By Lennon Airey
As consecutive Conservative governments have made cuts to our education system, whether it be through austerity under the coalition or more recent cuts due to the undeniable consequences of Brexit, it is our youth that suffer. The youth of today have it tough, when considering that in 2010 you could do a 3-year degree for the price of one year of the same degree and at the same university in 2023. But it is not just higher education that gives young people a tough environment, it is the whole system. Institutional distain and complacency have led to children being criminally robbed of a creative and beneficial education, with our current system now focusing more on creating cogs to fit into a well-oiled machine, abandoning essential life skills such as family finance, the buying and selling of goods, or even something as simple as what prospects you could be met with after leaving school. The education system gives young people no prospects to enhance their skills, reducing them merely to an exam board specification, rather than imagination. In this country we have 10-year-olds worried sick about SATS, we have 16-year-olds sacrificing their mental wellbeing in order to be known by 10 or 11 numbers on an exam certificate and we have 18-year-olds taking exams that determine their entire career in subjects they may well never use again. My broader question is, ‘why?’. Why do we have an education system that would rather have children understand poetry as opposed to paying bills, reciting the quadratic formula rather than knowing how to buy and insure a car and why do we have a system today that would rather have a collective group of mentally drained, burnt out and socially inept geniuses than have prosperous, enthusiastic young people, excited for a future that the education system has prepared them for.
Covid 19 was a damning event, not only for the obvious casualty rate but it also magnified the institutional problems that plague our public services. In March 2020, prospective GCSE and A Level students were told to pack up their items and go home for ‘a couple of weeks’. Little did they know that they would not only miss their exams, but more importantly have their futures determined by an incompetent algorithm, designed by an even more incompetent Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson. According to education body Ofcom, this led to thousands of grades being lowered from teachers’ estimations: 35.6 percent of grades were adjusted down by a single grade. This was disastrous and led to mass-campaigns for it’s abolition. The algorithm in question also led to private schools significantly outperforming state schools, creating not only outrage at the government but also a vicious class divide among students. The algorithm was thankfully abandoned but it is a clear example of the distain and irrelevance of young people in the eyes of the government.
So, now onto my broader question of ‘why?’. What are young people fighting for? In the UK we have exams being prioritised over mental health, leading to thousands of mentally unstable and burnt out individuals, not through their fault but due to the idea of meritocracy that is woven into every child’s mind upon entering secondary school. The notion that ‘those who get the best grades and work the hardest will succeed’ seems a dead-cert upon entering school. However, when we think deeper about the most powerful individuals on the planet, you don’t have to research much to realise that Bill Gates is a Harvard drop out and it’s safe to say that not having a bachelor’s degree hasn’t exactly hindered his entrepreneurship and ability to earn billions of dollars per annum. Although there is unpopularity with billionaires such as Bill Gates, should our education system not use self-made, creative business owners, who used their imagination and conceptual knowledge of the reality of life to create a vital product as the basis of the system for children? A model of that calibre, that enhances creativity, imagination and financial skills surely seems like a more suitable role for an education system, especially as we develop our technology and form new methods of seeing our world. Or, if we want to look at alternative models of education, Finland has a 100% adult literacy rate and in their education system children don’t pick up a pen until the age of 7 and do no exams until 18, and even that is optional. Instead, Finland places emphasis on creativity as it recognises that the youth of today are the adults of the future as it focuses on fostering cooperation over competition in schools by inculcating the skills of teamwork, collaboration and team spirit in students. Arguably, the most important reason for Finland’s success as an education system however is because the government holds education in high esteem and prioritises it. According to various sources, Finland spends 7% of it’s GDP on education, a substantial amount, doubling England’s meagre 3.9% in 2018. The idea of priority for education is essential, as seen through alternative systems as what Finland has is a free, well-balanced, exam-free education system built on excellence, a stark contrast to England’s archaic, mentally-draining, homogenising and exam-heavy system. Alternative systems such as Finland pushes students to comprehensive success by honing in on creativity and vital social aspects of life, alongside government priority, whereas the UK’s education system seems to challenge young people to do as much as they can before they overwhelm themselves, without government priority.
What is also vital to understand is that the education system is not only incompetent for students, but also for those working in it, such as our incredible teachers, higher education professionals, teaching assistants and many more. Without them, our system would crumble and, whilst they are greatly appreciated among students, they are patronised and their good will is abused by the Tory government who have had teachers on a pay freeze since 2010. According to PayScale, the average teacher earns £31,164 per year. This may sound reasonable upon first inspections, but this salary is half that of a polit working for British Airways, a quarter of the salary earned by a broker and less than 2% of a salary earned by the average equity partner of a corporate law firm in London’s magic circle. Now, it is important to consider that these jobs bring different skillsets, however, it is clear that, when contextualised, teachers should be on a lot more. The government has had teachers on a 10 year pay freeze, highlighting their lack of support or consideration for teachers and those who shape our young people’s future. Upon striking in February 2023, teachers are demanding extra pay but, more importantly, they are fed up of the workload and working conditions in schools. What is critical to expose here is, teachers’ working conditions are children’s learning conditions. These conditions are, according to teachers, unsatisfactory to effectively educate the future generations due to stretched budgets and weak retention of workforce. This colludes how the education system doesn’t just impact the children, but also the teachers and staff working in it, further exemplifying how the education system is archaic and needs radical reform.
It is obvious that our education system is in desperate need of reform, both for the students and teachers encapsulated within it. Upon examination, the government does not want every student to succeed, nor can it afford it. The government needs a certain amount of children to fail so that the working class always remain. As a country, we need the low-skilled, easy to exploit workers of the future and, whilst the education system is said to educate and enrich children, it’s primary function appears to be supplying the next generation workforce, readily available to exploited under a failed capitalist economy, built upon the vested interests of very few at the top. From children suffering from mental breakdowns due to excess, high pressure examinations to teachers striking due to shocking working conditions, our education system isn’t just on its knees, it is face down on the floor, with every penny that once made the system flourish having been squeezed out of it by the Tory party. The education system clearly hasn’t stood the test of time and is in urgent need for reform, for the sake of the youth today, who will one day lead this country on and into a world of evolving technology and climate action. If the system is not changed, children of today cannot possibly be seen as the answer to the problems facing our world, rather more cogs in the wider society built around capitalism and the false promise of meritocracy.