*Short thread*
I've just read a transcript of some of John Swinney's comments at an #SNP19 event and, dear reader, *even I* am taken aback by them.
I've just read a transcript of some of John Swinney's comments at an #SNP19 event and, dear reader, *even I* am taken aback by them.
Swinney - the person charged with overseeing Scottish education - talked about some 'barriers' to learning, both personal (like mental health issues) and social (the huge, inescapable impact of poverty) 
(We'll put Swinney's crushingly instrumentalist view of education, and the negative consequences of this for young people, to one side for now)
And then....and then...........he said this:
I had to read the transcript several times to be absolutely sure he actually said it
I can't possibly overstate how jaw-droppingly ignorant that sort of comment is, how much damage it can do to an education system, or how worrying it is that the man regarded as the SNP's ultimate safe pair of hands (at least before 2016) seems to actually believe it.
I've also listened to the audio by the way (if anyone knows an easy way to clip out a bit and share it let me know?) and it's actually even worse because the tone used at that point is just horrendous.
The tone is at least as bad as the words.
This all happened at a session entitled:
Social Mobility: how business can bridge the class divide
Social Mobility: how business can bridge the class divide
@threadreaderapp unroll please
