Jackanory

I hear Jackanory is being brought back.

Thank God for that.

I remember Jackanory with great affection from my childhood and remember to this day that it was 'James and the Giant Peach' which first put into context the limitations of a shark's jaw (probably one of the reasons for my current shape).

I watched an interview with a member of the Head Teachers Union a few weeks ago where they they were wanting a change of curriculum to move away from studying classical literature to reading books like Harry Potter instead.

The justification for this was... "that childen found this more interesting and were thus more likely to read books".

Call me old fashioned if you like, but I was under the impression that you read books you enjoyed at home (encouraged by your parents) and read books which were educational at school. Hence my relief and joy at the return of Jackanory.

I'm not having a go at teachers.

They are professional people trying to do their job whilst continously fighting against a growing tide of interference and apathy from those who are supposed to support them.

This is a rant against parents (not all, but certainly a growing minority).

Educators are required to provide a certain amount of information based on the present curriculum (more recently influenced by modern political trends), but without extra parental encouragement and an indepandant desire for knowledge there can never be any advances.

If those parents who spent so much of their time critisising teachers put that effort into assisting them by encouraging their children to external learning, they would have less reason to critisise in the first place.