Michael Gove, our education secretary, doesn't appear to understand what an average is.
Michael Gove, our education secretary, doesn’t appear to understand what an average is.
This is how Gove responded when asked last year, during a question and answer session with the Education Committee, to explain his Kafkaesque logic as to what makes a good school good.
(Transcript here: http://
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12 Responses to “Michael Gove’s Kafkaesque logic”
Ian Scottt
“…and if ALL schools must be good”
So, no, it’s not mathematically possible. Of course more than half of schools can be of above-mean performance. But ALL schools cannot be above-average.
GW74
It’s perfectly logical if the requirement is to exceed LAST YEAR’S average, which is clearly what Gove means by getting better all the time.
GW74
you’re overthinking it. Gove just means you have to exceed the previous year’s average and so the average improves each year, which is what he means by “getting better all the time”.
Andy Buckley
The idea that all schools should be better than the previous year’s average (of any kind) every year, is also nuts. From the comedy transcript I get the impression that he really just doesn’t know what he’s talking about, other than the blind truism that everything should always get better.
Andy Buckley
But is totally unrealistic.