[senco-forum] Letter in today's paper

Hi,

An interesting letter for to The Independent today,
your information. As a parent of a child for whom
school was "just too much", I couldn't agree more.

The Independent - Letters: Education 
Published: 02 August 2007 
"We are neglecting those children who find school
'just too much'" 

"Sir: I have spent much of the last 27 years teaching
and working with those "poor wretches for whom school
is just too much" (Comment; Peter Inson, 1 August).

In my experience this group not only consists of the
disaffected and excluded but also large numbers of
looked-after children, those with learning
difficulties and disabilities and increasingly boys.

A successful education system should cater for all
children not just, as it would seem, able girls; and
exactly what are we teaching our girls? Is education
really about sitting quietly and regurgitating reams
of neatly presented information?

There are, of course, plenty of children who come out
of the school system with the required proof of
achievement, but at what cost? How many young people
leave school with a sense of regret or loss? How many
feel that they have really benefited from the
experience not just the result? Education should be
about instilling a love of learning, a thirst for
knowledge and an enthusiasm for extending that
knowledge. All children start off wanting to learn.
What do we do to them along the way?

We need to provide an education that can be valued by
all and values all. There is an explicit expectation
that all children should progress at the same speed
and reach all milestones at the same time.
Increasingly any child who does not do this must have
a problem.

I know a little boy who is just four. Already his
mother is told that he cannot concentrate, he dislikes
sitting still, he has poor social skills, his language
development is slow, possibly he has ADHD, maybe she
should consider ritalin

This is a child who plays for hours with his favourite
toys, loves stories, questions constantly, loves
running down the beach finding all sorts of
interesting things, sleeps well. Already it is evident
that school is a miserable place for him. I fear he
too will become another of those "poor wretches".

Shame on us.

CAROL RUBINSTEIN

PETERBOROUGH"

Best wishes,
Aly

Chair Auditory Processing Disorder in the UK/APDUK
www.lacewingmultimedia.com/APD.htm 
www.apduk.org

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