01/07/2026
Pour celles.ceux qui lisent l'anglais...
(En gros la dr Naomi Fisher dit que chaque école a des choses qui sont faites 'comme ça' parce qu'elles ont toujours été faites 'comme ça'... et qu'une école où on a le droit de demander pourquoi vaut son pesant d'or.)
I went to eleven different schools. The most important thing that I learnt was to wonder whether things really did ‘have to be this way’.
One school said uniform is essential to promote a sense of belonging – but the schools I felt I belonged to the most had no uniform. We wore what we wanted and mostly it was jeans.
One school said we must all write in fountain pen and so I was left-handed Miss Messy. Another said we could use biro and I never smudged my work.
One school said we all had to do homework every day or we’d never cover the curriculum. Another rarely set homework and we got through it anyway.
One school would hold you back if you failed the tests at the end of the year. Another would move you up no matter what.
One school said that we couldn’t miss any days to go away, or our education would be blighted for life. Another said that different experiences and visiting family were as important as sitting in a classroom and would authorise extended absences.
One school only allowed us to eat in one place with members of our school ‘house’, another allowed us to go off campus and buy our own food if we wanted.
One school said we must attend regular Christian assembly and religious studies. Another did not mention religion at all, not in class nor in assembly. The second school had a far more religious student body.
One school said that Shakespeare was essential and should be studied every year from age 11, another hardly mentioned him until the final years when his plays were optional.
When people ask what it was like attending eleven different schools, that’s what I say.
I learnt that just because things have always been done this way doesn’t mean that that is the only way. I learnt that whilst you often can’t ask why out loud, it’s important to continue to ask it in your own head.
I learnt that a school which does allow you to ask why is a special place indeed.
