News, views, slews and stews.. well, some of them anyway....

Now, as you all may not know, except for those of you who don't, if that makes sense (and I fervently hope that it doesn't...) the Beard never claims to be up to date with the news... the local gossip, possibly, especially that which he makes up himself on the spot, and never mind this country's tortuous libel laws... but I digress....

However, two recent articles have caught the hirsute eye of this blogster... and, unrelated as they are, it seems thematic similarities may or indeed may not tie them together...

Of course, contrary to any sense, let alone reason, the allegedly big news this week is that some poor French photographer has managed to take some topless photos of a certain kate Middleton, wife to a possible heir to the possible heir to the throne of this country... and not, as was stated erroneously on the radio today, the wife of the heir to the throne... (for those of you who may be interested, and for the sake of accuracy, the wife to the heir apparent is currently one Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall... and prince William is currently merely heir to the Duchy of Cornwall and to the Principality of Wales...)

But regardless, a lot of fuss is being made of this, and the Beard has to admit that he cannot fathom why... for several reasons... first and foremost, as was so ably stated by one commentator today, if a British magazine managed to get similar shots of the wife of the son of the heir to, for example, the king of Norway, would we feel the same? Of course we wouldn't... but why?? The Duchess of Cambridge is, when you get down to it, no more connected to most of us than said Norwegian... for despite our tabloids telling us that we somehow own our celebs, we don't...

Secondly, it seems to me that the tabloid press is being even more than usually hypocritical in this instance... had these been shots of, say, Victoria Beckham, they'd be all over everywhere... the French, of course, who value celebrity far less, can't see what the fuss is about...

Thirdly, of course, it has to be said that said Kate should really know that the press will be following wherever, and maybe should have thought twice about removing garments where she could be seen from the road.. and I know that it was a long way from the road, but surely most peope nowadays know about telescopic zoom lenses....

Lastly, and most importantly, the reason the Beard feels there is too much being made of it all is that after seeing the pics, the Beard has to say that what she has, is, put bluntly, not really worth seeing... I know we keep getting told about how beautiful she is, but honestly, she's just the latest in a long line of vapid, vague and bland thin women who are, I'm afraid, not actually attractive... although, bucking the trend, I must admit she is better looking than her sister...

Now I'm not saying that Kate is vile, or ugly... she's evidently not... but neither is she either good looking or sexy... and I know it's a crime to say so... but it's true... along with so much of the present day, from music, to art, to literature, beauty is very much a case of the Emperor's new clothes... people are beautiful because we are told they are, and we are told they are because they are rich and famous... it's all about image, shallowness and publicity...

Now, if the beard were any kind of cynic, he would be saying that maybe Kate is, as the tabloids claim, trying to stand in the shoes of the late Diana, Princess of Wales... that is, that she is learning how to manipulate the media and the public, and shamelessly self-publicise... for the Beard can but wonder what the young royals expect to gain from their injunction... the photos will still be published, the press will not change their behaviour, and the royals seriously do not need the money... and if you add in the fact that if they'd stayed quiet the whole thig would have been forgotten about by Thursday, then it just seems to the Beard that the only reason to make a fuss is so that more people know about it...

But I digress... the other thing in the news is, of course, education... and the news that the GCSE system with its course work si to be scrapped... which a lot of people are saying is a good thing... a return to the old system of learning for years followed by an exam must be better.... and being old, the beard must surely agree... or so you say.. but of course, as with most things, the Beard does not agree at all... but then, the Beard believes that the purpose of education should be to teach people stuff... and as we all know, except for a slightly confused couple of decades, the aim of the education system in this country has always been to restrict and regulate social mobility...

Shock! Horror!! Exclamation marks!!! That, I hear you say, is a serious accusation... and so it is, but one that bears thinking about...

Now, how many times have we heard young people complaining about what they learn at school.. when, they ask, will we ever use any of this?? And the answer of course is that they won't... so why learn it?? Well, as the Beard has previously stated, the reason school was set up in such a way was that the system was all about seeing who could memorise lots of information and recall it under pressure, a valuable skill to those who were going to have higher end, non repetitive jobs... and this system was chosen simply to favour the better off...

Simply put, imagine the following... student A has well off parents, who are educated, and have office jobs that allow them time to spend with their child... Student B meanwhile has poor parents who work long hours in a repetitive job, has to work himself in order that the family can pay the rent, and consequently has less leisure time or time with parents than student A... now which of these two is most likely to be able to memorise long strings of information in the first place?? and so, when theexam comes, which will be less stressed, and better able to recall/? And so social mobility is restricted... and all this stems from the belief that those in the higher echelons of society are better and therefore cleverer than the lower classes... and so, when universal schooling looked likely to become a reality, a system was devised to fulfil this prophecy...

Of course, occasionally a bright spark would emerge from low down, and he or she would be encouraged to advance, but only so far.. that way, rebellion was quashed, and the bright poor person was put somewhere where he could be kept an eye on... Which is one reason mine workers, with their love of proper education, were seen as more of a threat than other members of the working class...

The GCSE system, however, at least made a step towards actually educating people... let me ask, because I will anyway, which of these is your idea of a perfect education system... is it testing people incessantly and judging them by the grade they achieve there and then, regardless of any prospect of future improvement, or ist it allowing them to revisit older work, and redo it until they get it right? If you teach someone a practical skill in Scouting, for example tying knots, do we sho them a few times, then when they fail to tie the knot themsleves, call them a failure? Or do we carry on helping them until they are able to tie the knot?? Thought of in this way, surely the method of continuous assessment through coursework is, despite its shortcomings, a better method... unless, of course, you don't want the sstudents to improve??

But I digress... it remains to be seen what the future has in store, and so, until we all learn properly, and until the Emperor realises just what cloth his clothes are cut from, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!