Robert Tressell petition

[Socialist Party Head Office]

We have received an email at Head Office asking us to publicise this petition to Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, to include Robert Tressell's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists in the school curriculum:

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/michael-gove-secretary-of-state-for-education-introduce-robert-tressell-onto-the-a-level-syllabus

[ALB]

It's a nice idea but it's not going to get anywhere with Gove as he's already planning to kick Tom Paine and Robert Owen out of the curriculum:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/12/round-table-draft-national-curriculumHe's more likely to re-introduce Empire Day.

[jondwhite]

Ever since Gove's work Celsius 7/7 (2006) and Dalrymple's take-down in the Times, I've assumed Gove is pretty conservative, stupid or both. Appointing as minister someone who is an established op-ed journalist for the highest-circulation broadsheet seems to be the only explanation.Gove in his capacity as a minister, firmly ensconced in and for the ruling-class, fully deserves our belligerence. Unlike others such as relatively low-profile media figures especially those contracted for the BBC, such as Stephanie Flanders, Michael Portillo, who sincerely believe they are being impartial and we seem to reinforce this belief (that straying from impartiality is an aberration from BBC standards) – instead of attacking unashamedly partial opinionated high-profile commentators such as Richard Littlejohn, Kelvin MacKenzie, Melanie Phillips etc.Even Toynbee is higher profile than Flanders in political circles and still in the business of opinion-making compared to Portillo. No wonder leftist trainspotters look down on the complaint about Stephanie Flanders.

[alanjjohnstone]

No harm in adding your name though. I have. I notice a few known suspects have signed

[ALB]

A list of "top" historians have a letter in today's Times supporting Gove's history plans. When you see some of the names this is not surprising: Niall Ferguson, Andrew Roberts and David Starkey, hardly serious, objective historians but ardent nationalists.The Times does have the honesty to quote some critics too:

Quote:

Sir Richard Evans, Regius Professor of History at Cambridge, condemned plans to restore "rote learning of the patriotic stocking-fillers so beloved of traditionalists".

Quote:

… Greg Jenner, who describes himself as "chief fact nerd" for Horrible Histories, said that the new curriculum "represents an ideological shift back towards the moral didactism of yesteryear".

[Author]

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