What happened on 5th April 2023

This Wednesday became a day of education issues in the news.

First a head teachers union in England rejected government pay offer while teachers voted for another three days of strike. Redditors supported their decision.

 

"Very glad the heads voted for this. Heads need to ballot and actually vote to strike this time. One union cannot do all the legwork."

"Good. The offer is an effective pay cut from where they should have been. Keep fighting! Keep demanding fair pay and funding for schools."

"It’s less of an issue of the actual pay rise and more of an issue that almost the entirety of the money will come from existing school budgets. The government won’t be providing any additional funding.

In other words, it’s the government trying to underhandedly punish teachers by making them take the money for their pay directly from the schools educational resources (because their wage budget actually contracts in many cases). Knowing that headteachers won’t want to put pupils, support staff, and ultimately the schools Record via Ofsted etc at risk for their own gain.

Fortunately, being a headteacher means you’re pretty wise to idiot spoilt brats trying to pull the wool over your eyes. The teachers unions are very good."

Edinburgh University students reject vegan plan

 

"I love this story. 80% of voters turned out just to say 'F*ck that'." - was  redditors' reaction.

"Have more vegan options but don't force your beliefs on others"

 

Some tried to analyze the situation considering costs on different food products:

"Its pretty hard to be competitive on price, because meat gets a frankly ludicrous amount of subsidies that vegan foods can't benefit from. I mean think about it logically, it takes thousands of times as much plant material to feed an animal as you get back from it in meat, and yet a kilo of meat costs roughly the same as a kilo of veggies at the supermarket. Something has to be making up that difference in production costs, and that something is meat subsidies.'

 

Although on Wednesday, the National Education Union’s (NEU) annual conference heard that sexist comments in the corridor have become “commonplace” – and some primary school teachers are having to deal with sexual harassment. Once again, misogynistic problem, as well as Of Mice and Men has come to light.

Readers, however, noted that this book isn't on the English GCSE curriculum anymore. 

"Of Mice and Men was taken off the curriculum about 6 or so years ago (due to not being British enough). So that essay comes from a school that somehow has time to teach non-curriculum books or the student is reading and writing about non-set texts in his own time. Make of that what you will."

 

But it still is studied at schools of North Ireland and Wales. Yet people agree that teenage views are volatile and fickle.

 

"Some views, including my own, were ridiculous as teens. Problem is the opinions spouted in the Mail, Express and Sun that were at home back then weren't far off Tate today.

But kids develop their own culture and identity and by the time I was 16 I'd gone from"we should put a wall around Ireland" to raising money for Indian poverty relief. Kids change a lot from 13 to 16 and boys are definitely annoying and cocky shits at 13. My eldest is that age and annoying in some things he say now and he's one of the good ones who thinks Tate is a fool."

To dilute educational news, it could be mentioned about a scandal around Peter Murrell, former First Minister Nicola Surgeon's husband. 

 

He was arrested in connection with an investigation into Scottish National Party finances. And the main question of British users was, if this were "suspected/known about before her resignation. Seems too coincidental for them not to be linked."

Many agreed that "it must have been. The resignation of them both so quickly is really suspicious. Getting really miffed off about the SNP. Always posturing for independence and being crap at running their party. While they hold that over the Tories in Westminster."

"My favorite bit of hypocrisy was them calling out the Tories and their unelected Prime Ministers during their various leadership contests, only for them to do the exact same thing when Humza Yousaf became leader."