The Reality of a Faith School Education - Guardian Comment

The lesson of Birmingham? State education is in chaos
Some schools' conduct was an offence to liberal principles, and we cannot ignore that. Guardian  The lesson of Birmingham? State education is in chaos.

For about a year I have replaced blogging with Guardian commenting as on the whole my blogs get little attention.  I just state my position as frankly as I can. Anonymity allows me to be franker than I can in real life. I try to be objective and realistic. I never review my comments or reply until at least  a few days later when the comments are closed. Sometimes I do not review for months but when I do I sometimes am surprised at the level of Likes I receive. With this in view I am going to post some of my more memorable comments for posterity and here is one. 

Having been on the receiving end of a Faith School Education and having kept quiet about it for most of my life I feel it is about time I warned the younger generations, especially women, that a fundamentalist indoctrination in a belief system can never replace a sound, unbiased secular education. 

This comment on fundamentalist faith school education in a reply to the above article. It received 125 Likes and here it is:

I am a mature adult reaching the end of my life. I can say honestly that my education at the hands of fundamentalist Roman Catholic nuns in the late 1940's and 50s nearly ruined my life. It ruined my formal education of which I had virtually none but I did receive a thorough fundamentalist religious education. We had 5 hours of the curriculum a week dedicated to serious study of the catechism and bible and in addition prayers before every class, the Angelus for which everything even GCE exams halted for 5 minutes and grace before and after meals. Fish was obligatory on Fridays. We would be asked each Monday morning if we had attended Mass and woe betide anyone who hadn't as it was straight off to confession. I received no sex or science education. Fortunately the little boy of 7 next door filled me in.

We were taught that in certain circumstances one was allowed to disobey one's parents and state if a conflict of interests arose. God came first. We were also discouraged from playing with any of our Jewish neighbours as we were taught that this race had killed Jesus. I know it is unpleasant today to mention this but this is what I was taught for 8 years. Fortunately for me this had no effect.

Later I attended 2 Jewish owned schools where I was the outsider. This did me a lot of good but it showed me at the age of 12 just how divisive belief systems can be and later prevented me from marrying someone I loved of this faith as he would have been ostracised by his family. In the Jewish faith it is the woman who counts when it comes handing on the race. All Belief Systems guard their brethren from outsiders

If left without supervision Belief Systems would still be teaching this type of curriculum. This is how they indoctrinate children. It is foolish to think otherwise. It is no good saying it is different today. It isn't. My birth belief system has not changed an iota. A 7 year old boy will still trump a female PhD when it comes to serving at mass. The PhD only gets the chance if no other male is available. I know I will be told this is wrong but it isn't. Only if a bishop allows it and in many countries the bishops don't. After 8 years I know my belief system better than most 

Most children survive their parents and education but many do not. Every child deserves a secular education free from indoctrination, myth and superstition. I speak from experience.

I received two replies, both favourable

AlicanteAnn replied to  comment on The lesson of Birmingham? State education is in chaos.

09 Jun 2014 11:26pm

42

Congratulations at putting some flesh on the argument for secular education.

I must admit I was surprised that 42 people had added their thanks. I omitted the abuse I received at the hands of one beautiful young nun who insisted I admit to seeing a dwarf called Red Cap as that is another story of which I still feel ashamed and strangely guilty.  My school friends still remember this incident with horror. The nuns did a good job on guilt. Maybe I shall be strong enough to tell it publicly one day but not yet.

I have had one comment that garnered 725 likes on the plight of women in Afghanistan and what the west should do to help. This was ironic but hit a nerve. I like the Guardian because one can be ironic.

So in future any good comments will find there way here. 

Bogdan Pau a YouTube comment I shall never forget.

                          

The internet and YouTube are a wonderful things. I find on the internet people are usually so nice to each other and I have made many friends this way. I like to share my love of life, ballet, opera and science and this way I meet people who in real life I would never have had the chance to know. I like to leave comments, as having a YouTube Channel myself I like to receive feedback but sometime as I found to my cost over the last few days I can be horribly wrong.

I had commented on comment that an acquaintance of mine had posted on  a video on a new recording of  Die Winterreise . Innocent enough but a Bogdan Pau left a rather nasty comment about this that I stupidly answered. I had no idea who Bogdan Pau was but the impression I was given that this was a male academic ,Bogdan Pau, whoever he is, was quick to tell me of his academic credentials and how it is impossible for him to carry on a conversation with such an illiterate women who has only read Shakespeare, Proust, Mann and the complete works of Freud and then suggested that I should read Memoirs of a Anti Semite as I might learn something. This Bogdan Pau informed me that he, I presumed it was a  he that:

I do remember recommending you the central-eastern literature, the so callled Mitteleuropean literature.  from a rethorical point of view ( that means you should have read aristotel, cicero, quintilian.. and I could mention others , but you are still at Mann and Proust) that's a huge error... that proves that You are not quite capable of grasping the central element of e message and replying to that element ...

I unwisely remarked that his English was a little difficult to comprehend and received this: 

when you dear lady will be capable of writing  more then  7 languages  ( that includes classical latin and greek) - even with mistakes- then  we could talk equally
when you dear lady will have three university degrees in three different specialities ( in three different countries) and a PHD form a top swiss university, then we could talk equally .... having a consérvatoire de musique and making solfegios all your life is not quite the same......
quid ( that's a latin word)  what  should be an educated person? that's a more complex subject and  I do not have the time and the patience to treat it here 

Bogdan Pau had as Jane Austen puts it so beautifully in Pride and Prejudice  Insulted me in every way possible in public for all to see forever and is obviously proud of his achievement. Unknowingly he touched on two subjects on which I have a very raw nerve. That of Die Winterreise Schubert  which my husband and I sang just before he died and the persecution of the Jews. Calling or hinting that someone may be an anti semite is dangerous ground at the best of time and to be avoided

I was very cross as can be expected from any woman of my age who has had to put up with this sort of treatment  so I decided to find who this Bogdan Pau might be who had written in such a cruel fashion and put it in this blog for posterity.  I left this message on the comment then I did a Google and I came up with a female French Lawyer who specialised in human rights and a young woman . It struck me then I might have been naive and this young woman who was either being cruel or having a joke at my expense. I did write the blog but something made me hold back and I did not post it.

Just as well for it seems that this was indeed a  woman who says she has three university degrees and can speak 7 languages. Evidently the original post was not meant for me. She/He pointed out that I could be her grandmother and people of my age do not deserve respect. She is possibly right. I was stupid not to check earlier but she was equally wrong not to inform me that I had made a mistake or apologise simply by saying she had replied to the wrong comment.

Obviously I cannot trust this person and I have still no idea of who this could be. It could still be someone playing a rather nasty joke but I have learned another lesson not to take a comment on trust and to do a Google. Anyway for anyone who looks up Bogdan Pau on Google be careful as you might be in for a nasty surprise but at least the world will have been warned or she could be just a silly girl who may live to regret a moment of madness.

Alan Bennett makes GCSE List with History Boys

Having just watched Alan Bennett's The History Boys on the BBC this week I can see why it is a chosen play. I was so impressed I watched it twice.

Being of another age and a girl I went to school but received no education. I wanted to take GCE English literature but three weeks before the exam I did not even know what the set books were. Then I met a teacher like Hector who saw I had potential and in three weeks taught me the three books one of which was The Selected Poems of Thomas Hardy. She told me that these poems would be with me for life and I still quote them from memory. She was right.

This woman was my entire education. She taught me the love of literature and poetry but more importantly how to learn and question in just ten days. She was appalled at my spelling and said it was a mark off for every mistake!The way she interpreted the love poems written by a man in his seventies has left a lasting impression. She said it was impossible to complete the three books and I never read the complete novel The Rover by Conrad but she handed me the crib and said get as far as you can. I should not do this under any other circumstances.

I was bright! Although I was actually working at the time, a yes I was a professional child actor, I just did it. I took the exam. The only girl in my school to do so.When the results came up I had 87% but as Mrs Payne for that was her name, gave them to me she said. Pity about your spelling. We shall never know your true academic worth! This mattered not to me as I knew I was not going to be one as I was going to be famous on the stage. In some ways I did achieve this!

I married an Oxford educated GP Miles RC Heffernan so I know all about Oxford. Alan Bennett got it absolutely right in his play. My husband said at Oxford some entrants only write a page of the exam and yet still gain entry. I felt like the boy who was good at sport and became the builder. I think had I received the education these boys got in Sheffield I too might have made Oxford. Watching made me realise how poor my faith school convent education was. Oh to have lessons like that! To have the confidence that those boys had to answer back and be accepted. This quality is also bestowed at Eton. I have never had this ability. Bennett's Sheffield school maybe more imaginary than real, I suspect.

However I was lucky. I have Oxford although second hand. My husband once said only go for the best as life is too short for the second rate and he was right. I had a crash course in the best for which I am extremely grateful.

That is why I am delighted Alan Bennett is included as it might encourage teachers to be more courageous and pupils to see what they should be getting. Strangely I featured in the life of Benjamin Britten and in a book published for his centenary my essay on Britten  first published in the Times is immediately after Alan Bennett's! Our education could not be more different both of us were outsiders but at least he had the advantage of being working class and a man. I am working class too although I don't sound it but a woman. Big difference. Thanks to Mrs Payne, Benjamin Britten and my husband I survived my education but think what I might have achieved had I been educated?

PS Forgive the typos as my spelling has not improved!

Gardens are like Countries

I have a garden. I love it and have taken care of it for forty years. It is tiny, just about three quarters of a tennis court. It was bare and empty when I first arrived but over the years it has filled up so now it is overflowing.

At first I took everything I was offered even if the plants were not suitable for the small space. Friends were happy to give me plants and still are. Some were invasive and crept in from the garden next door.  Just one tiny cutting could within a few years become a menace if allowed  to take over which they would do and all the natives would be swamped but some menaces are so pretty that I keep them firmly under control. I remove all weeds ruthlessly as the endanger my natives.

Some plants I love but it is a waste of time growing as they are not suitable for our sub tropical climate. I cannot grow any plants that require a good frost like peonies, apricots, apples, Tea roses. I used to have a go but they constantly let me down so now I am very picky about the plants I choose. Plants that require frost or all day sun are not suitable for my tiny garden. They would thrive elsewhere but not for me.

The plants I have I look after. I spend money on my garden. I know every plant and I look after them. I water and feed them at great expense but they look healthy and they are worth it. My garden is beautiful.

Now my small garden is full. My friends still want to give me plants but sadly I have told them that there is no more room. Plants are living things and I have no time or space for any more. Sadly I have told them no more plants at the moment. I never say never.

Countries are like gardens.

Traveller's Club 2014 - Penises only!

Traveller's Club - Wiki Creative Commons

Today the Traveller's Club one of the pillars of the Establishment surpassed itself by voting to continue its practice of discrimination against women. In 2014 the ownership of a penis is still a valuable commodity and screams out that any man however silly is still better than a woman even the Queen!

The Guardian reported this and as usual invited comments. I use these comment opportunities and this is what I wrote: 

This must be a record. Not one single comment from a woman on the topic of male clubs and their reluctance to accept women members so I suppose I must show the flag. It seems women are not interested in joining these last bastions of male privilege where the price of admission is the ownership of a penis and can you blame us.

However it is insulting to all women, insensitive, discriminatory and offensive that this could continue today. The Taliban is a good example but the Freemasons are another example of an all male club where if I were a penis owner I should be readily accepted.

By chance ladies I caught a glimpse of this all male club in action so you might be interested to know what you are missing. This may be moderated. I taught ballet and for 11 years used the local Freemason's Hall. It had a very ordinary entrance hall.  One night just before Xmas my little fairies had a dress rehearsal at about 7 pm. To our amazement the hall wall had disappeared and in front of us were about 50 men all dressed up as crusaders with swords and dirty white unironed tabards which had obviously not been shown to their wives The look on their crusaders faces when confronted with 15 little six year olds was something I shall never forget.

Here were all the notables of our small town looking silly. My fairies were astonished and so was I being the only adult female present. Consternation followed as obviously no woman was allowed to witness this and I am not surprised. It was so funny. I wondered if these men's wives were aware of what their husbands were up to.

Ladies they are playing at dressing up! They rehearse this sort of stuff.

Anyway red faces all around. The Masons were not amused. The hall walls were reassembled and we were asked to leave. I stuck to my guns and continued with my rehearsal. All Freemasons halls have a secret room I found out. This one was very well hidden. The Masons found the incident embarrassing. My fairies loved it.

I am not afraid of men. I was raised in this club having no female companions. I am allowed to join in most things, like trainspotting, stamp collecting, frogs spawning but I am not allowed to join their clubs! Why! because I don't have a penis. This makes men feel good. It is ridiculous.

Lucian Freud Kate Moss's Ticket to Immortality

Some women inspire great artists and Kate Moss is in this class. She has inspired more than one and for that we should all be grateful.

Lucian Freud is why Kate Moss will be remembered in future centuries. Through him she has secured her posterity. She does not have to do anything else. Freud was the master of painting skin and his nude portrait of her in 2003 is one of the most beautiful nudes ever. The quality of the brush strokes make me tremble!

Love her or leave her it makes no matter. Her image will be around when all of us are long gone. Only the lucky few have the chance of immortality by meeting and inspiring a genius. She must and is very special.

For all her critics and she has many who do not get her, Kate Moss will have the last laugh. Nothing they can do will airbrush her out of the  history of art. Her image will be stand the test of time.

Strangely I have been fortunate too but that is another story.

Is a Citizen's Income the way of the future?

 The society our politicians are shaping is defined by the idea of "something for something". What would happen if, instead, we were given something for nothing? A new campaign for a "citizen's income" asks exactly that.

Replacing the costly, complex benefits system, a citizen's income is an unconditional payment granted to every individual as a right of citizenship. It's not a high figure – barely enough to survive on alone, and below the minimum wage – but it is designed to prevent all of us from falling into poverty traps. Compellingly, it removes the stigma from state support. There is no difference between a student, a person managing life with a disability, a pensioner and someone struggling to find stable employment if we all share the same basic starting point. Guardian

A Citizen's Income sounds a good idea to me. The advance of technology means that millions of boring repetitive jobs are no longer available and the rise in populations means that in the future jobs for all is unsustainable. Many are going to lose out.

Some people do not like to do conventional work. They are not good at it and would prefer to do nothing or pursue their own interests for a very low standard of living. Artists are good examples. They are not good employees in conventional jobs if forced into them.

Having a Citizen's Income would mean that those who wanted to work and benefit would find getting work easier and those who didn't could scrape by and not bother the rest of us. It would also mean that employers would have to make their low wage, boring jobs more attractive than a subsistence income which they have no incentive to do at the moment.

The Romans had a similar problem of what to do with their unemployed citizens and their answer was Bread and Circuses so a Citizen's Income is not a new concept.

Good on Switzerland for having a go.