Re: Proposed ballot for the constitutional amendment
On 2003-10-14 10:01:54 +0100 Oliver Elphick <olly@lfix.co.uk> wrote:
The destruction of good English
teaching began with the move to comprehensive schooling beginning in
1967.
Sir,
I find the assertion of a link between comprehensive schooling in
England and poor English language instruction wholly absurd. The two
phenomena are correlated, but are obviously linked by time. The 1970s
saw popularity of a number of alternative English teaching practices,
which did not teach grammar explicitly, but also had other defects
(such as not correcting spelling). However, I know that some schools
continued to teach English in a more traditional manner until the
introduction of the National Curriculum. It is possible that some
managed to continue beyond that, but I do not know them.
I cannot see why you think comprehensive schooling caused so-called
"trendy teaching". As further evidence, attainment statistics
reportedly show a broadly similar change over the same period of time
across both selective and comprehensive areas. From anecdotal
reports, the same teaching methods seem to have been used in selective
schools.
I apologise that this is now heading off-topic for the list.
--
MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know.
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