Another way we are failing an entire generation: we must teach young people to speak | Simon Jenkins

The PM promised to prioritise oracy, but has failed to do so. Set against tests and exams, it is seen as a luxury: in fact it is essential The greatest failing of Britain’s schools is to teach children to read, write and count, but not to speak. They teach what technology can increasingly do for them, but not what it cannot. A regular complaint of today’s employers is that applicants for jobs lack social skills or work ethic.Pupils are rarely taught how to present themselves, handle arguments or form human relationships. The most basic requirements for entering adulthood are ignored. The one task to which teaching is almost exclusively dedicated – examination – is an activity conducted in total silence. No grown-up job involves answering exam questions. Education only in the “three Rs” is akin to where medicine was in the days of bleeding and leeches.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

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