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Scottish Borders Local Association |
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We must fight savage education cutsLetters to the Editor, Published Date: 30 October 2008The cry in any emergency is 'women and children first'. The reason is simple, children are our future and women give birth to them and raise them. Children will create a better future for the Borders – or fail to do so – depending on how they are supported. Articles over recent weeks in TheSouthern have discussed the savage cuts being implemented in our schools under the banner of the Transforming Children's Services review and the 'unholy rush' to push them through before most parents are even aware of them. Encouraging early retirement, paying around 100 of our best and most experienced teachers to leave, is madness. To claim this will improve children's services beggars belief. This is on top of deciding schools must pay utility bills out of their existing budget – which doesn't count as a cut! This is typical of the rapid and sneaky changes being implemented all the time. School budgets have been repeatedly cut over the last decade. Recent cuts come on top of sweeping changes to implement the 'curriculum for excellence'. Further cuts and changes, not to mention fewer options for advancement, will undoubtedly lead to teachers leaving the field or the area. I don't want my children taught by demoralised, stressed, overworked and underpaid people. Head teachers must be allowed to keep their hand in teaching, and to know the pupils in their charge, for many reasons. Sadly, not all Borders children have supportive and loving homes. For them, nurseries and schools are the only places where they can receive good care and see positive role models to encourage aspiration. These cuts will make that much less possible and their broader social implications can't be overestimated. Those who don't have children may argue that they shouldn't pay to educate those of others. Ultimately, people who argue against paying for education are taking a Thatcherite perspective that 'there is no such thing as society'. That has never been Scotland's way. I'm a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh in the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, and, though born in London, am proud of my Scottish descent. Scots have historically focused on the betterment of the next generation. Members of my own family scrubbed floors at night to put their children through school. There's even archaeological evidence going back thousands of years showing that people were training and cultivating hazel that they'd never use, while they used hazel that their parents and grandparents had grown for them. Cultural ideals aside, in purely practical terms, it's cheaper to support and educate children than to imprison them or pay their dole and social and healthcare costs in their later years. TheSouthern crime and jobs pages reveals lots of crime by drunken disenfranchised youths and jobs that seem mostly in care work, creating a pretty sad picture of the opportunities available to our young people. The only way to change this is to put them first. I think many adults will be willing to pay Council Tax that will clearly and accountably go straight to education, to teachers and school supplies and facilities, not just management or implementing schemes. The universal school dinner programme is another waste of money in some areas. There's value in providing a good meal to underprivileged children, but a blanket entitlement that encompasses the Edinburgh New Town and poor areas alike is a colossal waste of resources. All children don’t need a school dinner, but all do need a good education. Children’s services should be the very last to be cut, when everything else has been cut to the bone. If life is harder than we’d like for some members of our society, including ourselves, the only way to improve matters in the long term is to give our children the best. If we do that, they’ll be able to make further improvements and not need to overburden health and social care services as adults. As the mother of a two and a four-year-old, I will consider home schooling if the proposals I’ve been reading about go through, though it would be a very difficult option, personally and financially. The TCS review’s public consultation officially ended on Monday, but many parents are totally unaware of it. Let’s continue to make our views known and spread the word at toddler groups and everywhere else. Even a few words in an email will have an effect. See the Education Institute of Scotland website (www.borderseis.org.uk/TCS_news.htm) for their advice. Let’s also remember this when councillors come up for re-election. John W. Whitehead said “children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see”. What sort of message do we want to be remembered for sending? Dr. Geo Athena Trevarthen Selkirk Return to Local Press page.
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