Remember the stirring if eccentric song by Nick Lowe, Nutted by Reality ..?

Well I heard they castrated Castro
I heard they cut off everything he had
What a dirty low down thing to do
To mess him up like that

They dumped him in the jungle
In the land of the sugar cane
Ever since the day they fiddled around
I said he ain’t never been the same

Here is a fine blog by Joe Nutt about educational issues:

I’ve only had time to read the summary and recommendations of Alan Milburn’s social mobility report, but it left me gasping in disbelief like a carpeted goldfish! For over a decade I have seen how one educational initiative after another has stifled anything vaguely resembling talent, or aspiration, because equality is far more important, and they now complain that Britain is too unequal!

Like some evil little brat who has been found out by a teacher, yet determines to wreak revenge on the decent children who exposed them, this floundering administration seems intent on injuring whoever is unfortunate enough to have to clean up after them. Again and again the report refers to this or future governments.

The reality is that the equality they so desperately seek, is simply incompatible with the very things that fuel educational aspiration and success: competition and variety…

And they still don’t get it, after all this time! At one point the report makes this claim, The problem is not a shortage of parental aspiration. It is a shortage of good schools…

… And as for the latter half of the quotation, so after a decade of education, education, education we still don’t have enough good schools. And whose responsibility was that exactly?

Hmm.

Anyone know the answer?