Education Minister,Micheal Gove.

[Ceej]

He fannies around with all sorts of ideas and seems completely lost quite frankly. He should have been put out of his confused misery ages and ages ago and is about as far removed from being a teacher as it's possible to get. Absolutely and shockingly useless in his role. He is so deeply useless and is a prime reason for not voting for the coalition. That, and the fact that he is just weird.

 

[Kumquat]

This article tellsyou all you need to know about Gove. Dangerous man. Intent on using his own blinkered experience of school to change the system for all.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/05/michael-gove-next-tory-leader

 

[Seagull58]

Nothing ever fits with Gove. He is a dangerous idealogue who is trying to impose policies that will set education in this country back by decades. He must be removed, and the sooner the better.

Set it back? That'll be some challenge.

 

[Seagull58]

I suppose one of the things he wants to achieve is a level of literacy that sees everyone in the country know how to spell "Michael".

Exactly!

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Set it back? That'll be some challenge.

Generally, the education system is very good in this country.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Set it back? That'll be some challenge.

I would guess you don't know much about education in this country - or elsewhere, for that matter.

 

[maltaseagull]

I suppose one of the things he wants to achieve is a level of literacy that sees everyone in the country know how to spell "Michael".

Spot on

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Nothing ever fits with Gove. He is a dangerous idealogue who is trying to impose policies that will set education in this country back by decades. He must be removed, and the sooner the better.

More or less correct. Gove was a colleague of mine at The Times and he was not only ignorant and dim but also convinced that he was well-informed and sparklingly intelligent.

For example, in one column he mentioned that he was reading the Lord of the Rings with his children and discussing it with them (evenings in the Gove household sound such fun), and it had occured to him in a blinding flash of inspiration that the ring was meant to be a metaphor for nuclear weapons.

This revelation has occured to every teenager who ever read the book, of course. But, and here's the thing: Tolkien expressly denied any such intention and explained why it was a false comparison. Many letters were sent to the Times letters page pointing this out to Gove.

Gove's reaction? Tolkien was wrong.

So if someone is capable of thinking he knows better than a revered scholar who has held two professorial chairs about the scholar's own works, it's no wonder that he thinks he knows better than every trained teacher and education expert in the country.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Genuinely dangerous for education. His 'proposals', and there are sometimes 3 or 4 major announcements per week, are so ill-thought through that often they cannot be implemented. He doesn't seem to listen to sensible advice and clearly has his eyes on Cameron's job. The uncertainty he creates makes it hard for schools to plan and this is terrible for our children who deserve to know what qualifications they are working towards and what options they have.

As a teacher, I believe he is seeking to undermine confidence in the profession as a vendetta against one of the few remaining unions of strength. It feels personal.

I used to think he simply wanted to make all schools like the ones he went to. I don't think even he knows the direction he wants education to go in any more and that is bad news. He needs to be moved away or, better still, voted out before he does any more harm.

I am not a teacher...but have relatives who are and kids in primary school, and that is exactly what I think.

 

[Albumen]

More or less correct. Gove was a colleague of mine at The Times and he was not only ignorant and dim but also convinced that he was well-informed and sparklingly intelligent.

For example, in one column he mentioned that he was reading the Lord of the Rings with his children and discussing it with them (evenings in the Gove household sound such fun), and it had occured to him in a blinding flash of inspiration that the ring was meant to be a metaphor for nuclear weapons.

This revelation has occured to every teenager who ever read the book, of course. But, and here's the thing: Tolkien expressly denied any such intention and explained why it was a false comparison. Many letters were sent to the Times letters page pointing this out to Gove.

Gove's reaction? Tolkien was wrong.

So if someone is capable of thinking he knows better than a revered scholar who has held two professorial chairs about the scholar's own works, it's no wonder that he thinks he knows better than every trained teacher and education expert in the country.

That actually scares me.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

More or less correct. Gove was a colleague of mine at The Times and he was not only ignorant and dim but also convinced that he was well-informed and sparklingly intelligent.

For example, in one column he mentioned that he was reading the Lord of the Rings with his children and discussing it with them (evenings in the Gove household sound such fun), and it had occured to him in a blinding flash of inspiration that the ring was meant to be a metaphor for nuclear weapons.

This revelation has occured to every teenager who ever read the book, of course. But, and here's the thing: Tolkien expressly denied any such intention and explained why it was a false comparison. Many letters were sent to the Times letters page pointing this out to Gove.

Gove's reaction? Tolkien was wrong.

So if someone is capable of thinking he knows better than a revered scholar who has held two professorial chairs about the scholar's own works, it's no wonder that he thinks he knows better than every trained teacher and education expert in the country.

That is a BRILLIANT anecdote.

 

[Tooting Gull]

One thing that I do think the teaching unions get wrong (and not just with Gove) is over-personalising their attacks.

Slag off the policies Gove is putting forward all you like, they are terrible - but there is a lot of nasty stuff about the man himself, which does them little credit.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

One thing that I do think the teaching unions get wrong (and not just with Gove) is over-personalising their attacks.

Slag off the policies Gove is putting forward all you like, they are terrible - but there is a lot of nasty stuff about the man himself, which does them little credit.

Agreed. Some of the personalised attacks are akin to playground bullying. Which is ironic coming from teachers.

However, he IS an arse.

 

[Brovion]

More or less correct. Gove was a colleague of mine at The Times and he was not only ignorant and dim but also convinced that he was well-informed and sparklingly intelligent.

For example, in one column he mentioned that he was reading the Lord of the Rings with his children and discussing it with them (evenings in the Gove household sound such fun), and it had occured to him in a blinding flash of inspiration that the ring was meant to be a metaphor for nuclear weapons.

This revelation has occured to every teenager who ever read the book, of course. But, and here's the thing: Tolkien expressly denied any such intention and explained why it was a false comparison. Many letters were sent to the Times letters page pointing this out to Gove.

Gove's reaction? Tolkien was wrong.

So if someone is capable of thinking he knows better than a revered scholar who has held two professorial chairs about the scholar's own works, it's no wonder that he thinks he knows better than every trained teacher and education expert in the country.

Great post, I always like your journalist insights. However it also scares the SHIT out of me that such an imbecile could one day be PM. Give me Boris any day, he may be a cunning manipulative Tory **** but at least he's not stupid.

EDIT: Ooh the asterisked word was not the 'c' word but the less-offensive 't' word (also an acronym for Trans World Airline Terminals). Can't believe the Nazi Googlebots object to that.

 

[keaton]

Great post, I always like your journalist insights. However it also scares the SHIT out of me that such an imbecile could one day be PM. Give me Boris any day, he may be a cunning manipulative Tory **** but at least he's not stupid.

EDIT: Ooh the asterisked word was not the 'c' word but the less-offensive 't' word (also an acronym for Trans World Airline Terminals). Can't believe the Nazi Googlebots object to that.

Especially as our dear Prime Minister maintains that that isn't a swearword

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Great post, I always like your journalist insights. However it also scares the SHIT out of me that such an imbecile could one day be PM. Give me Boris any day, he may be a cunning manipulative Tory **** but at least he's not stupid.

EDIT: Ooh the asterisked word was not the 'c' word but the less-offensive 't' word (also an acronym for Trans World Airline Terminals). Can't believe the Nazi Googlebots object to that.

'Gove' and 'Tory' are bad enough four-letter words by themselves ...

 

[LargeHadronZugzwang]

Exam paper for boys and girls aged 5 years 3/4 hours.

1) What fuel will be used to power airplanes in the year 2029 when Heathrow has eight runways, the Thames Estuary Airport opens with fifteen Terminals five runways and Gatwick extends its current runways to Bognor?

a) Apple juice
b) Kerosene from the asteroid belt
c) Fish and chip shop leftover oil
d) Tomato juice

 

[Canonman]

If Gove had his way he would have 3yr olds taking tests. Bloke is exam mad.

 

[The Large One]

One thing that I do think the teaching unions get wrong (and not just with Gove) is over-personalising their attacks.

Slag off the policies Gove is putting forward all you like, they are terrible - but there is a lot of nasty stuff about the man himself, which does them little credit.

Can't agree.

It's not just the education policies which he gets wrong.

It's the persistent undermining of teachers, their attitudes, their expertise, their fondness for their chosen profession and so on. Collectively (if you euse the oxymoron) it becomes personal, and the attacks grate; he has no little or no respect for teachers, nor anyone in education - including his own advisors. Under the circumstances, I think he gets away quite lightly.

The problem is, the rhetoric we hear (possibly on both sides) has been used since time immemorial to criticise opponents, and often involve an awful lot of hyperbole. The criticisms (for example, on this thread) are of that ilk but in this instance are very pertinent.

As Not Andy Naylor points out - as far as Gove is concerned, he's right, everyone else is wrong. He dismisses anyone who disagrees with him as 'Trotskyites' (a highly pejorative term for him). That's a debating tool straight out of the 6th Form Common Room.