Saturday, February 23, 2008

Shut Up And Listen 23/02/08 Playlist

1. ZPU - Yo Soy Un Soldado
2. Example - Diamond Days
3. Wiley - Get Along Gang (instrumental)
4. Pharoahe Monch - Simon Says
5. The Purple Pixels - Ready, Steady, Go!
6. Maniac - Wiley Freestyle
7. Tinchy Stryder ft. Goldielocks - Stereotype
8. Xzibit - Saturday Night Live
9. Jay-Z - Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
10. The Cribs - Hey Scenesters!
11. Idlewild - Little Discourage
12. Fenech-Soler - The Fight
13. Not Idea - Worthless Treasure
14. Imajim - Single Crumb
15. Hello Saferide - San Francisco
16. Robyn - Who's That Girl
17. The Cranberries - I Can't Be With You
18. Tripwires - Kings And Queens
19. Arty Karate - Ammunition
20. Foo Fighters - Generator
21. Spectrum 7 - The Last Great Train Robbery
22. Garbage - Vow
23. The Knife - Heartbeats
24. Hadouken! - Love, Sweat & Beer
25. Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U
26. Kano - P's & Q's
27. Papa Vito - Drill It (Lillica Libertine remix)
28. Roni Size & Reprazent - Snapshot

Friday, February 15, 2008

Troops to Teachers in the UK

Once again the BBC website of which I am so fond (and arguably over-dependent on) has covered an excellent story and raised a proposal that I consider to be an excellent idea.

The Centre for Policy Studies, a British government think tank, has suggested that the UK should model an American scheme called Troops to Teachers, known as T3 [1]. This scheme retrains experienced ex-members of the armed forces to become teachers.

This is expected to bring back respect to the classroom, as the servicemen and women would bring with them self-discipline and act as role models for them. Their experience in maintaining discipline is anticipated to work wonders in inner-city schools, where children look up to physical strength as a key quality.

I must say this would also be mutually beneficial to former servicemen and women, as it is often very hard to reintegrate into "Civvy Street" (i.e. the real world). Some ex-soldiers, sailors and airmen struggle with the lack of a rigid hierarchical structure, absence of strict discipline and no longer having the feeling of serving society, their country and the greater good in general. Some can also lack qualifications that will help them compete in the commercial job market. This scheme would allow them to train for another job and bring a very useful set of skills to our education system in addition to bringing a vast wealth of life experience into the classroom.

The scheme on paper sounds like a fantastic idea and indeed the US scheme has proven to be highly successful (88% retention rate of T3 participants as opposed to the national average of 50% as one example). However, I think that it will need to be handled very carefully and the right candidates will need to be vetted thoroughly. Also, could it be possible that the scheme would further the romantic idealism of violence in modern culture and continue to ingrain the notion of aggression being directly linked to respect, power and authority?

It may be that some of these ex-servicemen/women will also struggle to cope with the lack of respect in the classroom: after all, working in the forces is voluntary but school is compulsory (to paraphrase the comment of "Voice of the Voyager" below the article in question.

A British analogue of the T3 scheme has the potential to have a positive impact on our education system provided it is handled well, with the recruits being correctly selected and given the right training.

Sources
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7245122.stm

Monday, February 11, 2008

BBC iPlayer: amazing

The TV is officially dying and internet TV is rising from its ashes. The new iPlayer from the BBC allows UK viewers to watch any missed programs for up to 7 days after they have been broadcast. I have recently used it for the first time to catch up on games from the first weekend of the Six Nations rugby tournament, and I am very impressed. I am a child of the internet generation: in my student flat we don't even have a telly (although one of the girls has a TV card for her laptop which is also impressive technology).

Hopefully the England rugby team can put together some decent performances to make the most of it!

Friday, February 01, 2008

Six Nations Excitement

So it's nearly the start of the 2008 Six Nations and I'm not the only rugby fan who's excited. Here's the thoughts of The Manic Street Preachers' cross-dressing bassist Nicky Wire on the BBC website [1]:

"I'm just a huge sports fan and the start of the Six Nations is just one of the most exciting times of the year - close the curtains, get a sausage sandwich on and have a shandy."

Sounds like one hell of a party! What a fruitcake!!!


Source

[1]http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/7221292.stm