Thatcher, Thatcher…. Materialistic Snatcher?

Not a political day goes past without some mention of Margaret Thatcher’s Government.  The Right-wing use her as a benchmark on which to compare the present Tory led Coalition, while the Left-wing use her as a negative comparison.

Yesterday on The First Post there was an interesting article titled, Riots: Were they Mrs Thatcher’s fault of not?  Attributing such despicable behaviour to Britain’s greatest Prime Minister is offensive, but through a quote from Ian Duncan Smith in the article there is a glimmer of a connection.

“Under Margaret Thatcher, he said, the Conservative government “freed up the markets”, but “missed the next bit”. This resulted in “a sort of mid-20th Century society, many locked away in welfarism, and a 21st Century economy.””

I have previously argued on this Blog that our world is made up of two separate sectors, Economic and Social, and both are as important as each other.  This is touched on by Ian Duncan Smith.

“But Smith fell short of blaming Thatcher. Instead, he said what was still needed was social and welfare reform. Thatcher knew this, but “never got there”, and neither have her successors of either party.”

Many of Margaret Thatcher’s speeches refer to social issues, it was something she felt to be important.  Unfortunately, when she came to power in 1979 there was so much to do in both the Economic and Social sector; and the country’s Economics too precedent.  Quite simply, 1979 – 1990 was not long enough to carry out everything that needed doing, and nobody after her took the baton.

It was not Thatcher’s Economics per say, they were immensely beneficial for Britain, it was the fact they were not coupled with a strong Social Policy which caused problems.  This is where, Pankaj Mishra from the San Francisco Chronicle, and Polly Toynbee from the Guardian, quoted in the article are wrong.  Solid Social Policy provides Economic Policy with discipline, without it the problems Mishra and Toynbee talk of are created later down the line.

By freeing up the markets and through privatisation, the Thatcher administration created the foundations for almost anyone to make immense wealth.  However, unlike the traditional wealth creation methods which many people were used to, which involved physically doing something through hard work, this method created wealth without the need to break into a sweat.  In other words, wealth could be created by doing almost nothing physically, and there was nothing physical created at the end.

This move from the secondary sector to the higher earning tertiary sector transformed Britain from the ‘sick man of Europe’, to an Economic powerhouse in which anyone could play a part in.

In a similar way to the school playground game, ‘Whisper down the Lane’, or ‘Chinese Whispers’ as some may call it, without a clear Social Policy the message of the high earning tertiary sector over time became corrupted.  This coupled with a too generous welfare system, in which one often gets more money doing nothing then they would working, and a lack of discipline in schools, has created a message of being able to have what you want without working for it.

This corrupted mentality has caused the problems of which Thatcher’s critics often speak of, and the recent riots were a grotesque representation them.  If anyone is to blame for these riots it would be those after Thatcher who diverged from a winning game plan.

“Pennies don’t fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.”  Margaret Thatcher at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in 1979.

 

The First Post article which I refer to can be read here:  http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/83266,news-comment,news-politics,riots-were-they-mrs-thatchers-fault-or-not

Educate, Educate, Educate…. But in What?

RightBlueView has previously criticised our education system as being too exam focused and not teaching pupils skills they so desperately need in their life.  A previous post last week expressed how positive David Cameron’s National Citizen Service would be for young people by allowing them to develop skills beyond passing exams.

This week Martin Lewis who runs the popular MoneySavingExpert website, and is regularly in the media giving advice on all money related matters, is petitioning the Government on making financial education in schools compulsory.  He rightly says:

“It’s a national disgrace that in the 20 years since introducing student loans, we’ve educated our youth into debt when they go to university, but never about debt. We’re a financially illiterate nation, with millions caught by misselling, overborrowing and being ripped off.”

Like National Citizen Service this would be incredible beneficial to the country as a whole, in some respects even more so than National Citizen Service.  Martin Lewis is correct when he says it is a ‘national disgrace’, it’s a fundamental flaw in our education system.

Unfortunately, the lack of financial education in our education system is symptomatic of the appalling incomplete curriculum currently failing pupils.  It is a shameful fact that many young people come out of school nowadays knowing how to pass an exam in the core subjects, but have little knowledge of the political and financial systems which dominate their life so much.  The education system is far too narrow and too dominated by grades, with little regard for actual teaching.

This view is not based on Party ideology, what it is based upon is the principle that giving young people a well rounded education allows them to participate fully in society, be as free as possible, and a contributor as opposed to a dependent of the state.

On top of the obvious academic subjects, schools should be preparing pupils for everyday life.  Pupils should be taught about loans, interest rates, mortgages and other financial matters which are part of everyday life but are poorly understood by many.  It is incomprehensible why a leading democratic country invites its people to take part in elections, yet fails to teach them about political institutions in schools.  Subjects such as basic First Aid would benefit society enormously, but are ignored by the current system.

At present the education system almost entirely ignores vocational skills, leaving those that do not excel in the academic arena to be deemed failures when they may have potential in this sector.  A system which actually fails some young people is totally unacceptable in 21st century Britain.  Britain is in one of the worst economic crisis in living memory, and we are creating more financial dependants of the already overstretched state, simply because the education system fails to recognise and improve some skill areas.

Although not a subject in the traditional sense, discipline needs to be upheld and ingrained in pupils from an early age.  Amongst the numerous reasons being cited for the disgusting behaviour by some in the recent riots, a lack of discipline in schools should resonates most strongly.  Education should not just involve teaching subjects to create job opportunities for Britain’s young people, it needs to cover many more aspects.  Education must shape young people into pleasant, polite and respectful adults who understand the world around them and how they make up what we call ‘Society’.  It must teach the merits of hard work and how one must take pride in the work they do, it must teach morals, the rule of law and the consequences of disobeying it.  Education is not just about passing exams, it is about nurturing young people into adults.

To the credit of the Coalition Government it has recognised schools need changing, but Free Schools, as good as they may be are slightly missing the point.  We must look at what is taught and how it is taught in schools before we focus on something which is essentially aesthetic.

Martin Lewis’ campaign to make financial education compulsory in schools is an excellent start, but it must not stop there if we are to build as David Cameron says, ‘a better Britain’.

Of course this takes money, but most of all it takes a change in the approach to education, and a reassessment of why we educate.  Investment must come in the form of money, but also mentality.

Read Martin Lewis’ arguments here on why we need financial education in our schools:  http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/

Sign the petition here:  http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/8903

RightBlueView’s post on National Citizen Service can be read here:  https://rightblueview.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/national-citizen-service-benefiting-an-entire-generation/