Water Bottle Nonsense, Private Education, Modern Thinking
Designer Water Bottles
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| Still Life with Bottles, Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940) Photo Credit:Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] |
The reusable water bottle, however, has just the right message. I’m healthy-living, environmentally aware and on trend. For the right bottle, no price tag is too high. Julia Roberts prefers a S’well £55.
…Even Evian, king of the disposable water bottle, has cottoned on. Last week it launched its reusable bottle…for £45… The British brand Chilly’s is expected to make £40 million this year from its brightly coloured steel flask bottles.
With all this in mind it is not too soon to panic about what you want your new water bottle to say about you. For the whole clean-living, my-body-is-a-temple look, opt for one with a purifying filter such as the Bobble. Better still, the Vitajuwel bottle, which has an inbuilt “gem pod” – crystal filters of amethyst, rose quartz and blue lapis – and costs £70.
…If you’re more into the eco-warrior vibe, a minimalist design in stainless steel or glass is your best bet – see Hydro Flask. And don’t forget pretty graphics: a bottle in avocado print screams: “Look how fun and stylish drinking water is.”
(Monique Rivalland, The Times, 2019)
I swear that I did not make this up. Ask the “on trend” Monique.
Private Education
A report by the Sutton Trust indicated that children educated privately were 12 times more likely to end up in influential jobs than children comprehensively educated.
…You can’t blame parents for wanting to do what they see as best by their children. The paradox of the Sutton Trust report is that, even as it highlights a huge social problem, it also underlines the great advantage conferred by attending a top public school, followed by an elite university, in charting a route to career success.
…It’s precisely because you can’t expect parents to make the most socially beneficial decisions that more radical government intervention is needed. There’s always the nuclear option of effectively scrapping private schools by banning them from charging fees, as Finland did in the 1970s (It now has one of the most equitable and high-performing school systems in the world.)
…If the left is serious about breaking the cycle through which privilege begets privilege, it needs to do more uncomfortable thinking about how to level down, as well as level up.
(Sonia Sodha, The Observer, 2019)
Take the nuclear option. However, keep the private schools as schools with entry based on talent, not money. Most private schools will have a ‘reputation’ for sport, drama, music or one or more of the academic subjects. Chetham’s, a specialist music school in Manchester, is also an example of means tested funding where parents who are well off pay the full fees whilst those who earn less than £20,000 a year pay a few hundred pounds Thus musical potential, not background or ability to pay becomes the norm.
*As someone who has always believed that selling education is wrong, I found myself nodding in agreement with Sonia Sodha’s piece…I was cheered by her praise of Finland’s abolition of fee-paying and her characterisation of Labour’s position as “a damp education squib”
But then she came up with what seemed to me an over-complicated scheme of tackling the mis-named “public” schools through universities. Why not emulate Finland? The governing bodies of the schools could be given a reasonable period of time to put forward their own propositions for integration into the state system. Many have excellent sporting facilities and some have specialities in music and other areas. They could transform themselves into specialist schools for children who demonstrated gifts in such areas and recruit on merit rather than on the basis of parental incomes.
(Ian Bullock, Brighton, The Observer, 2019)
*In an otherwise excellent article, Sonia Sodha suggests that banning private schools from charging fees may be “deemed impossible”. However, determined political action based upon a coherent long-term vision is not only possible but is the key to developing an education system that is both equitable and high-performing.
The inherent inequity and social divisiveness of the current system will not be seriously reduced by such measures as widening access to elite universities because the power of the most prestigious schools is not primarily educational but socio-economic: when it comes to having easy access to elite positions in society, going to Eton is vastly more important than going to Oxford.
Nor will financial measures such as removing tax advantages have much impact: parents who can afford more than £40,000 on basic fees will hardly notice the increase in costs.
(Michael Pyke, Shenstone, Lichfield, Staffs, The Observer, 2019)
*Eton College is to offer 12 free places to boys from challenging backgrounds who do not have the highest grades.
The new Orwell award is designed to help those with academic ability but little chance to fulfil their potential.
The places…will be offered to year 11 pupils at non-selective state schools. Standard annual fees for Eton are £42,500 per boy.
…The announcement comes at a time of increasing pressure on the sector to diversify and widen participation.
Simon Henderson, the school’s head, said: “We are not targeting boys who will do well anyway. We’re looking for applicants with vigour, talent and industry who, without proper support, will not be prepared for or even apply to the country’s top universities.
(The Guardian, 2019)
Modern Thinking
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Illusions, Annie Louisa Swynnerton (1844-1933) Photo Credit: Manchester Art Gallery [CC BY-NC-ND] |
Celebrities are starting to realise that private jets raise more disapproving eyebrows than applause. The old guard and the old country may have the last laugh after all.
(Libby Purves, The Times, 2019)
An optimistic conclusion, Libby. I fear you’re wrong.
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