A primary school teacher has undertaken a study of the history curriculum as available on school websites in five local education authorities. The results are fascinating and insightful. A must read for anyone who thinks education should be valued for its own purpose and not its effectiveness to engender political activism: Overall the idea that […]
Civil Service, Government & Impartiality
Writing for Briefings for Britain, Nick Busvine, former member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, reflects on how sections of the civil service’s commitment to cultural politics in the name of stewardship is incompatible with its public duty to be impartial and is subversive of democratic norms: It is still not ok to go for […]
Microaggressions: In the Eye of the Beholder
Carole Sherwood introduces the concept of microaggressions, explores what critics have to say about them and finds out why they have created such controversy. Read on…
Joanna Williams of Cieo dissects The Woke University
In The Woke University, Joanna Williams argues that this institutional model has replaced educational goals with a mission to inculcate particular values
Local anti-democracy in action: Brighton and Hove
DDU supporter, Adrian Hart, writing here for The Brighton Society, provides a detailed, eye-opening illustration of how local town hall technocratic elites treat the people they are supposed to represent with disdain. From imposing building plans that are intended for someone’s benefit, but not the majority of local residents, to a plan to turn all […]
Beware of Books!
Otis Houston at Persuasion explores the new moralism that aims to change what we read and how. Today’s censors from the political left join earlier ones from the right of politics – both are bad for literature and the imaginative freedom it needs: Does the canon of classics suffer from a lack of diversity? Absolutely. […]
Why Schools Should Encourage Students To Read [Indian] Classics
In October last year, Penguin and the Runnymede Trust announced they would join forces to diversify the English curriculum in schools. They claim that they want all students to ‘develop a sense of belonging, identity and social cohesion’ in books (https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/october/lit-in-colour-students-belonging-books.html). This is a very tall, instrumental order for books and teachers – social cohesion isn’t […]
The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Our City, Our Heritage And Its People
Adrian Hart draws on historical archives to show that anti-slavery was alive and well among sections of Brighton’s citizenry, and those who only focus on the city’s associations with slavery present a very one-sided picture at best. Brighton was an abolition town. Archive copies of the Brighton Gazette and the Brighton Guardianoffer a glimpse of […]
DDU’s Take On News This Week
Carrie Clark casts a critical DDU eye over three stories from the news this week – written before the appalling murder of Samuel Paty, which for now, we note, has met with a telling muted response from those who profess to be against fascistic violence, and for the right to challenge and criticise sacred cows. […]
The Psychology of Critical Race Theory
Psychologist Dr Carole Sherwood analyses Critical Race Theory—and finds it wanting: Critical Race Theory does not provide the best tools to tackle racism. Blaming others, rather than taking responsibility for your actions, leads to a culture of victimhood and division. Always trusting your feelings to tell you what is ‘true’ produces mental health problems. But, […]