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Celery Pickers of English
Education
-by Guy Mulvaney
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Guy Mulvaney, a South African educational researcher looks at the comments Mick Brookes made to a newspaper recently.
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I hope that Mick Brookes, the General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers had his eye on what has been dubbed ‘A Day Without Immigrants’ demonstrations across the USA. The May Day protests were the largest since the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960’s. The Latinos turned out en masse in over 60 cities to teach the arrogant conservative Republicans and indeed the whole of the United States a mighty lesson in appreciating the contributions of the Hispanic immigrants. They demonstrated against new legislation which makes living illegally in the US a federal offence. Illegals face immediate deportation and if attempt to re-enter will face a jail term of up to 20 years. As a result of the new Immigration Bill many of these hard working, law-abiding people have overnight been turned into felons. Critics of the Bush administration indicate that the over the top reform is uncalled for: the right thing to do is to revisit policy and engage in comprehensive reform. And at a time when Europe is dismantling boundaries and barriers, Americans will be spending millions of taxpayer’s dollars on strengthening 700 miles of the 2000 mile American/ Mexican border in order to keep the illegals who engage in vital back breaking manual labour out of the country.
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These demonstrations were reminiscent of those in California in the summer of 2004. Ask any Californians about that dreadful period when the world’s fifth largest economy came to a grinding halt. The state descended into chaotic paralysis within hours. Clearly nothing was learnt from that lesson when 14 million Hispanics ‘disappeared’. Kitchens in the majority of restaurants couldn’t operate without the absent cooks and porters. The garbage piled up in rat infested streets. Yuppie Californian mothers had to take time out from work as the au-pairs were no longer available to look after the children. The crops were unharvested as the indigenous population couldn’t or wouldn’t do the back-breaking picking jobs on farms. Nobody was there to cut the grass. Management landed up making the beds in hotels. |
This time it was on a national scale and if it were to be regularly repeated, it is bound to bring the American economy to a grinding halt. Sympathy -you deserve none. What you do deserve is an education in appreciation.
Like the Republican hawks, Brookes has treated foreign workers with contempt. In an article in a tabloid recently he referred to staffing levels of ‘unqualified’ or foreign teachers in British schools. Apparently the numbers have increased six-fold since labour has come to power. He warned that children’s education would be put at risk as schools are forced to employ foreign teachers.
Statistically there is a stinging similarity between the two situations. The illegals constitute 4.9 % of the total American population of 298,444,215 people while foreign teachers constitute 4.1% of the total number of 435 000 regular teaching staff.
In both situations the numbers seem to be totally insignificant but any realist is fully aware of the invaluable contribution that they make. An exit of these teachers will leave many inner-city comprehensive schools in a state of chaotic paralysis.
JFK often attributed his success to a lesson that he learnt from his father namely: never negotiate from a position of weakness. You too are not in a position to dictate. Britain’s inner-city comprehensive schools are of the toughest and worst in the world. Figures released by the National Union of Teachers [NUT] in April 2006 indicated that a teacher’s authority is contended nearly every ninth minute. The NUT indicated that 66 percent of teachers were sworn at on a regular basis. Half of these respondents said that insults were a regular every day occurrence. In some areas in the UK teachers were subjected to appalling sexual threats. The most alarming feature was that 83 percent of the surveyed teachers experienced threats from pupils every week.
Teacher less classrooms means that you and your contemporaries will be forced out of the comfort of your offices and will have to engage in back-breaking celery picking in the classrooms .Be careful what you wish for!
The comments were inappropriate, offensive and bordered on racism. An official apology is in order.
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