Thursday, July 13, 2006

Column, July 11, 2006

THE future of small schools in Gwynedd hangs in the balance. As with any of these things there are lots of options on the table, but no-one seems to be talking about actually keeping small schools open.
It seems inevitable that some will close their doors to become pricey conversions for the well-to-do, no doubt prompting protests about incomers undermining the very communities that the schools used to serve.
Of course there’s a consultation exercise going on to try to find a solution, and no doubt much hand-wringing going on at meetings.
The sad thing is that small schools do a very good job. Every study you see of pupil achievement confirms that children thrive in smaller classes where they get more individual attention. No great surprise there, but they also cost more.
And as the pupil rolls fall the cost per head goes up until finally the council bean-counters can be contained no longer and the close their doors.
There is, of course, another solution to this problem, but in Wales we tip-toe round it as if it where some great taboo.
And the solution goes back to those dratted incomers buying up the converted schools. We need more people to join our communities. And a lot of those people are going to need to be English. As long as Liverpool, Manchester, London and even Cardiff continue to generate the huge number of jobs that they do, Wales will always see a net migration away of young people.
Let’s face it, what would you do? You’re straight out of school or university, you’ve got qualifications and the choice is stay in Wales where there are no jobs or what jobs there are are poorly paid, or look over the border to a big city where you can take your pick, find a house and get a start in life.
I know that educational standards are slipping but believe me, young people are not that stupid. Of course they are moving away from Wales and who can blame them for that, they have to live.
So we either fiddle while Rome burns, or should that be while Gwynedd empties, or we accept what is happening and try to find ways to remedy the situation.
One way is to recognise that after 10 or so years of living in and around cities, sometimes people tire of the crowds, crime and congestion and hanker after a simpler life. The constant talk nowadays is quality of life and work life balance.
Families would actually like to live in Wales. Some of those families are English. The big barrier to living in Wales, particularly the West of Wales has always been communications. The A55 on a Friday is a great disincentive to those who might think of commuting.
But more and more people are able to work from home now thanks to broadband computer links that make it as easy for them to be there as in an office.
Where would you rather work every day, in an office in city-centre Liverpool, or with a view of the Menai Straits. North Wales undersells itself as a place to live and work because it has become politically awkward to talk about inviting inward migration.
Instead we fiddle round the edges trying to come up with ways of tempting young people to stay, rather than accepting they are going to leave.
What we should be doing is making sure that when they want to return and start a family they are able to do so. Instead of bemoaning the fact that young people can’t afford a home in the community they were born in – which is frankly a bit unhealthy anyway – we should celebrate the fact they’re off into the wide world and welcome them when they want to come home.
Communities need new blood and it matters not a jot to me whether that’s English, Welsh or any other nationality for that matter.
Once you’ve convinced people that Wales is a good place to live, then you can concentrate on the argument about the language. Not the other way round.
At present the message being given to people who think of coming to Wales is that they’re not welcome because they are a threat to the continued existence of the language.
So you can review the future of schools all you want, but remember, a school is just a building, the important thing are the children who pass through it. Without them it may as well be a house for the well-heeled.
Until we accept that on the present model of Welsh society our traditional communities are dying, we will do nothing to halt their decline.
Unless they change they are truly doomed and more schools will close their doors.

MY poetic correspondent D Evans, the Laureate of footballing verse, has put pen to paper once more.
“From Swansea’s own DVLA,
I’ve had a letter just to say,
That drivers with a low IQ,
Are dangerous to me and you,
So, to avoid an accident,
The following was sent,
They fly a flag and so beware,
When first you see the flag take care,
Don’t lose you cool, be at a loss,
It’s a big white flag, with a big red cross.”

Spot-on once again Mr Evans. Always like a spot of the old poetry in the column. He is Pam Ayres to my, erm, Esther Rantzen. An analogy I will proceed with no further.

I’VE written here before about the irresponsibility of the chattering classes who whipped up fears about the MMR vaccine.
On the basis of no scientific evidence whatsoever they perpetuated the myth that there was a link between MMR and autism when there was none.
As a result of their selfish stupidity we now have measles outbreaks in this country where before there were none. Now it emerges there is an even greater threat resulting from the claptrap they propagate. The rumours of MMR’s link to autism have reached developing countries, as a result MMR uptake is dropping. Measles may not be the killer in the West it once was, but in the Third World it kills 1,000 children every single day.
Those who have given credence to the lie that there is a link between autism and MMR ought to think about how many of those lives would have been saved but for their superstitious nonsense.

9 comments:

Banksy said...

Ifan, can I refer you to Cymuned's slogan aimed at holidaymakers.

'Enjoy your stay - Then go away - Come again another day'

Do you still maintain that 'no-one has ever discouraged people from moving into these areas.'

Of course they have.

Banksy said...

Ifan, you said 'no-one has ever discouraged...'

I merely pointed out that Cymuned has done precisely that.

I never said they spoke for North Wales did I? In fact on many occasions I have said exactly the reverse. I just used them to point out that your claim 'no-one' has ever behaved in such a way is not true.

Banksy said...

Yes, well Ifan, I've had lengthy discussions with Aran about aim and effect.

The aim may be one thing Ifan, the effect something entirely different.

And regardless of what groups like Cymuned say, if you are saying 'no-one' has discouraged people from moving to Wales you've clearly not been reading the graffiti on the back of road signs recently.

Banksy said...

No Ifan, it wasn't.

It was a response to your claim 'no-one' discourages people from moving to North Wales. Just another illustration of people who do exactly that.

Where is my column did I say people hate the English?

And Seimon Glyn's comments on 'incomers' were not aimed at holidaymekers, they were aimed at English who came to settle.

Another example of someone discouraging the English from moving to Gwynedd.

I'm not saying he speaks for anyone other than himself. But your 'no-one' is looking increasingly populous.

Banksy said...

Ifan, it would be more useful if you tackled what I actually wrote, rather than putting up straw man arguments about what I haven't.

have I suggested shipping in thousands of non-Welsh speakers? No, and it advances this discussion no further to suggest I have.

What I said is that Seimon Glyn, et all, and you and I both know there are many who agree with him, create an atmosphere which is unwelcoming to settlers from England.

What I said in my column is that if you want any community to survice it needs new blood and in Wales that's going to be English.

it's just demographics Ifan. Young people want to leave Wales because they like the idea of living in cities where there's a bit of life.

Families want to settle in Wales because of its advantages in bringing up kids.

Banksy said...

Birth rates are irrelevant, Ifan, if the baby boom then ups sticks and moves out as soon as it hits 20-plus.

What you then need is an influx of people to ensure your community has a mix of ages and children being born.

As for who created the atmosphere, that's a matter of opinion. I am of the opinion that the language used by Seimon Glyn and others was not persuasive to those moving into Wales that here was a welcoming culture that was to be embraced.

It was confrontational language and counterproductive.

At the end of the day it is Welsh communities who have to 'win' this argument. They need people to move in in order to ensure their long-term survival, and they need to persuade people that it is agood thing to embrace the local culture - whatever that means.

If that argument is not won, then Welsh communites will die by simple migratory shift. Welsh speakers out for jobs, English speakers in for a nice place to live.

I'm not saying that's a good thing, Ifan, I'm saying it's a simple fact of the economy of Wales and unless people get to grips with it, the way of life they treasure so much will be no more within a couple of generations.

Banksy said...

Seimon Glyn's comments attracted UK-wide publicity Ifan. It was covered not only by the Welsh media, but by former Fleet St papers too.

If, as you say, the argument is won, why then do people come to Wales unwilling to embrace its language and culture?

When I said the argument needed to be won, I mean won with 'incomers.'

If every person settling in Wales arrived, phrasebook in hand, ready to embrace language and culture, then you might be able to claim the argument is won.

It's a little patronising to say you've won an argument, when those who it is most important to persuade have not even heard it.

And you don't persuade someone of the validity of the conclusions reached by labelling them 'incomers.'

Banksy said...

Yes, and it would be a pint of shandy in your case mancmate.

In a girl's glass.

With your little finger in the air.

Banksy said...

Of course, an alternative reading of that is that it's just a poor headline.

Do you really think that whoever subbed that article sat down at his/her terminal and thought "Today, I am going to attempt to undermine the Welsh language and here's my chance mwahahahaha!"

If the article's content doesn't support the headline then it's hardly an effective attempt t undermine the language is it.

If that's the worst that opponents of the language can muster, I'm guessing it's safe for another millennium or two.