«It is extraordinary that at a time when the shortage of
primary school places amounts to nothing short of a national crisis that the government is persisting with the folly of its free school policy,» she said.
In urban
schools students come and go all day.No 45 minutes is like the time that preceded it or the time that will follow.Urban
schools report 125 classroom interruptions per week.Announcements, students going, students coming, messengers, safety aides, and intrusions by other
school staff account for just some of these interruptions.It is not unusual for students to stay on task only 5 or 10 minutes in every hour.Textbook companies and curriculum reformers are constantly thwarted by this reality.They sell their materials to
schools with the assurance that all the students will learn X
amount in Y time.They are continually dismayed to observe that an hour of
school time is not an hour of learning time.Many insightful observers of life in urban
schools have pointed out that it is incredibly naive to believe that learning of subject matter is the main activity occurring in these
schools.If one observes the activities and events which actually transpire — minute by minute, hour by hour, day in and day out — it is not possible to reasonably conclude that learning is the
primary activity of youth attending urban
schools.What does the process of changing what one does every 45 minutes and even the
place where one does it portend for fulfilling a job in the world of work?If one is constantly being reinforced in the behaviors of coming, going, and being interrupted, what kind of work is one being prepared for?