There is a gigantic part of British life that is hardly ever mentioned, analysed or indeed taken seriously in these modern days; perhaps because it has been a settled issue. Whilst the age-old institutions that made British education so formidable have been eroded away in the form of grammar schools the state sector and more are now firmly embedded in an environment that could not be described as educational.
As a teacher since 2017 I have seen the first-hand account of just how sorry things are. I am now an old-fashioned teacher in that I try to show two or more sides to a topic and ask students to make up their own mind. But that is no longer the case because of an over 4-decade push to make this impossible. What is this? Critical thinking; but whilst we encourage our students to do so in order to get an A in an exam we do not engage in this principle in the wider world of education. The education system is riddled with people from teaching positions all the way to the top with individuals brought up on a poisoned doctrine of intellectual intolerance and are only making things worse.
The long march through the institutions is talked of in hushed tones in London; the international city culturally cut off from its own country. Few like to talk about it because such talk would sound sinister, and it would lead to people taking offence; but it has happened. It has been documented with increasing frequency the intolerance of thought, as the ethos of ‘allowed information’ has reached proportions that now lead to dissenters having their professional lives taken away. If you do not agree on: evil British history, Trans rights over female rights, decolonisation, hate/compelled speech, enforced cultural/racial/societal diversity, equity of outcome, intolerance of alternatives, socialism, socialist theory, Marxist interpretations of society, intersectional theory, critical race theory, structural racism, deconstructionism, conservative-hating, internationalism, climate catastrophe, casual authoritarianism… then you are essentially bad. You are not allowed to know about alternatives and if you do and you in any way agree then schools and colleges up and down the land will make your life as difficult as possible.
This toxic culture that masquerades as ‘areas of safe spaces’ is not what learning is about. It is a pseudo-religion with its pagan priests, followers and heretics. College professors, teachers, students, that fall out of line are held up by the education apostles as evil, backward and having no place in society. Hit-mobs online or on the street take these people out or at least are isolated to the point where they either submit or are forced into a life that opens a much darker path. And if you fight back? You’re fired, hashtags are made and they will make sure you never see another easy day. This happened to me and were it not for a few good friends and a desperate plea for sanity I would not be writing this today.
Conservative thinkers in recent times were right; the arrogance of conservative people in thinking that these 1960s progressives, or new wave liberals [add your own term here] would eventually grow up, get a job and realise that life and reality have not time for nonsense ideas that have no practical basis or real-world-application. Sorry, but there are places where they find a home. PR firms, charities, the Civil Service and in the very places where they learnt all of this before, in education.
Why should you care? If you are not directly or indirectly involved in education, what has this got to do with you? It has everything to do with you. You might have a child who has to grow up with this indoctrination of hate and intolerance. You might have to work for a company with an HR or PR department dedicated to ever-shrinking values of what is right and not good. You might have to turn on the television to see what’s going on in our broadcast media. This affects us all and concern must be met with action. This cannot go on. We cannot have shrieking mobs of young people taking matters, issues, institutions, into their own intolerant hands. If we do then no statue will be left in place, no history will be recorded, no alternative opinion will be brooked.
To those who read this, supporting such an idea of a new and idealistic world I ask you this; what will you do with those who disagree? So far it is limited to shadow banning, harassment, forcing people to lose their jobs and so on. But if this is acceptable but not enough then what next? At what stage will you just decide that these safe spaces should become even more safe? How will you do this in our schools and colleges? The only way is to force dissenters to submit, or to exclude them. This already happens in America where schools have days where certain people cannot go to school because of their background (Black-only days). But what if they don’t want to be excluded and don’t submit? What will you do then? As a history teacher I can give you the answer; you round them up, you segregate, you forcibly isolate, you then denigrate, you de-humanize as has been done already in many ways. What happens next, I dread to think.
That is what happens when intolerance is not checked, is not told ‘this far and no further’. When you give education a blank cheque of social and academic action then you let it snowball until even the most disgusting of social crimes is no longer off the table. It has gotten worse decade by decade, and now it only takes one event in one day for all to change, for new posters to go up, for old statues to go down, for fists to be raised and knees to fall. And those on the wrong side should either submit…
If you are concerned with the direction of education, then do not wait for someone to make it better. It will not get better on the backs of brave teachers willing to stand up. In a recent poll 70% of teachers said they did not say what they thought for fear of their careers, which is astounding considering around 85% of the teachers are of a more liberal-left persuasion (on average in the spectrum). I cannot fight this fight of returning education to an institution of tolerance of ideas, equality of ideas and freedom of investigation. It is because I am not fighting a dogma, a set of values, or a doctrine as I eluded to earlier. It is a religion, and schools, colleges and universities are the churches. The teachers, principles etc are the high priests. In order to smash a religion you need to hold a candle to its flaws. Shine a light.
If you are concerned, then investigate a school or college you know. See its flaws, call out its name and we can end this. It is not through strength of numbers, but in the forthrightness of our message. Return our education system to its proper purpose of enlightenment rather than indoctrination. Lobby your MP with these findings. Stop shrugging your shoulders and ask why. Challenge those who say there is no moral alternative. Do not let them hide behind the empty phrase of ‘British values’. When they say move you plant your feet in the sand and say ‘no, you move’. Just don’t do nothing.
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