Frank Chalk A poll of 3000 teachers run by the parenting club website bounty.com revealed that roughly half of teachers make assumptions about children based upon their first names. Their judgements are shown below and are pretty accurate. Naughty Boys                                Naughty Girls  [ Read More ]

Frank Chalk Boris Johnson asked last week why we can’t manage to create an internet business like Facebook. He suggested that young people lacked the necessary single-minded ambition and also blamed our society’s reluctance to praise success. So why not? 1) He is correct in blaming lack of ambition in many young people. State education does not allow failure and teachers  [ Read More ]

Tim Worstall The number of degree students ending up in low to lower-skilled jobs has grown from 9pc to 17pc over the past 18 years, a fresh analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed. The increase is largely due to the number of people with a degree rising at a faster rate  [ Read More ]

Frank Chalk Some friends of mine whose child starts school this September, recalled the moment they decided to opt out of state education. They have instead chosen to spend a large amount of money that they can’t really afford and will involve them making some real sacrifices. They were being given a tour round a  [ Read More ]

Frank Chalk The Government has just announced that vocational qualifications are no longer going to be counted in the League Tables. This is terrible news. Without Hair and Beauty, Travel and Tourism and Generally mucking About, how on Earth are schools like mine going to fool decent, honest parents into believing that we are just  [ Read More ]

Martin Ansong A few months ago, there were riots and pandemonium caused by students and a large percentage of the public against the rise of tuition fees from £3,290 to £9,000. With more than a third of English universities charging £9,000 as their standard fee for the upcoming academic year, the question I raise in  [ Read More ]

Tim Worstall It opens up the potential for schools, hospitals, social care systems and nurseries to fold without the government stepping in to prop them up. Labour called it an “appalling revelation”. Appalling revelation? But that’s the damn point! “This problem is mitigated if the system allows for provider exit as well as entry –  [ Read More ]

Henry Hill Simon Hughes is Wrong: It is state schools, not universities, that are failing disadvantaged children. Simon Hughes, in his new role as ‘Access Tsar’ (I know…) has produced another assault on the integrity of higher education. The proposal is simple: force universities charging over £6,000 under the new fees regime to “tackle the  [ Read More ]