1 Is society broken?

In recent weeks, David Cameron, the Conservative party leader, has been discussing a range of social issues, including the evident decline of marriage in the UK and the apparent rise of widespread anti-social behaviour. A consistent component in his argument is that many modern families are dysfunctional and that society has effectively broken down. The following Telegraph article outlines one of his recent speeches and Tony Blair’s response.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/17/ndads117.xml
I was in Sunderland last week; speaking to people on one of Sunderland’s less sought-after housing estates. According to government statistics, this area is among the worst 50 places to live in the whole of England; there is widespread substance abuse among the population, including a higher than average number of heroin users. Over the past 40 years there has been a massive growth in the number of single parent households (now the majority), but there has not been, according to the people I met, a breakdown of the community. Certainly there has been a reconfiguration of family structures, with the marginalisation of fathers, but this does not as yet appear to correspond to the end of community and shared civilized values. For example, the local school and sure start centre have been lending laptop computers to parents, on benefits, to take home; in the last two years, none have been lost. This is not to say that I buy the Blair line of, crisis, what crisis; things are OK and getting better. I live in the Finsbury Park area of north London and use public transport; I know it is scarier out there than it used to be. However, in my opinion, attributing negative changes in society simply to the breakdown of the nuclear family and arguing that the path to social improvement is to be found by encouraging marriage, is at best, simplistic; at worst, it could become a completely misleading driver of social policy.

2 One in three are dependent on the state for at least half their income

I think this is a dramatic statistic: its not 1/3 of the population qualify for a benefits top-up, but 1 in 3 are dependent on the state for at least half their income. Quoting a report from the think-tank Civitas, this Telegraph article discusses how this represents a major social change over the past 40 years and is particularly relevant to discussions about single-parent incomes. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/12/nwelfare12.xml It does indeed raise questions of poverty traps and disincentives, but is the example of USA style welfare reform the only way forward?

3 Mind the Gap

The Brightside Trust has always pursued programs and activities aimed at increasing participation in higher education by underrepresented groups. One of our longest running programs, Brightjournals, was featured in a recent Guardian article http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1929265,00.html . While the government has invested large sums of money in widening participation since 1997, it remains an area of widespread concern and evaluation. This recent article, also from the Guardian, http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2016646,00.html discusses the advantages of concentrating on the vocational as a way to reach the harder to recruit groups. At the end of the article, the Minister of State, Bill Rammell, is said to have argued that the ‘battle over vocational qualifications would only be won once aspirant middle-class parents began to accept their worth, although he acknowledged that they were not quite there yet’. In my opinion this is a major understatement; in particular, if the new 14-19 diplomas are to be a success, then much more needs to be done now to boost their credibility and perceived utility, or they will be seen as simply second-rate GCSEs.

4 It’s all downhill after you're 10

A survey found that pupils’ enjoyment of school declines after year 5 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6323469.stm Seems rather sad, does it have to be so?

5 Life is a lottery

Brighton is set to become the first education authority to allocate school places at oversubscribed secondary schools by ballot. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6403017.stm . This policy move, by a Labour controlled council, has been opposed by the Conservatives http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2023208,00.html
I disagree, I would argue that this is a fairer system for allotting a scarce resource. The alternative is that allocation continues on the basis of whether families can afford to buy homes near the sought after schools.