Hi Amaryllis
>
>The second point is that those of us who regardless of impairment were
>educated in what are variously called 'progressive, 'democratic' or 'child
>owned' schools reject as such the right to have our education externally
>assessed. We can be the only true judges, individually, on what we consider
>to be our education.
I can see how this might be the case. I also went to what might be called a
'progressive' school, but I think it is very important to point out that
those of us who were educated this way are in a tiny, tiny minority and
that Barnoness Warnock was almost certainly not talking about our
experience. It would be wonderful if we all had or had had the
'progressive', 'democratic', or 'child-owned' education that you describe,
but I'm afraid that this is not the case. It's also worth pointing out that
Baroness Warnock in her book 'A Common Policy for Education' (1988), in
which she cites Dewey's work on Democracy and Education (1966) doesn't once
consider the possibility that disabled children should be included in
either a common policy or her concept of democratic education. The Warnock
committee was also directly responsible for coining the term 'special
needs' that many of us consider to be anti-democratic and marginalising.
Maybe I'm an old cynic, but I thought there was a certain irony in your
posting. What I didn't say was that the 'failure' of adult learning is
being used by this government, as past governments, to erode it, and I
believe that Baroness Warnock's comment still rings true in her book. I
doubt that she and you and I have the same understanding of 'enjoyment',
however, and we might also have very different views on who can become
'financial contributors to society' and how, and whether financial
contributions are the be-all and end-all of everyone's life.
>
Best wishes,
Mairian
Mairian Corker
Senior Research Fellow in Deaf and Disability Studies
Department of Education Studies
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
Address for correspondence:
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U.K.
Minicom/TTY +44 [0]171 359 8085
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