Education, education, education...

Twenty years ago, not long out of the teaching profession and with a young family, I made speeches in The House about the fundamental importance of education for the future of our country and the potentially damaging impact on our children and families of the wrong sort of television. I was right.

I always thought Mary Whitehouse went too far with her “name, shame and ban” approach. “Switch it off” seemed a simpler and more effective solution. Burning books or censoring films was never the answer. Better by far to educate people to make responsible personal judgments.

Life moves on. Twenty years ago we all knew what we meant by ‘family values’. Social mores have moved on and so has the jargon. Social cohesion almost covers what we mean by those values that keep us together, though I doubt if we could convincingly define what it means to be British, let alone English.

Ten years ago we worked out that the revolution in communications technology would render state control of the media and its contents a physical impossibility. We were right. What would matter would be teaching our children – the parents of the future – how to handle it.

The social jungle
Violent music lyrics and images, advocating a lethal knife and gun culture, sex, drugs and antisocial behaviour is now commonplace. Pathetic television shows like ‘Big Brother’ deconstruct common humanity and portray offensive and damaging behaviour as entertainment. Even celebrity chefs know no bounds. I used to admire Gordon Ramsey for his culinary skill but his ‘The F-word’ series changed all that. Now he is into entertainment and market share. The fact is, our children now grow up in a violent, unfocussed, uncharted social jungle.

Twenty years ago, when the arguments about grammar school and comprehensive education divided our community in South Wiltshire, parents wanted their children to go to our grammar schools not just for the academic education but because they preferred the old certainties of discipline, values, behaviour, personal responsibility and aspiration.

It wasn’t that all our other schools had abandoned that agenda. However, they were more prone to social and educational fads and fashions – perhaps symbolised by abandoning school uniform for children and permitting role-model teachers to wear jeans and T-shirts to work.

That row…
I suspect all of that is why so many people were disturbed last month to hear the Conservative Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education say that grammar schools don’t work like they used to and across the nation we must look to improve the schools of the many, not the few.

For his pains, David Willetts was badly mauled at the weekly meeting of over one hundred Conservative MPs for appearing to stab our grammar schools in the back in an unprovoked attack. I was first into the ring, to express the anger and disbelief of very many people in Salisbury who had contacted me.

Instead of reporting the thoughtful and challenging analysis of future educational policy that David Willetts so ably expounded, the media ran with the story that we were abandoning our support for grammar schools. We are not. The full text of “that speech” says that for those children who get to the 164 grammar schools the benefits are enormous. Those popular and successful schools are here to stay. What we must do is to raise the quality of education for all those young people in the other 3,000 secondary schools and 17,000 primary schools. I agree with that.

Fit for purpose?
I have been visiting our local schools for almost a quarter of a century. Some of them have had bad patches. All of them have been above the national average. When I was away from Salisbury as a Minister, I visited schools in areas of urban deprivation that really upset me. This was not because of the dilapidated buildings, let alone the number of children on free school meals, but because those young people were clearly disadvantaged by blocked educational opportunities and a stagnant society. It wasn’t just that the ladder of opportunity had been kicked away. The ‘bog-standard comprehensive’ offered no way out, discouraged talent and froze social mobility.

Today, all our local schools in their rich variety – comprehensive, academy, specialist college or grammar school - are vibrant and exciting places to be, sharing opportunities and resources and placing our young people confidently in a challenging world. They will offer even more to all our children if we mind less about what they are called and much more about how they meet the aspirations of children and parents alike in our global economy and in the social jungle in which young people now grow up.

The fruits of our learning
Nearly twenty years ago I first tangled with medical ethics – in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. Science has moved on – and so have expectations of how we can screen out killer diseases and assist human reproduction. Just because scientists can do something does not mean they should. Our eighteen-strong Joint Lords and Commons Committee on the Human Tissues and Embryos Bill must recommend to Parliament where to draw the line when it comes to creating, testing and using human embryos, sex selection, genetic modification, cloning, hybrids and chimeras. Now, that really is a challenge – and one that I relish.

Robert Key MP