At the chalkface Yes we can’t!


I RECENTLYwent to New York to visit the daughter, who’s doing a spot of teaching in one of those Charter schools, much favoured by President Obama. What a tonic! The city that never sleeps. What a thrilling place. Jazz clubs, poetry dens – and breakfast bars. “You wannit, you got it! I’m


on it!” said a short order cook. Rather! Out went fuddy duddy diffidence and quiet English desperation. In came positive energy and American dreams – walking at dawn over Brooklyn Bridge and seeing the Statue of Liberty in the mist. You start punching the sky, singing Bruce Springsteen and seeing Gatsby’s Green Light. The New World. You believe – in potentials realised... all God’s children... your huddled masses... ah, the audacity of hope! My daughter loves


the place, but isn’t quite so dazzled. She told me chastening stories of poverty, illiteracy, the dreadful public school system and the learning that only comes with cash. We once passed a moribund, wheezing derelict in Washington Square. “That’s American healthcare and education!” she said bluntly. A city of savage inequalities. Whatever. I came back to


London, still high, still buzzing with that American Oomph, to find that the Obamas were in town – charming, charismatic, intellectual and sussed. Michele Obama took the girls of Elizabeth


Garrett Anderson School in Islington, a proper inner city community comprehensive, to an Oxford college told them that they belonged there, that you can make it, wherever you come from – with self belief and drive and hard work. “Yeah!” I thought. It needs saying. Our lot don’t. The prime minister’s wife wouldn’t. The Gove couldn’t. They don’t connect like Michele Obama. Can’t we borrow her for a while? But then English


realities creep in, that just-say-no-because-we- haven’t-so-far-stuff. The American Dream meets the English class system and fades. Why don’t the Islington middle classes send


their children to the Elizabeth Garret Anderson School? Why do our inner city children so rarely get into Oxbridge? I told my brilliant students that they belonged there. Well, they didn’t – not


with all the drive and dreaming in


the world. Is she selling them false hope? Surely she’s seen The Wire? And what’s with this fetish for Oxbridge? Why do we still want to keep revisiting Brideshead? Maybe it would change with a


bit of American Oomph. “You wannit, you got it!” Not


in Little England you haven’t. My daughter’s sobering remarks return. I see the wretched of Union Square. Social mobility is in reverse in New York City, in London too. Oh dear. Where’s that Springsteen record?


• Ian Whitwham is a former secondary school teacher.


That’s a rap: UK rapper Tinchy Stryder launches Thank A Teacher at Walworth Academy Rap star tells pupils to Thank a Teacher by Daniel White


Students are being encouraged to show their appreciation to their teachers following the launch of a new campaign. Thank A Teacher was unveiled


on Monday (June 6) at the Walworth Academy in south London with the help of UK rap star Tinchy Stryder. The rapper met with some of


the school’s students and shared his experiences of the classroom. He told them that without his teachers he would not be in the position he is today having graduated from


university, set up his own clothing line, and become a chart-topping musician. Thank A Teacher is part of the


Teaching Awards, which have been taking place annually since 1999. Under the scheme, students are encouraged to post a thank you to their teachers online or upload a 30-second video. The first dead- line will be in January 2012 when nominations will be assessed and put through to the Teaching Awards 2012. A number of celebrities will also


be seen regularly on the website thanking their teachers and show-


ing their appreciation for the impact they had on their life. Mr Stryder said: “I know from


my school days what kind of impact a great teacher can make. I had a teacher who influenced me and helped me to be who I am today. “I want to get all the kids behind


Thank A Teacher and naming the person who has inspired them the most.” Chief executive of the Teaching


Awards and Thank A Teacher, Caroline Evans, said: “Thank A Teacher is being launched to give young people a voice by enabling them to publicly thank a teacher


who has made a significant differ- ence to their lives.” The launch of the campaign is


being promoted on YouTube and Facebook with the organisers aim- ing to get 10 million students thank- ing their teachers, headteachers or teaching assistants. The launch comes after


the Teaching Awards recently announced that Pearson is to head- line sponsor its 2011 awards, which are to be screened on the BBC in October. Pearson is also supporting Thank a Teacher. For more information, visit www.thankateacher.co.uk


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