I'd be more suprised if Tony Blair left the education system alone, because he thought it was working wonderfully. I think the reintroduction of discipline into schools can only be a good thing, although I agree with an earlier post that the cane isn't always the right answer. A good teacher can command and educate a class without the threat of violence.
There was a really interesting Panorama programme on television last night, about how where you live affects the type of life you can look forward to, everything from what qualifications you could expect to your life expectancy. It compared two neighbouring parts of Havant in Hampshire. It followed one little boy, and his hard working parents, on a poor estate whose educational aspirations were determined by his postcode, ie: good neighbourhood = good school, and also the reverse for him. I think that at this stage of our civilisation every child should have the right to a thorough and decent education.
I'm also glad that within the next two years English and Mathematics will be included in the information schools have to publish. At the moment they only have to give out the percentages of students who achieve five GCSE's grades A-C, a figure that could be misleading as they could all be in Mickey Mouse subjects like Travel and Tourism.
When I was at school boys in my class were caned. I wasn't. I never got caught.
