(Untitled)

[logmplus1]

Edit: As has been pointed out to me in the comments by gwyntar, my indignant outrage is somewhat misplaced. It's bizarre that the Telegraph has latched onto this as a new thing, but it's been in place (and apparently largely ignored) for at least a decade. There's more information at Left Foot Forward.

I'll leave this here for posterity in the name of

Comments

[gwyntar]

Wow, what a deceitful post. I particularly like the way you've edited down the actual text of the sentence to strengthen its meaning, thereby removing the link the the original guidance issued by Labour in 2000 which this is all based on.

The Telegraph article contains the full text, which makes it quite clear (despite whatever the writer of the article thinks) that the legal obligation of the school is to have regard to the government guidance.

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/12/free-schools-academies-tony-blair-michael-gove/

for more details

Prejudice comes in many forms my friend.

[logmplus1]

I've edited down the post as the fact that it's guidance from the Secretary of State is irrelevant; it still states it's schools' responsibility to teach "the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and for bringing up children". Also because I think trimming out irrelevancies when writing to people who already have lots to read is a Good Thing™.

My reading of that Telegraph article is that the 2000 guidance is quoted for contrast with the new guidance, that the new rules replace the old, not enhance.

I've not yet read through the article you linked; I'll do so before I send the letter.

But yes, I'll admit I distrust the government and the Conservative party. And when the hand damning the Tories is the Telegraph, it didn't seem to me to require much by way of further verification.

[gwyntar]

Michael Gove is a moderate. The Telegraph hates moderate tories more than anyone else on this earth.

[mejoff]

Yeah, I spent some time a few months ago going through Academy funding agreements and being outraged by that narrow minded shite. However, just because 'Labour' under Blair was a messed up tangle of Thatcherite swill doesn't mean Gove isn't a total fucknut who's sending a KJV with a forward by Gove to every school, in the country.

[logmplus1]

Mea culpa, and thanks for calling me on it. I'll go direct my indignant rage at the Telegraph instead, and add Left Foot Forward to my blogroll.

[gwyntar]

I completely agree that the paragraph, if it exists at all, should say "marriages and civil partnerships", and it's worth pressing for it to be changed, but this looks like a clause that's been copied and pasted from previous funding agreements rather than an intentional act of homophobia

[mejoff]

I don't see how telling all the children of happily unmarried couples that their parents are wrong is constructive.

You see, that's the argument for emphasising marriage/CP, that marriage is at an all time low and record numbers of children live with unwed parents.

My argument is that marriage being at an all time low means that maybe it's outmoded, and maybe record numbers of children don't need to be othered and alienated by the curriculum.

[gwyntar]

I never said it was, and that's not the argument for emphasising marriage/CP.