Dear Mr Balls - No Thank you

Inspired by other bloggers, Jax, Merry, Helen and Grit.

Dear Mr Balls,

I have read so much about your plans to safe guard children. I applaud you if your reasons are sincere, which I highly doubt. I agree though, that few people want children to be placed in vulnerable situations.

Like play grounds. I won't be too specific here, but my son used to be in a play ground, three times a day, every school day, and every day he was repeatedly kicked by another boy. Every day, three times a day. Of course we tried to tell the teacher and the play ground supervisor, and got the reassuring response that they would "keep an eye on it." Marvellous. They were going to watch him get a pasting. He spent a school year with bruised legs. Nothing was done to keep him safe, and he is not a minority, it would appear.

Of course, class rooms are havens for children. All those lovely activities, learning opportunities, friends to make. Why then, did my four year old cry every single day when I left him? Why did he crawl into the reading corner after not eating his lunch every day to fall asleep? We endured six weeks of this, until I decided enough was enough and removed him.

Finally, there are the award winning junior schools. They boast fantastic SATS results and prestigious trophies. They also tell a bunch of terrified seven year olds, fresh from Infants on their first day of school:

"WE ARE MOULDING YOU FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION".

At this school they are not allowed to:

1) Hold hands
2) Hug each other
3) Speak at lunch time
4) Speak in corridors
5) Speak in class unless told to do so
6) Play games in the play ground that require them to make physical contact.
7) Run. Ever.
8) Have their shirts untucked, their ties unstraight, their hair out of place.
9) Ask questions unless told to do so.

I have first hand experience of this Mr Balls. This is the education system you are promoting, one of rigid structure, rules, compliance and fear.

I see the children who still attend this school. They are the ones running wild in the evenings and weekends. They are the ones destroying the bus shelters, sticking chewing gum on seats and far, far worse. I don't blame the children. I blame you and your government for making school so boring, so rigid, so structured that there is no room for passion in learning.

I will resist your plans and schemes to make us all fit in to the system you desire. I will always be the square peg. I will write letters, send emails, attending fruitless meetings with MPs who can't even explain why the government are having this review (hello, Mr Wills.) I will not submit to your governments pressure to conform.
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I will continue to educate my children as I and they see fit. We will learn at our own pace, in our own way. I will continue to dedicate my life to developing my children in to well rounded, well educated human beings and you and your government will not be welcome to come into my home, to assess my children like criminals, and impose your targets and objectives on my family.

I will continue to take the responsibility seriously. More so than some of your teaching staff.

I promise that if you leave home education alone, I will not launch a viscous attack on the state education system and continue to highlight the weaknesses in your government.

Home education is not broken, so stop trying to fix it.