If Joseph wants to end illiteracy, he should start with his own
On Labour Day, Joseph Muscat spoke about Labour’s plans to eradicate illiteracy. He should prove his good intentions and start with his own people, who are a great embarrassment.
They may be technically literate, but barely so.
And quite frankly, I can’t see what else can be done to fight against the inability to read and write, where formal and state-sponsored education is concerned.
The real problem seems to start and end in the home, with attitudes there. Children who stay determinedly illiterate will almost certainly have parents who are illiterate too.
I cannot imagine how literate parents would have an illiterate child.
But then I do know plenty of illiterate parents who are so determined that their children won’t be like them that they make it their life’s mission to avoid the dread prospect. Their children end up really getting ahead.
When Joseph says he will reform the schools to make sure that children don’t stay illiterate, he’s going at the wrong target. Worse still, he’s encouraging illiterate parents in the notion that it has nothing to do with them, that their children are somebody else’s responsibility on this score, that if their children can’t read and write then it’s the school’s fault and not theirs.
The vast majority of illiterate people vote Labour. This is not a prejudiced assessment or a throw-away line, but a fact. The overwhelming majority of people in socio-economic group DE vote Labour (this emerges in survey after survey) and it is precisely that socio-economic group which is home to illiteracy.
Illiteracy is actually one of the reasons why people are stuck in that socio-economic group and can’t move a notch higher.
Illiteracy is a national problem, but the Labour Party is particularly well-placed to tackle it because these are its own people and that is how they think of themselves. When the Labour leader talks, they will listen. But the leader isn’t telling them to get their act together because their children are their responsibility and if their children fail to learn how to read and write, they are largely to blame and should stop blaming others.
The Labour leader is telling them something else: li t-tort huwa ta’ Gonzipn. Oh, the brass-necked deceit of blaming the very people who changed education and opportunities for children, from a state of absolute misery and deprivation, to a situation in which the sons and daughters of blue-collar workers and unskilled labourers are holding down high-flying jobs in information technology and financial services. And not just in Malta but in the capitals of Europe.
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Reply to doris Click here to cancel reply
Daphne, I would like to take this opportunity to inform your blog’s readers that this week an excellent book by Henry Frendo was published: EUROPE AND EMPIRE Culture, Politics and Identity in Malta and the Mediterranean.
I have started to read magnum opus and I am finding it riveting and enlightening.
I really don’t see Labour promoting education. I can see them coming up with some program designed to produce further regimentation but certainly not one to serve personal development for its own sake.
The way he links education to jobs isn’t new, It’s the same reasoning that justified the closure of university programs deemed unnecessary.
It’s also implied that parents could be an obstacle when it comes to social engineering. They tried it in 1984, forcibly closing church schools. I had never seen my parents so galvanized into action when that happened.
I really can’t see what fault you can find in anyone who wants to cut down on illiteracy, whoever he might be.
The only problem I can see is this: can we afford to keep on giving everybody free education, free university and to crown it all the stipend?
My generation paid for the education of their children, why do they have to get it for free?
After all can anyone say that he got a discount from his doctor or lawyer in appreciation for paying for his studies.
“[…] the sons and daughters of blue-collar workers and unskilled labourers are holding down high-flying jobs in information technology and financial services.”
Malta has become the India of Europe. Bless those who move elsewhere in Europe where they can earn a decent salary.
Do you really think so? Still to qualify IT students in their final year have already been head hunted by Maltese enterprises and with quite excellent pay package – and these still have to graduate.
This is the present situation – and actually we are still missing thousands of IT specialists.
Missieri kien jghid li l-Labour l-aqwa arma li ghandu hi l-inteligenza tal-poplu (li jabbuza minnha) li tghid il-poplu l-abjad huwa iswed u tigi emmnut hija arma tajba.
Min jahsel ras il-hmar jahli l-ilma u s-sapun.
Speaking of brass neck, have a look here:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120506/opinion/Labour-when-good-is-not-enough.418575
‘The Labour Party is very strong on education. Its main asset in the sector, Evarist Bartolo, is cut out to be minister for education. An educationalist as well as a honed communicator he keeps abreast with developments in advanced countries which see education for what it is – an unfolding process seeking innovative ways to help students at all levels develop critical minds.
Bartolo’s 22-month experience as Education Minister in the Labour government of 1996-68 signalled what he is made of.” ‘
Is Lino Spiteri taking the piss or what? Labour (especially old Labour) and education in the same sentence evoke images of schools being closed and uni students chaining themselves to Castille railings, and being beaten up by Labour thugs.
[Daphne – I read that over coffee this morning and wondered out loud whether he’s feeling quite all right. It doesn’t sound like Lino Spiteri at all – no convoluted sentences and indirect reasoning. It’s almost as though somebody else wrote it and he put his name to it. I plan to write a post about it.]
Daphne, will read it with much interest. Now that we have a ‘no change agent’ as socialist President in France, Lino appears to be also rising from the ashes. Woe is the Euro.
Forgot to mention that the pro-austerity parties in Greece were decimated by the ‘no change’ parties. More woe for the Euro.
With the Maltese reds in power here, rip open your mattresses and count your Lira.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1kwFNVGgc0&feature=relmfu
This is why I hate the Labour party. This is the mentality of some Labour supporters.
I come from the south of Malta and so I am familiar with the violent mentality of Labour thugs.
Ghalfejn jinkorragihom jitaghlmu jiktbu u jaqraw, biex isiru jafu kemm Joseph u shabu ma jsarrfu xejn u l-PL jitlef il-voti?
Ghalxejn qed juza it-teleprompter. Kif kien jghid Duminku Mintoff: it-teleprompter jekk ittih il-kakka, kakka jtik.
Re local IVF debate :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140122/UKs-popular-IVF-treatment-turmoil-shock-report-baby-defects.html
“The vast majority of illiterate people vote Labour”.
And that precisly is the motive for the MLP onslaught against the credible tertiary education before the Mintoff days, all the time pretending that the MLP was spreading education to the underqualified by the humiliating grant of unearned examination marks and the supply of “sponsors” ostensibly providing a desirable higher education (Professor Ralf Dahrendorff dissenting vigorously.)
Another brilliant piece. I love the way you word your articles because you say exactly what most thinking people would love to say but either cannot articulate their thoughts the way you can or don’t have the cojones to spell them out. Your wit and humour are also top notch.
I know two siblings who are in their mid-thirties and they are illiterate. They are the only young illiterates I know. I’ve never met any others.
As Mrs Caruana Galizia said, their parents were not only illiterate but also careless and didn’t give a damn about their family.
I happen to know this family personally, and there is a third party involved in this situation, their family doctor. These siblings never went to school. They were always absent.
The doctor used to issue medical certificates regularly for them. The parents were fined regulary for the childrens’ absenteeism. But the authorities took no serious actions against the parents and the family doctor.
from the comments board on timesofmalta.com:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120506/local/Utility-bills-still-higher-for-expats.418500
“Alexandra MalliaBorg
Today, 13:47
…….., i personally got not time for people such as yourselves the expats or any British visiter, just pay up or go, straight from our Mr.Dom’s mouth our idle and legend.”
Never mind the xenophobic nature of her comments, I presume the misspelling of idol as idle is what you had in mind regarding illiteracy of PL supporters, or maybe she meant idle legend ?
In Labour, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
Joseph Muscat, the man who told us to stay out of Europe, and George Vella, the other man who actually froze Malta’s application to join the EU in 1996, and their party demanding the resignation of Richard Cachia Caruana, the man who was at the front in Malta’s bid to join Europe. They probably can’t stand the guy who shattered their partnership dreams, and on the first occasion, they go after him.
This is what the Labour Party is about. Bile and hate. Abusing the institutions. And abusing individuals. In the national interest, of course.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120506/local/attacks-on-cachia-caruana-show-kangaroo-court-attitude-government.418656
This is Mr. Sylvio Parnis’s info on his Facebook profile.
Employers – Maltese Parliament/Member of Parliament
I served as Mayor of Paola from 1994 till 1998. I was first elected in Parliament in 1998, re-elected in 2003 and in 2008 with the largest amount of votes in the 4th electoral district. Since elected in Parliament I was the Malta Labour Party spokesperson for the elderly. June 2008 Newly elected Labour Leader, Dr Joseph Muscat chose Silvio Parnis as the Main Opposition Spokesperson for Consumer Protection. .
University – Mount Carmel College Malta
I’m sure most have received the email where all words have jumbled up letters, but one is still able to read the actual words. The email then celebrates the human brain on its ability to read jumbled words as long as the first and last letters are in place.
Sentences such as: ‘jien hasdd ma siebt la puyinu u lanqas il CCF’, make my eyes bleed. I cannot even understand what this person means. Such people speak and write in their mother language with total abandon for grammar, sentence structure, punctuation and last but not least, spelling.
According to Maltastar “Francoise (sic) Hollande new president of France”. Quick before they amend it! France has just elected a new FEMALE president.
[Daphne – They’ve amended it.]
Daphne, could you please write a piece about the socio-economic groups you frequently mention in your articles? Or maybe direct me to one of your past articles where you do so? I’d love to read more on the subject. Thanks.
[Daphne – You’ll find a lot about the subject on the internet, starting with this basic definition: http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2918&Itemid=78 . Of course, you have to allow for peculiarities. For example, in Malta all those who are called tal-pepe are socio-economic group A for research purposes, whatever their occupation and whether they are pensioners or not.]