative analysis explaining how they will reverse generations of failure. It may be that Labour is spending too little; maybe too much; or maybe the right amount. But without a thoroughgoing understanding of what is wrong, and what needs to be done, a promise to match Labour’s spending is simply a promise to match an arbitrary sum. Is it any wonder we have failed our children so miserably?