Vince Cable, a socialist in centrist clothing and the government’s Business Secretary insulted teachers nationally by suggesting that they have no knowledge of the working world because they have gone from school to university and straight into the classroom.
Subsequently he says that teachers do not know how to point children into the right career direction.
Speaking to 600 representatives of the manufacturing industry earlier this week he said "There has been an argument in Government about how to get the right careers advice in schools and successive governments have frankly messed this up. We haven't got this right. But the underlying problem is of course that most teachers, particularly in the secondary sector, are graduates. They know how universities work, they know what you have to do to get an A-level, they know about UCAS forms - but they know absolutely nothing about the world of work."
Now in many cases in secondary education teachers do lack significant experience outside of their profession. However this does not mean they have not acquired the skills to guide teenagers into the right paths; with Cable’s assumption being you must have great diversity in order to do this.
The seventy year old Business Secretary, a Liberal Democrat and thus part of the ruling coalition, is really one to talk. He didn’t work outside of government until he was 51 when he spent 2 years at Shell during which time he was accused of shenanigans with the Nigerian government after which he was promptly elected to parliament (how fitting) where he has been ever since.
As a lifetime bureaucrat he of course sees government as the only solution to anything. Thus if teens are not making the right choices it is the fault of someone in government (i.e. teachers) and the remedy is always to change the way government does things with new programmes and higher taxes. It does not occur to him that people make their own choices despite ‘guidance’ and that others such as parents may actually be an influence.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT – no pun intended) has an unsurprisingly different take. Christine Blower, NUT General Secretary said "This is a crass remark, which is insulting to teachers who are workers in their own right. As the Government's own study - published just last week - shows, teachers work an extraordinary number of hours and show real dedication to 'the world of work'.
Indeed, the teaching profession mirrors society and many of our teachers come from diverse backgrounds with different life experiences. They are a resource to the young people they teach, not a hindrance."
And for once a union boss is right! The hard work and dedication of a teacher along with their commitment to their young subjects speaks far more about things that will take them much further than the specific knowledge of career tracks.
But Cable has put himself in hot water again and again, so much so that the Prime Minister David Cameron must be wondering if his political baggage is worth the price. Under the coalition agreement he must appoint a certain number of Lib. Dems. to cabinet posts but the PM must be wondering about making a substitution or better still, trading him to the Labour Party.
In 2010, Cable was stripped of his role overseeing media competition after he was caught on tape saying he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch. Then later this week he launched into a full on attack of Cameron and the Conservatives as part of the Lib Dem party conference.
Cable said the Tories plan to hold an in/out referendum in 2017 should they get re-elected in 2015 is creating uncertainty in the business community because access to the European single market cannot be guaranteed.
Now nobody with even a small collection of brain cells actually believes this. Britain may vote to leave the EU but it will also look for access to the single market while the business community in Europe looks for access to the UK. Cable’s presence as Business Secretary causes more instability but maybe that is the instability he has actually noticed.
Cable then asks how Tory Eurosceptics and UKIP members plan to convince Scottish people to vote to stay part of the UK when they "indulge in British nationalism and Euro-separatism". In fact there is more support in England for Scottish independence than there is in Scotland. If the English were smarter and more pro-active it would be them seeking independence from the rest of Britain, if for no other reason the increased leverage it would afford.
The Business Secretary has to fight for his party which is in danger of becoming irrelevant, already destined for a fourth place finish in upcoming May Euro elections. But the coalition needs to have some kind of understanding that cabinet officers will represent the government’s position rather than rubbishing it.
As for the teachers Cable has displayed ignorance and lack of tact while managing to offend 1.5% of the electorate in a single sentence. While parties like his Lib. Dems. try to paint the upstart UK Independence Party as fruitcakes with no credibility it’s clear that he is out of touch and has all the diplomacy of a thorn bush.
