Following David Cameron's announcement that any graduate with less than a 2:2 would be barred from the teaching profession in perpetuity, Paul Waugh of The Evening Standard has been doing a bit of research.David Cameron on Carol Vorderman:
"Let's make Britain top of the class for Maths. It's time for change and that change starts today. I am delighted to announce that Carol Vorderman has agreed to lead a new Conservative Party Maths Taskforce. Carol is the perfect choice. She's a well-respected public figure who not only knows maths inside out, but also how to extend that knowledge to a wider audience in an interesting and inspirational way."
The problem is that she would not qualify under Mr Cameron's new stringent criteria as she only obtained a Third Class degree from Cambridge.
And yet he says she 'not only knows maths inside out, but also how to extend that knowledge to a wider audience in an interesting and inspirational way'.
If the academic threshold for the creation of an élite class of teachers is to be a 2:2, should not the threshold for entering politics be a First?
After all, how can someone who has no degree and no A-levels, despite having attended a grammar school, possibly qualify to be a politician, let alone Secretary of State for Education?
Or are gender, skin colour, disability and sexuality of greater significance when it comes to creating an élite political class?
