We need more headteachers like Katharine Birbalsingh.

As a teacher, I’m so thankful to have found Katherine. I’m so sick of progressive student-driven education that is shoved down our throats. I’m firmly in the “traditional” style of teaching.

If I had a principal with her mentality I would still be a teacher. She hits these issues on the head. It’s terribly sad that her ideas are considered controversial.

Burlbalsingh is a saint. The opposite of what she preaches is a form of child cruelty. Thank you for selecting her as a guest on your show. Child centred education is at odds with learning. ‘Rote learning is a trellis on which a free thinker can climb’ - quote from Christopher Caldwell. The only subjects my daughter was adequately taught was music and sport which required discipline and repetitive practise. Marion

This lady is fantastic. Sadly her message is anathema to the public educational establishment.

She is spot-on. Young people crave structure! I know myself...that when I look back on my High School times, my favorite teachers were actually the strict ones. Sure they tough...but fair. It was the teachers who were lovey-dovey and couldn't control the classroom that we didn't respect or learn anything!

She sounds like a great teacher. Awesome interview guys, was interesting to listen to.

I’ve been to the school, and read the book. I also met the children, spoke with Katherine and a host of other teachers: I kid you not, the school deserves none of the bad press it gets. The kids are very happy, the teachers are kind and nobody shouts, nobody is stressed, you can’t tell the difference between a top performing child and a pupil premium child (by their books or their in-class contributions). This school is amazing and I cannot wait to see their GCSE results because they’re going to be phenomenal and a snack in the chops for all the doubters and progressives that ironically hinder progress. Go MCS

@thegreenbikerider6189

4 жыл бұрын

So glad they smashed their GCSE results!

@saffigrey5887

3 жыл бұрын

What's the book?

@NROS2012

9 ай бұрын

@@saffigrey5887 Battle Hymn of The Tiger Tachers, and The Power of Culture is the second book

My best teachers were ones that put me in my place. A school I attended made many memories, one being my getting in trouble for saying: 'what?' to a teacher when I should have said: 'I didn't hear you Mr. X.' Later, in architecture courses, I observed a class that put no strictures on the design process, and another put intense strictures on the design process. One was a great fantasy, but returned poor designs. The other returned very good designs because in order to make a design good and to work, it must be made within a small margin of error. And error only exists when there are rules.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way, but I am so glad others are saying this!! 👏

I love how she just put everything so succinctly. She said out loud what's in every one's mind but people don't want to say! And she is so right - progressive education language is so deceptive! It seems so good on the surface, but the kids come out knowing nothing about anything

How amazing is this woman, oh my gosh!!! Great interview as always, thank you for it!

I wish she was my teacher when I was in high school. Can’t imagine where I’d be by now. I’m in a good place but could be better had I learnt to hon a strong work ethic at an earlier age.

@wonderingalbatros3603

4 жыл бұрын

@CrispyMystery Lets see where the kids are in twenty years time shall we?

She is an agile Headmistress!! Love it! And yes, kids don't feel safe if they don't have enough order because they know they don't have enough knowledge and skills to survive by themselves. Even rich spoiled kids know that without their parents, they will die. What kids don't like is to be forced to do things without respect or persuasion.

she reminds me of ms. Frizzle. And I completely agree with her methodology on teaching and the importance she puts on authority.

@theelderelk5582

3 жыл бұрын

I thought that too

Katharine is truly inspirational, from a teacher to a teacher. I would love to work at your school!

@JLaw954

2 жыл бұрын

I'm sure you are better than that. You have a doctorate. Why would you want to be drilled in the 'Michaela Way' - trust me, there is no room for individuality in her system.

I'm a big fan of Birbalsingh but I don't think we'll see any meaningful change until we confront the real problem in all of this: academia. I finished a secondary History PGCE last year and there were two boogymen that were constantly condemned throughout the course by almost every tutor and speaker I encountered: Michael Gove and the Michaela school. There was no balance or nuance at all. It was simply a case of "they are bad and stupid and wrong and that's just the way it is." Child-centred learning was the basic principle on which everyone in my cohort was trained and how every placement school expected us to teach. Our observed lessons were judged on the amount of 'student-led learning' that happened and "too much talking by the teacher" was strongly discouraged. Until more diversity of thought is allowed in our universities, the vast majority of children in Britain will not get a proper education.

@transamination

5 жыл бұрын

I wish they would ask the children what it is they actually want. Because I imagine if they did they would find that it's the teacher at the front of the classroom telling them what they need to know. I absolutely hated 'student-led learning' group-work, brainstorming etc etc.

@tbone35453

5 жыл бұрын

@@transamination I agree with you that teaching from the front is more effective, but I think if the children were asked, a lot of them would say they wanted group work because it allows lazy pupils to get away without working. It also makes it much harder for the teacher to maintain control over the class. Asking the pupils what they want undermines discipline, authority and structure; two things that we badly need to reintroduce into our education.

No swearing in this episode...? - goes to show us all just how powerful a headmistress she is. Another great interview!

Wonderful lady. What a breath of fresh air!

This person has a very good understanding of childhood social dynamics and how schools can effectively suppress bullying and intimidation... the language `teacher's pet' and `suckup' and so on.

My goodness, just when I thought you are doing great work, you do this interview. I cannot praise your show enough. This interview just sings to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I've worked in secondary schools and my wife is a Deputy Head and IMHO schools suffer from two basic problems: 1) Too much change. 2) Zero best practice. They are related. The rate of change destroys best practice. Every year there are massive changes which staff have not got anywhere near implementing before the next changes are imposed. You only get good at implementation if the rate of change affords refinement, understanding and improvement. This happens when people become comfortable and knowledgeable in their roles. I would liken teachers to employees that walk halfway down a corridor to reach a destination only to be told to change course when they reach halfway and before they get to take a step in the new direction are told to change course again. They never get anywhere because the goal posts are constantly changing. IMO.

Excellent interview and she makes so much sense!

Marvelous Kathy, just marvelous! We need more individuals like in charge of the Public schools! I just hope that my cousin, Nadia McIntosh, who is also a Headmistress for a Public school in London is doing just a fantastic job! Maximum respect...as the Caribbean folks would say.

Well done lads you really directed those questions great! she is an absolute force of nature and we need more women like that in this world she is amazing!

Children are not in charge The End

@willjdeanie

4 жыл бұрын

How dare you!

@zxyatiywariii8

4 жыл бұрын

And when they are, they end up with Evergreen State College, riots, and plummeting enrollment.

@Individual_Lives_Matter

3 жыл бұрын

But they’re So wISe and beautiful and they have sO mUcH to teach us......

I am a formally (fully) trained and fully certified teacher with years of experience from kindergarten to high-school to university to adults in gvt. ..... what appalled me, when I taught in elementary schools, was that the curricula designers were themselves teachers who took on the role of policy analyst in order to escape from their classrooms 6 months out of 10 in the year => I know because I was their supply teacher!!! Experience is clear on what works and what doesn't. Yet politicians prefer the glamour of "studies" done in very well funded private schools: conclusions in specific environments are not applicable to vastly different environments => but intelligent discussion on issues does not get the vote!

Katharine seems to be describing a fairly normal school from the late 1990s or so. The cancers of identity politics and social media have taken their toll, it seems.

@stephenmurray2851

4 жыл бұрын

Before 1997. Before the labour party got elected.

@burleybater

4 жыл бұрын

I can tell you we had 5 decades of normal schooling going backward from the late nineties. Back in the days when Indoctrinators didn't mess with kids' heads. Schools were far from perfect, but they weren't cesspools of bent ideology. What is truly incredible is how short a time it's taken to reinvent this wheel.

@Captain_MonsterFart

4 жыл бұрын

School was crap in those days though.

@michalptacnik1

4 жыл бұрын

School was crap back then. I only enjoyed and learned something at a school which would look like her worst nightmare.

@michalptacnik1

4 жыл бұрын

I guess her methods are good for schools in crappy neighborhoods though. Never been in one, we had no crappy neighborhoods as such when I was a kid. But my university looked like something she would probably approve of and I was mildly said very unhappy there.

So many great quotes from this brilliant lady.

I love Katharine. Regarding Smart phones and Fortnight, what she hasn't mentioned is how much effort tech companies deliberately put into making them as addictive as possible. They literally take lessons from psychology and run experiments on how to make such games and internet experiences as habit forming as possible to the point that even sensible adults with reasonable amounts of common sense and self-discipline can easily be vulnerable to developing a mild problem that significantly negatively impacts their lives. For children who have never known anything else it is just incredible and I am worried for children who grow up with a Smart Phone with internet connection from the age of 11.

Tbh watching triggernometry is a far superior education than most state schools are able to provide today.

Katherine is Fan-bloody-tastic. Can she be cloned?

@JLaw954

3 жыл бұрын

Are you sure she's not a clone?

Very interesting interview, thanks!

Amazing conversation with a brilliant woman!

I would love one of her critics to explain the exceptional GCSE results.

Great guest, great conversation.

Your interview bring so much in the intellectual desert that the powers to be have given us.

Another brilliant guest.

I think the thing that shines here is the joy and respect for learning. This has to be held by teachers and parents ect...I also had the same discussion with an alternative school about creating, there are basics to creativity....it's literally documented, you have to build knowledge (schema) and then get creative and playful with it. Creativity needs a base of learning and information. Jumping from main stream education, to alternative I can say I'm more on the conservative side, rules, responsibility, duty and obligation ect....

God bless you, Katherine.

Thank you for the great interview.

I f*cking love this woman. I just discovered her and am an immediate fan. Gloriously refreshing knowing such a strong and forthright voice is out there.

We need more teachers like her, I had soft teachers to the point I have learnt nearly nothing, luckily self-aware enough to try and better myself. Also agree in regards to smartphones. Parents complain that we need to censor everything. You shouldent be makeing a sex shop family friendly

You're amazing. Please consider a hop across the pond, our teachers here in the states NEED the wake-up call of your point of view.

I'm in my 8th (and maybe final year) of being a teacher, and I am at the end of my rope. The behaviour of the kids these days is just insane - and in most schools your hands (as a teacher) are totally tied. I was admonished by my director for having the kids write lines!! I was like WTF you are taking away all my power, you don't support my decisions, the parents refuse to raise the kids right, it's a never ending circle of shyte!

Way to go, lady - keep up up the good work on beahalf of Education, Mental Sanity and Common Sense!

Great video, keep up the good work!

That women has balls and is right on all topics educational! I take all of her you have in stock. Please ship them to Berlin, Germany.

as someone teaching undergrads i wish i got more students who've been through this discipline rather than kids who are used to having every whim and wish indulged. i had strict teachers, principals/headteachers at school and my parents were rather strict till we finished school and that discipline and education trained me well for a very difficult life. we have to stop giving young people the impression that life will be fair and easy and will not demand lots of effort and hard work (well, for most people). it's doing them so much harm.

I work in a school as a TA3. She's incredible.

The interesting point on Steve jobs he did not allow his kids smart phones

She's great. great interview guys!

shes absolutely correct about the ideas around art. you cant become a creative influential artist without being versed in the fundamentals of drawing, I.E perspective, form, anatomy, colour, and light. its immediately obvious when someone is faking thier skill and as such the reasonance of the piece is lost

as Head Teacher of Maths in NSW Katharine is absolutely correct. Let's get NESA listening to this great presentation.

Ahhhh but it's a blessing to hear her say it straight about smartphones and children. Thank you lady. But now she can't see a connection between misbehavior at school and a volatile home life. Is she willfully blind? She's quite an idealist, who needs to drink far less coffee.

29:01 - explains so much why GCSE and A Level were so stressful for me - we didn't start learning many things until it was too late. And GCSE and A Level became periods of extreme pressure and tension for students.

Fucking love this woman! Shes like a beacon of light in a dark place tbh.

These are great interviews keep it up guys.

@triggerpod

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Joe

Very interesting interview.

At university EVERY lecture theatre and EVERY tutorial class has rows of seats. The lecturer leads the students. Everyone recognises the expertise of the person leading the class, which is why s/he is at the front getting paid the big bucks to impart knowledge. Imagine medical students being put into small groups to solve a medical problem without first being taught anatomy or cellular biology.

@saffigrey5887

3 жыл бұрын

Many seminars are taught in small group tables these days. I myself prefer the horseshoe

I really hope this becomes mainstream before I have kids of school age.

Loved it! Is she the Jordan Peterson for kids or is Jordan the Katharine for adults? Has anyone seen them in the same room?

As a teacher in Texas, USA. I agree with 85% of this. One question, how does her school handle the one or two tough kids that disrupt the class?

@kh9242

2 жыл бұрын

Kick their a$$ like they did us in the 80's?

Man, her enthusiasm is truly infectious.

Sounds like my ordinary comprehensive school in the 1980s - desks in rows, facing front; a blackboard rubber lobbed at your head if you mucked about at the back. The headmaster was only a little feller, but he oozed authority from every pore. No one would even think of crossing that guy. Oh, and Francis - in standard English, "with", or "by" are the 'correct' prepositions coupled with "bored". "Bored of..." is a recent colloquial addition ("board of directors/wood" is fine though). Sorry to be a grammar pedant, but a you say it every video; and a teacher should probably teach proper English and stuff, innit! ;)

@pollysshore2539

5 жыл бұрын

It sounds like my American 1980s primary school, to a degree. We had a few good teachers that made classes fun. It wasn’t a whole class participation situation but our history teacher (who was also a drama geek) loved to bring costumes and props and on incorporate them into the lectures so we could get more context. He had 3 yardsticks taped together with a fly swat on the end. If a student fell asleep or wasn’t paying attention he would smack them on the head. He was a rare treat, through. I went to a public school filled with schoolmarms that taught my parents. They had 20-30 paddles lining the walls (former students brought them new paddles, some obviously from kink shops) and some boys were beaten daily. It reached a point where they started giving the teachers a reason to beat them. We would hear someone say duck, and do it because we knew a student was getting ready to hurl their desk across the classroom and at the teachers head. I was paddled in front of the class for missing three questions on a math test. One of my teachers, who made it very clear that she didn’t like me because of one of my older brothers had written & preformed a Monty Python-esque play about her screwing all the Baptist preachers in our county while using roach clips as nipple clamps, gave my friend a pack of gum and told her to offer me a piece on the playground. I was paddled for chewing gum, etc. In the early years (kindergarten - 2nd) some rather insane shaming tactics were used. One teacher would make you pull your pants down in front of the class so she could attach a cows tail. It had sharp wires on the end that scratched & cut the skin. She poked it through your pants and you had to walk at the end of the line all day. Another taped my mouth shut with duct tape and made me sit on her desk in front of the class for 4 hours. I wasn’t allowed to eat lunch. I was 10 min late coming in from recess because my friend and I were throughly submersed in giving a dead bumblebee a proper burial in the sand box. By the time I reached high school the Satanic Panic had reached an even harsher early 90s persecutory phase against teens, and I watched 5 of my friends (including my first love) be demonized as Satanists and expelled because they listened to punk and metal and sometimes wore black concert tee’s. All were making A’s & B’s, and were moderate Christians or borderline agnostics at that time. Not afterward. There was a rightful and needed backlash to conservative education that quickly swung too far in the other direction. I’ve found a lot research on alternative schools to be refreshing, but it’s not something most parents can afford or have access to. I don’t remember half of what I learned. I have not used most of what I learned in elementary or high school. In the U.S it is a test factory and some teachers are recommending medication for perfectly normal child behavior, to keep students in their seats. I don’t agree with giving every child a trophy, denying awards for achievements because it may hurt feelings, etc. I do think children learn in different ways and don’t see the harm in having options. It’s not wise to implement trend after trend and rouge parenting or ideological philosophies into general education, though. *Edited because I can’t see. Flipping allergies

@pollysshore2539

5 жыл бұрын

I don’t know how you fix the horrific mess, and I’m still not sure which version of someone else’s ideological, educational hell is worse. One of the biggest problems we see in the U.S is recess & physical education being drastically cut back or out entirely. Children in younger grades are not given an opportunity to burn off the energy they are exploding with. They have a harder time sitting in their seats, and then medication is recommended to deal with the perceived problem. This is more of a problem for boys, who are in a system that is largely stacked against them. All research shows getting time to go out and run around & play like little mad people helps children and teachers focus. Some people I enjoy listening to that have spent years researching alternative education, like Dr. Peter Gray, also object to children being given too many universal awards. He discusses studies involving 2 groups of children being asked to draw a picture for a incoming guest speaker. One group was told they would receive award certificates if they drew a picture. The other was not. All the kids enjoyed drawing with markers prior to the experiment but they found the ones that received a certificate drew worse pictures (quick, get it over with, get the certificate with a gold star) and lost interest in drawing for fun afterward. The other group that received no awards drew better pictures and continued drawing for fun. Edu systems run on excessive awards for nothing. There is nothing wrong with recognizing honest achievements that required hard work but there is an out of control reward system, implemented in the name of “self esteem” that does more harm than good. Again, that is prime evidence of parents being allowed to overrun schools with their favorite parenting guru’s trends. It started when I was in school (actually before but started getting out of control in the late 80s) but was primarily focused on the younger students/millennial generation. This is odd because it was based on horrible research, with questionable methodology, that said generation X had lower self esteem than other generations. In the U.S this was partially based on a study where Gen X kids were put in a room with their mother and one puzzle. The mom told the child she needed to leave the room a few times. At one point she brought a guy in, introduced him, and left her child alone with the man for a few minutes. Gen X kids kept playing with their puzzle and were fine. The study was repeated with millennials who were put in a room overflowing with many different toys. They lost their minds and screamed uncontrollably every time their mom left the room. Millennials had stranger danger hammered into their heads at a higher rate than Gen X (and the younger half of Gen X was hammered with the misguided mantra too but not to the same extent) and hyper/helicopter parenting was becoming the norm. None of this seemed to factor into the study on “attachment”. Millennials were said to display healthy attachment and high self esteem. Gen X was said to have low self esteem and unhealthy attachment, therefore all focus on self esteem needed to be on millennials. It made no sense whatsoever but was held over educators heads and used to make demands to focus on self esteem over education. Things have progressively gotten worse since and we see more and more calls to get rid of everything because feelings. There are and will always be some truly horrible teachers out there who are malicious and should not be doing the job. Parents should have been a little more involved when I was in school but I cannot put the blame on them alone. Most of us never told our parents what was happening because we assumed they went through the same things with the same teachers. Not so. They were fresh and good once. We got them years after they lost their minds and should have retired. At the same time, parents have become insane when it comes to believing that their child can never do anything wrong. *The demonization of community colleges and trades that occurred when I was a tween was appalling, as was the push to prevent teens from having jobs/learning the value of $ because they needed to spend all their time focusing on getting into a 4 year college. This is not what happened, and it’s not something every family can afford to do. Kids ended up with more time to goof off and people in the community went from seeing teens that would help them (I’m in a rural area) cut and bale hay, mow their yards (and not always for money. sometimes they simply wanted to help elders who needed it) quickly disappear after Gen X. It isn’t a coincidence that the same one demonizing learning trades were largely responsible for the bloated university administration machine we see today (in several countries) and an obscene increase in tuition.

@RicktheRecorder

5 жыл бұрын

Wonderful, but did I hear her say “inside of”?

@Captain_MonsterFart

4 жыл бұрын

@@pollysshore2539 Thanks for the reminder of the bad old days. People should definitely not be nostalgic for the way it used to be. My school wasn't as intense as yours, but I do remember teachers roughing up the kids who were from broken homes and misbehaving at school. They got trouble no matter where they were. My French teacher spanked little kids in the 80s. Some teachers were great but I had a bad one, I found it very hard to get a good grade in that class. I hardly remember what we learned at all. We needed to do hands on things! Not copy notes off the black board. The desks with connected chairs caused horrible pain in my shoulders. GOD it was crap.

I think strict teachers are definitely the best, however, there are definitely different types of strict. There are good teachers that are strict and then are teachers that are bullies who 100% thrive off of control, rather than actually teaching. That's the biggest problem in my opinion as authority is brilliant if its done well, but if its given to the wrong person it can seriously hurt children. I remember some teachers that would almost be trying to score points in how many students they could tell off in a lesson. They are also the teachers that aren't good at empowering students. Yet, many of my favourite teachers were strict teachers who on a personal level are the kindest people with genuine care but with a focus on discipline and pushing students to do better whilst not taking disrespect from students. The moment a student disrespects a teacher and the teacher lets it happen, everyone in that classroom immediately loses respect for the teacher without even knowing it. I left school about two years ago and think myself lucky that I went to a Catholic school that still focuses on discipline, but certainly was going down a bad route. I was close to many of my teachers during my A-levels and Katherine's point about workload is so important and true. She is fantastic 👏

“white left”/"白左"

Thank you Katherine!!! What you are saying to so very important!!! Keep up your fantastic work!!!

I agree with a lot of the things that Katherine says regarding the teacher needing to teach and the importance of learning the basics early. The one point I disagree with is handing out detentions for things like looking out of the window or forgetting your pen. I always behaved well at school, worked hard and achieved 11 A*s at GCSE. I also forgot my pencil case occasionally, and would have been mortified to have been sent off to detention for that! I also really don't believe that children should be punished for things that are the fault of their parents; on the one hand, Katherine states that as adults we need to be responsible for children, and on the other, her school punishes the children if their parents have failed to pay their dinner money by making them do school work in their lunch break. Neither extremes in the education debate seem good to me - you can have robust, structured learning and behaviour standards while not being authoritarian (which giving out detentions for forgetting pens, I would argue, is).

this woman is wonderful. so of course, she will be denigrated and sidelined.

absolutely class

So does this mean you don't employ Montessori methods? How 18th century. Aren't you afraid that children might actually learn something? GCSE results: Compared with other non-selective state schools, Michaela’s results rank among the best in the country. More than half (54%) of all grades were level 7 or above (equivalent to the old-style A and A*), which was more than twice the national average of 22%. Nearly one in five (18%) of all grades were 9s, compared with 4.5% nationally, and in maths, one in four results were level 9.

Francis is moving ever closer to the centre pushing Konstantin further and further right; soon he'll be off the screen.

@bodspafc

5 жыл бұрын

You mean physically....not politically? :D

@sephus99

5 жыл бұрын

@@bodspafc they need to move the Overton camera

@kellyowens1868

5 жыл бұрын

When do you think he will learn that horizontal stripes .. ahh .. well, they can ... er ... AREN'T flattering? KOut

I really like this lady.

Good work, dudes.

Guys, guys. I watch this purely to see Francis piss off Konstantin with his 'because we're good people' line. What happened?

I watched 3 hours of your videos yesterday, Katherine Birbalsingh, Sir John Curtis and Dr Tony Sewell. You guys have an awesome channel and you are really nice presenters! This is the kind of program that should be on a main TV channel. The conversation is so one sided most of the time (on normal TV). Cheers guys! I bet you have 200K Subs in no time!

@kesfitzgerald1084

5 жыл бұрын

Well said. This is a superb format. I have told many friends and colleagues about it.

If you want to know why look up the long interview with Charlotte Isobyte and the Frankfurt School... it is the missing link

Education must change all of the time. How else can educators feed their egos if they aren't experimenting on your kids?

I want to teach at her school!!

Children are children, but most adults, especially on the left, are also children.

Education not Indoctrination is, in essence her game plan.Love her and her mindset.

I love her!

I predict this woman will have to open many schools, people are sick and tired of their kids being taught worthless BS

This woman was my French teacher for a year. I actively moved schools becuase her and others in the school were so terrible. It's funny to see her being propped up when the reality is so different

@LusciousTwinkle

4 жыл бұрын

OMG...That doesnt surprise me. Anyone can see shes either naive or a BS merchant. that almost everyone in the comments is deifying her shows that this audience is not nearly as quality as one would think.

@nataliebutler

4 жыл бұрын

In what ways was it terrible? I'm interested understand the reality of it.

@pyranomics7229

4 жыл бұрын

Well her school had top GCSE results so the problem is probably you.

@inditsnotdenon922

4 жыл бұрын

@@pyranomics7229 what's the expulsion rate like? The school she worked at previously had a very high success rate becuase they got rid of every "problem kid"

@celloswiss

2 жыл бұрын

what utter nonsense

Like this teacher

Not sure what the state of teaching is in England these days as I don't live there. Love Katharine's enthusiasm and commitment. Saying that what Ken Robinson says in his Ted Talk is wrong, is just provocative and is the reason she gets a profile. There is no one way to teach, and perhaps it's thinking there is a "one right way" and trying to impose that everywhere that is the problem and not the individual approaches themselves.

She's fab !

KB: As an educational professional at the top of my field, it is my belief that educational professionals should lead education; and not those who are there to BE educated. The usual suspects: but that means, as parents, we have to be as responsible for our children? KB: well... I... yes, yes I think you should... The usual suspects: wow, what a controversial bigot.

Teachers should teach the class. I couldn't agree more. Teachers should be able to teach their courses. I couldn't agree more.

I dreamt and thought that life was about beauty, then woke and realised that life was duty.

Dear Mrs. Birbalsingh, where were you when i was in school? Or the ones who shared your values?

I fear the politics is driven by a hatred of what she describes as small C conservatism. You can't make a labour voter out of someone who believes to their core that self-responsibility, self-reliance, reward for effort underpin their approach to life. It is sad in a way, the labour movement of say the 40s & 50s was said to stand up for those things indeed their primary point was to promote reward for effort in the face of manifest unfairness in a class-ridden society. Unfairness hasn't gone away but why must we just meekly think promoting victimhood is going to fix it instead?

She is from Indian background and much of her values due to her background and because of these values Indian kids do well in education.

@seanmoran6510

5 жыл бұрын

SANJIT NEOGI Absolutely agree with you

@geniusofmozart

5 жыл бұрын

Joe Bryant Arguing that this is due to British influence is just as fallacious as arguing that this is due to the fact that her father was an ethnic Indian. There are people in all cultures who value education, and people in all cultures who don’t. She came to hold the views she does because she found the *ideas* to be compelling.

@geniusofmozart

5 жыл бұрын

@@joebryant8500 Stupid comment from a stupid person. How do you know her father was part-Indian? Indo-Guyanese doesn't mean that her father was part Guyanese, you know. The definition of ethnicity is: "the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition."

When I went to school we had no bullying,we had a bit of fighting alright but no bullying.Only wankers bullied the weaker kids hence the popular tradition of wanker punching.And helped by the teachers habit of not seeing wanker punching. Still see the odd old victim of bullying today in their big cars driving home to their big houses.

We need her in America

Perhaps the biggest problem with teaching is that due to individual human variation combined with the fact that a school cannot have more than one culture- there is an inevitable mismatch between any given school's ethos and some proportion of the students. Katharine's approach of providing firm rules and structure is probably most beneficial for most kids....but there is definitely a proportion of kids who can end up quite mangled by being in that environment for years on end

Any chance you could get Robin Aitkin on? His book Noble Liar is out on media bias in the BBC and he has some interesting insight, having worked for them for 25 years. Your interview style and his views would allow for an interesting discussion. He probably wants to promote his book, so he may be interested.

@triggerpod

5 жыл бұрын

He is on our radar - watch this space!

Similar as driving schools here.................they teach you to pass the driving test, not how to drive.

Ok so, I have watched this interview more than once and I have to say there is nothing controversial about her or her ideas. If anything we need to clone her and distribute her clones across every American school.