Shrinking Childhood.

The British Government says that the primary school curriculum must be extended to ‘stretch’ young children further. This is so that we can compete with the world’s best educational systems. 5-year-olds will soon have to learn about fractions and algorithms, apparently.

Well, why not? It seems the modern world demands the erosion of those traditional joys and preoccupations associated with childhood, so why not go the whole way and confine them to a beautiful memory? Until, that is, those of us who do remember them have all died out. And let’s be honest: which is more important, competing with the world’s best systems or allowing children to have a childhood? You decide while I ponder two questions:

1) Does the modern world really demand the erosion of childhood? Is it really being run by psychopaths as one academic recently claimed in a celebrated book? Or is this another example of the current British government getting its values arse-about-face as usual. The Labour Opposition has reacted to the statement by saying that schools curricula should be determined by educational experts, not the prejudices of ministers. Mmm… yeah.

2) What’s an algorithm? I freely confess to having no idea, since we hadn’t learned about those by the time I left school at sixteen, and I can’t say I ever encountered any need to know. Have I missed out on one of life’s great rewards, I wonder.