Specialist schools, Tony Blair declared at the weekend, are meant to sort out the comprehensive system. It sounds great but, as with so much of this government’s policy, closer inspection suggests presentation may be more important than policy coherence. Specialist schools inevitably imply selection, yet the government says it is committed to eliminating selection.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/jan/18/schools.comment
This article is about The Guardian’s search for Woman of the Millenium.
” Few issues have aroused such passion on these pages as the quest for Women of the Millennium. We have been bombarded with suggestions, indignant letters and even the odd poem, since it emerged that on Radio 4′s Today programme, the top 100 British personalities of the millennium included only six women, none of whom was shortlisted.
Today’s editor said he’d hoped for more female nominations; well, we’ve got them aplenty. Over a thousand votes were cast and 400 names suggested. With the notable exception of Tracey Teresa (‘illegitimate daughter of Mother’), these were mainly sensible suggestions – women who have made a significant contribution to the history of this millennium.”
So why is it that when the public are asked to nominate ‘great’ people, they overlook women? Is it because, by virtue of biology, women can never aspire to those categories of courage, vision, statesmanship and genius by which greatness is usually assessed?
Read more: