Reply to: I don't think this is real

[Doggy Styles]

Subject teachers do require (generally) a degree in their subject though. Gove doesn't even have an education education and hasn't been through the education system he wishes to reform. I the latter might be a bigger criticism although the biggest criticism is that all his ideas are either daft, unworkable or both.

Also your examples are a bit daft, deliberately absurd one might say, even. Very few musicians release albums, very few artists have paintings in galleries, very few physicists work in CERN, and the study of literature is about studying it not writing it.

Equally the running of education is about running it, not teaching in it.

[d000hg]

Subject teachers do require (generally) a degree in their subject though. Gove doesn't even have an education education and hasn't been through the education system he wishes to reform. I the latter might be a bigger criticism although the biggest criticism is that all his ideas are either daft, unworkable or both.

Also your examples are a bit daft, deliberately absurd one might say, even. Very few musicians release albums, very few artists have paintings in galleries, very few physicists work in CERN, and the study of literature is about studying it not writing it.

[Ticktock]

Most teachers seem to think he is clueless rather than evil. I think they're probably right, much as I dislike the argument "X never did Y for a job".

Most English Lit. teachers have never been successful authors.
Most Music teachers never released an album.
Most Art teachers have nothing hanging in galleries.
Most Chemisty teachers have never been in a lab outside a school / uni.
Most Physics teachers have never worked at CERN.

For them, it's fine that most have never worked in a job using the subject they teach, outside of teaching.
Gove is employed to push policy on education, not to stand in a classroom.

[d000hg]

Alternatively, he's trying to do what he thinks is best for education in this country, but people don't agree with how he thinks things should be done.

I doubt his raison d'être is to cripple the country, drown all the puppies, etc.

Most teachers seem to think he is clueless rather than evil. I think they're probably right, much as I dislike the argument "X never did Y for a job".

[doodab]

Alternatively, he's trying to do what he thinks is best for education in this country, but people don't agree with how he thinks things should be done.

That might be true, but the fact is like most politicians he hasn't a ******* clue what he's doing.

In general, politicians and other managermen, but particularly the Tories, seem to be convinced you can make everything better and cheaper just by providing less money and demanding more, usually demanding that something be as good or better than something that costs twice as much. If it were you or I buying white goods or a car we'd be laughed out of the shop but for some reason a certain chunk of the electorate lap this tulip up because they have no idea what things actually cost and are convinced that anything that costs more than their house is too expensive, even if it's a state of the art warship or a healthcare system for 60 million people.

While there may have been some mileage in this method of driving costs down during the Thatcher era when there was fat to be cut the fact is that after a certain point cycle after cycle of these "efficiency drives" just ****s things up. You can't expect to have the best healthcare system in Europe and the best education system in Europe and the largest defense budget in Europe when your tax take is 8-10% of GDP lower than the countries that lead the field. Being the best costs money.

[Ticktock]

Gove is an evil, arrogant slime bag encrusted with pustules of pure evil that burst and pour forth a torrent of puss and bile disguised as education policy.

Alternatively, he's trying to do what he thinks is best for education in this country, but people don't agree with how he thinks things should be done.

I doubt his raison d'être is to cripple the country, drown all the puppies, etc.

[Pogle]

Gove is an evil, arrogant slime bag encrusted with pustules of pure evil that burst and pour forth a torrent of puss and bile disguised as education policy.

[Uncle Albert]

This one is real: We're going on a Gove hunt

[d000hg]

I think people are paying for the comedy gift factor, not the pearls of wisdom contained within.

Well yes, but actually going as far as splashing out £5 is silly. The joke is seeing it on Amazon and telling someone, not buying the bloody thing.

How much did the creator get for this I wonder. Still amazed they actually got the thing bound and mass-produced, #20 in the chart is a lot of books!

[mudskipper]

I think people are paying for the comedy gift factor, not the pearls of wisdom contained within.

Indeedy. If my kids were still at the 'buy presents for teacher' age, I'd get it.

[doodab]

So some morons are actually paying £5 for this rather than just sharing it on FaceBook? Someone is raking in the cash at the expense of idiots? Does that mean the book actually exists in physical form rather than as a silly joke?

There's not even a Kindle version.

I think people are paying for the comedy gift factor, not the pearls of wisdom contained within.

[d000hg]

So some morons are actually paying £5 for this rather than just sharing it on FaceBook? Someone is raking in the cash at the expense of idiots? Does that mean the book actually exists in physical form rather than as a silly joke?

There's not even a Kindle version.

[NickFitz]

It is perfectly possible to improve the absolute value of the average.

Gove said all schools should be above average, not that the value of the average should improve.

[petergriffin]

Michael Gove: Empty spoof book becomes Amazon best seller despite being filled with completely blank pages - Mirror Online

[barrydidit]

Politician pincushions - sounds like a plan B!

Sandbags might be a better idea