Labelling kids as “thick” is probably not a good idea on A-Level results day.
A column in The Telegraph did just that today, and it’s upset a fair few people.
The headline of columnist Harry Mount’s latest article was also used in a tweet by the paper, and it didn’t go down too well.
Middle-class parents need to accept that some children are just too thick for private school #ALevelResults https://t.co/ARpS3ceCq5
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 18, 2016
The tweet, which was hashtagged with #ALevelResults, might not have drawn so much ire on a different day, but with tens of thousands of kids around the country inevitably not getting the results they were dreaming of, and likely worked hard for, it was a tad insensitive.
The article starts:
“A friend of mine, a housemistress at a leading public school, loves her job: the teaching; the big, rent-free Georgian house; the subsidised education for her daughters.
“There are only two drawbacks. In the evenings, she feels like an undercover cop, listening for sounds of naughtiness from the 60 girls who live on the other side of her sitting room wall.
“And then there are the evening phone calls – when pushy parents ring up and ask her why young Caroline did so badly in her exams.
“What my friend can never say is: “I’m afraid Caroline’s just a bit of a thicko.” That’s not the answer the parents are paying £25,000 a year to hear.”
Ouch. The replies on Twitter have been pretty much unanimous…
Branding children as 'thick' – nice one! That's positive and helpful.
— Richard Gratton (@gratton_richard) August 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/Lawrence_Jones/status/766231267281080320
some children are just not academic, whilst others are not practical. We're all different, let's embrace the differences.
— AnnieD1203 (@AnnedeAnnie) August 18, 2016
Nice to hear people of different levels of ability being insulted by a teacher of a dead useless language.
— Something witty (@herman_micky) August 18, 2016
You know what, kids, just enjoy being young, because it’s all downhill after 21.
Joking.
(Not joking).