TOPIC: MICHAEL GOVE: How Simon Cowell is inflicting such terrible damage on children's education

Over the past three years, some of the most admirable people in this country have made the journey to Buckingham Palace where the Queen has been pleased to confer on them the knighthoods and damehoods they richly deserve.
From Birmingham to Brixton, Manchester to White City, these heroes and heroines have represented the best of Britain.
But I doubt if their names are known much beyond their own communities or their words are hung on by more than the few hundred lucky to have come within their orbit.



Sir Christopher Stone and Sir Greg Martin are all but anonymous knights, sadly unknown by the millions of young people who should be listening to what they have to say.
Dame Dana Ross-Wawrzynski and Dame Sally Coates are the sort of women we’d like our daughters to grow into.
But their inspirational leadership is failing to influence the millions who could benefit from their example.
All four are headteachers honoured by the Queen for helping working-class children to develop a thirst for knowledge in a culture of academic excellence. This Government has increased the number of knighthoods we award to teachers to help recognise their wonderful work.


But despite our best efforts to celebrate these great heads and the wonderful teachers they work with, they are unknown soldiers in the fight to advance social justice.
Instead of celebrating their virtues — hard work, academic rigour, intellectual ambition and creative excellence — our society increasingly prefers to bow down before a new golden calf and worship the cult of celebrity.
Those with the power to shape our culture — the broadcasting schedulers, music business moguls, TV producers and public relations gurus — have ensured it is not Sally Coates or Greg Martin our children are invited to admire and dream of emulating, but that professional celebrity Paris Hilton, or Joey Essex, who is earning large sums for lying around in the jungle on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here!
The most brutally cynical encapsulation of this new creed came from the principal prophet of the cult, Simon Cowell, last week.
The boy-band manufacturer and creator of The X Factor was being interviewed about his achievements.

And his gospel was simple: forget about hard work at school, getting good exam grades and all that nonsense — just leave it all to life’s lottery and hope you get a golden ticket onto one of his shows.


Simon Cowell said that the secret to success is to be 'useless at school and then get lucky'

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512114/MICHAEL-GOVE-How-Simon-Cowell-inflicting-terrible-damage-childrens-education.html

Education is compartmentalized anyway imo.

You eventually learn your one specific task then go on to be a good little worker, making money for the state.

Simon Cowell has a bit of a valid point imo, that is, if the definition of success they are referring to is fame and income. Though on the luck thing... I guess you need to be gifted and/or have some skills/talents also... i suppose you could call that luck perhaps.

Education tends to only lead to fame and fortune (usually) if you become a politician (perhaps via a law degree)

Some doctors and dentists and a few others might do ok eventually also, but still not in the same league as celebrities, many politicians and indeed some high flying business people that didnt go on to tertiary education.