Last night I watched Bad Santa on Channel 5 – Billy Bob Thornton’s portrayal of a nasty, foul-mouthed, booze-swilling Santa Claus. On hearing the news, this morning, that our Bad Education Minister has accepted the review of funding for prep schools – that will mean that such schools will lose their £800 per year per pupil of state funding – I can see obvious similarities between Bad Santa and Bad Catriona.
OK, so she may not – in public at least – swill Stolly, or use the F-word quite so liberally – but she certainly shows little in the way of Christmas or public spiritedness. She also turns a blind eye to her ultimately self-abusing behaviour. Because in proposing to cut funding for preps she also risks losing the small number of schools that produce wonderful results and provide superlative primary education at minimal cost to the state.
Let’s look at the argument that is put forward against funding prep schools. It is argued that preparatory schools take children away from state funded schools – schools that have surplus places. But surely the same applies to Ms Ruane’s much-favoured Irish-medium schools – schools that build greater division and “cultural” barriers within our society – forcing kids, like Islamic schools, to steep themselves in the narrow confines of a ”culture” when what we need is teaching that encourages modern-mindedness and freedom of thought.
Meanwhile, there is considerable demand for places at preparatory schools. Parents are willing to pay £3000 or so a year in fees to send their children to preparatory schools – because we appreciate what such schools offer. In the case of Friends’ School Preparatory Department – the school my daughter attended, and my son still attends – the school provides more than simply excellent teaching. It also provides an environment in which mutual respect is encouraged, where children of all religions and none can meet, work together and understand each other. Instead of cultural homogeneity, prep schools encourage plurality and independent thinking – a great gift to be bestowed on any child at primary school age.
The burden of the cost of such excellent primary school education is borne by the parents. The state gets a great bargain for its £800 a kid. Preparatory schools produce exemplary results. Preparatory schools produce a significant cohort of kids that are ready for a post-primary academic focused curriculum. However, many thousands of children in Northern Ireland are badly let down by state primary schools that simply fail to provide adequate education. Indeed the reason so many children in Northern Ireland leave secondary schools with little to no qualifications is more the fault of poorly performing primary schools than secondaries. How does Ms Ruane plan to address this?
Catriona Ruane will almost certainly cut or scrap funding for prep schools – such is her loathing of wealth and the middle classes. Indeed Ms Ruane will do everything to undermine what is good in our education system while lauding what is expensive and pointless – like Irish-medium schools. But, unlike the foul-mouthed and drunken Bad Santa, I don’t expect her to find the essence of the Christmas spirit any time soon – the need for people to be kind to each other.
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