Tag Archives: class

In praise of ‘low value’ subjects.

The English education system is built on value judgements. Measures of provider quality, qualification currency and student achievement create a web of rankings which shape our view of the system, and the resulting hierarchies impact how everyone feels about where … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Education policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

University Gold.

With some help from the Jackson 5: The proposal to classify English universities as Gold, Silver or Bronze is a stroke of genius. The perfect expression of the English obsession with ranking. So obvious, one wonders why we’re not already … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Education policy | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Useful work v. useless toil’ by William Morris

Introduction: This lecture from 1884 is a clear and powerful statement of Morris’s political and economic manifesto, which also informed ‘News from Nowhere’ (1890) his visionary fable of life after a revolution. His critique of the waste and inequality inherent in … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, History, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment