A Labour shadow minister was left gobsmacked after a primary school pupil told him he supported Ukip – because he wanted to get ‘all the foreigners out the country’ (Mail Online)
From Huffington Post:
Labour’s shadow education secretary was speaking to children at a primary school in Derbyshire yesterday. “Do you know who you’d vote for?” he asked one boy.
“Ukip,” the child replied.
“You’d vote Ukip?” a surprised Hunt replied. “Very good. Why’s that?”
The boy explained: “It might get all the foreigners out.”
Well, what leaves me gobsmacked is that Mr Hunt does not take the child seriously. Saying “Very good” to something he obviously disagrees with is condescending, as if he was talking to a cooing baby. He should have calmly and politely disagreed from the onset and entered into a respectful discussion which would have given this boy not only an insight into the other side of the foreigner argument , but taught him how opposing viewpoints can be intelligently negotiated. This video might have gone viral for entirely different reasons.
The British education system needs to start integrating negotiation, critical thinking and self-reflection in every subject, and do so now.
However, as the current drive for attainment leaves core subjects out of the picture, I personally don’t see where else to go to start the process but in RE. Where else can you find an excuse for teaching something as worthless as philosophy, logic, rhetoric, dialectic …. It’s not a matter of what RE teachers believe to be their subject, and don’t want it swamped by community cohesion and what-not. It’s becoming a matter of civic duty, as no-one else seems currently able.
Here is a higher level thinking task for you:
Please finish this sentence: “Lion cubs are cute.
Unfortunately, they ____________________________________________.”
Further related reading:
“Islam in RE…”; UKIP in RE? Dealing with non-PC views
Deradicalisation; it’s not about what you do, it’s about who you are
cooperativelearning.works 