In this week’s episode of The Amol Rajan Connection: @daisychristo on how we’re messing up Education; the danger of the Stupidogenic Society; what technology does to our minds; long-term vs working memory; and how AI affects what children should learn. Out now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music.

How Memory Works, by @daisychristo . Great response across different platforms to the latest episode of The Amol Rajan Connection - out now on YouTube, Spotify. Apple and Amazon. YouTube: youtu.be/Xcyc3LQkqjY?is=WTvp… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3lc…

There's been a lot of talk in the last few weeks in edu circles about whether the trad education movement has failed, what it needs to do next, etc. This article is just the latest in a succession of examples that shows how us edu-trads have not been nearly as successful as we hoped in altering elite consensus on education. We have obviously seen with all the Labour party policies that we completely failed to convince Labour. But actually, it's not like we've really convinced the Conservatives either. This is Dan Hannan, major figure in Brexit, major figure in Conservative politics, presumably has some idea of who Michael Gove is - and here he is in the Telegraph confidently asserting that we no longer need to know things because we can look things up. (The ironies in this piece abound, by the way. He argues for lessons in spotting bad bogus arguments at the same time as building an article around the argument that memory doesn't matter any more. He argues that "identifying improbable claims" is a generic skill that can be taught in the abstract, at the same time as claiming that handwriting and geography are obsolete. He says that you can always just look up what you need, whilst signally failing to look up any of the evidence on the role of long-term memory...I could go on.) I wrote a few weeks ago that there was some evidence journalists at the Financial Times were waking up to all the evidence on cognitive science, its implications for schools, the international test evidence. But the elite understanding of this is a very thin layer, absolutely skin deep. The mass of second-hand dealers in ideas are still distilling their frenzy from Romantic pedagogy. Depressing. I honestly don't know what else we can do. We wrote the books. We had the debates. We built the schools. We aced the tests. And then it turned out nobody cared. Right now it is definitely a bleak time to be a trad. It feels like we are on Athelney Marshes, beset by vandals without and dissension within. BUT we have to keep the faith. Reality is an undefeated champion. Despair is a sin! What we do works! It may well be that for now, the New World with all its power & might etc., is going to have to step in to save our bacon for a bit. Maybe the momentum is shifting to @ehanford and Sold a Story, @rastokke and Chalk & Talk, @jettybe3 , etc. We have got to dig in. As Declan Rice said, it's not done!

There's been a lot of talk in the last few weeks in edu circles about whether the trad education movement has failed, what it needs to do next, etc. This article is just the latest in a succession of examples that shows how us edu-trads have not been nearly as successful as we hoped in altering elite consensus on education. We have obviously seen with all the Labour party policies that we completely failed to convince Labour. But actually, it's not like we've really convinced the Conservatives either. This is Dan Hannan, major figure in Brexit, major figure in Conservative politics, presumably has some idea of who Michael Gove is - and here he is in the Telegraph confidently asserting that we no longer need to know things because we can look things up. (The ironies in this piece abound, by the way. He argues for lessons in spotting bad bogus arguments at the same time as building an article around the argument that memory doesn't matter any more. He argues that "identifying improbable claims" is a generic skill that can be taught in the abstract, at the same time as claiming that handwriting and geography are obsolete. He says that you can always just look up what you need, whilst signally failing to look up any of the evidence on the role of long-term memory...I could go on.) I wrote a few weeks ago that there was some evidence journalists at the Financial Times were waking up to all the evidence on cognitive science, its implications for schools, the international test evidence. But the elite understanding of this is a very thin layer, absolutely skin deep. The mass of second-hand dealers in ideas are still distilling their frenzy from Romantic pedagogy. Depressing. I honestly don't know what else we can do. We wrote the books. We had the debates. We built the schools. We aced the tests. And then it turned out nobody cared. Right now it is definitely a bleak time to be a trad. It feels like we are on Athelney Marshes, beset by vandals without and dissension within. BUT we have to keep the faith. Reality is an undefeated champion. Despair is a sin! What we do works! It may well be that for now, the New World with all its power & might etc., is going to have to step in to save our bacon for a bit. Maybe the momentum is shifting to @ehanford and Sold a Story, @rastokke and Chalk & Talk, @jettybe3 , etc. We have got to dig in. As Declan Rice said, it's not done!

There's been a lot of talk in the last few weeks in edu circles about whether the trad education movement has failed, what it needs to do next, etc. This article is just the latest in a succession of examples that shows how us edu-trads have not been nearly as successful as we hoped in altering elite consensus on education. We have obviously seen with all the Labour party policies that we completely failed to convince Labour. But actually, it's not like we've really convinced the Conservatives either. This is Dan Hannan, major figure in Brexit, major figure in Conservative politics, presumably has some idea of who Michael Gove is - and here he is in the Telegraph confidently asserting that we no longer need to know things because we can look things up. (The ironies in this piece abound, by the way. He argues for lessons in spotting bad bogus arguments at the same time as building an article around the argument that memory doesn't matter any more. He argues that "identifying improbable claims" is a generic skill that can be taught in the abstract, at the same time as claiming that handwriting and geography are obsolete. He says that you can always just look up what you need, whilst signally failing to look up any of the evidence on the role of long-term memory...I could go on.) I wrote a few weeks ago that there was some evidence journalists at the Financial Times were waking up to all the evidence on cognitive science, its implications for schools, the international test evidence. But the elite understanding of this is a very thin layer, absolutely skin deep. The mass of second-hand dealers in ideas are still distilling their frenzy from Romantic pedagogy. Depressing. I honestly don't know what else we can do. We wrote the books. We had the debates. We built the schools. We aced the tests. And then it turned out nobody cared. Right now it is definitely a bleak time to be a trad. It feels like we are on Athelney Marshes, beset by vandals without and dissension within. BUT we have to keep the faith. Reality is an undefeated champion. Despair is a sin! What we do works! It may well be that for now, the New World with all its power & might etc., is going to have to step in to save our bacon for a bit. Maybe the momentum is shifting to @ehanford and Sold a Story, @rastokke and Chalk & Talk, @jettybe3 , etc. We have got to dig in. As Declan Rice said, it's not done!

The modern world has quietly removed the very thing that made us humans strong, and we need to do something about it. Let's talk about Effort Stripping ↓

At Stanley Road Primary in Oldham, we welcome over 300 visitors a year to see our exemplary behaviour, knowledge-rich curriculum and explicit teaching in action. Our next open morning for teachers is 10th Nov. If you'd like to attend, please let me know via DM.