Above: Dave "Brain-dead" Collins
Dave Collin's web page on the Grangetown Labour website seems to have dissappeared, along with the Keir Hardly blog. Therefore, for your delight and pleasure, here are his remarks in full, which I (along with others) copied just in case of such an occurrence:
Personally I share the view of Daniel O’Connell when he said "I can witness without a sigh, the decline of the Irish language".
One aspect that doesn’t seem to have received much attention so far is consideration of the language as a class issue. To what extent does the requirement to teach Welsh at all key stages and the right to access all public service provision through the medium of Welsh assist or hinder the prospects of the under privileged?
As a governor of a community primary school in inner city Cardiff, whose pupils speak (at the latest count) at least 22 different languages in the family home, it is clear to me that the real need in our school at least is for the priority to be improving the functional literacy in English of these children. Inevitably such a priority has to come at the expense of other subjects – but not Welsh, which the national curriculum obliges to devote a certain time a week to teaching.
Moreover it isn’t an issue simply in terms of all the time that is wasted on it. Compulsory Welsh may also diminish young pupils enthusiasm for education and their confidence in their ability to master a subject. You cannot successfully teach a practically brain dead language to young children whose families don't want it revived or couldn't care less about it. It can only be dulling for them. Yet the education system is trying to do just that, under the ridiculous premise that everyone should be adopting a "Welsh identity" - and the obnoxious premise that they should be compelled to. Removing the compulsory nature of Welsh would let the education system be more flexible, responsive, and successful at preparing our children for life in the real world.
Although all children are now compelled to learn Welsh at school up to age 16, there is a world of difference between the ability to use a few basic phrases and actually speaking the language fluently. I am deeply suspicious of the veracity of the census figures in this regard, since there are compelling grounds for believing the response to this question on the Census overstates the true usage situation. The fact is that the mushrooming number of jobs in the public and voluntary sectors for which Welsh is ‘essential’ (a consequence of the obligations contained in the Welsh Language Act), by definition exclude those from non Welsh speaking communities – which happen to include those defined as most deprived in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. No wonder kids and parents in the Valleys still agree with the proposition that ‘if you want to get on – get out’!
I've heard it argued that the smattering of Welsh words, phrases and cliches which people retain as adults is "a valuable part of Welsh identity and heritage". In my view the smattering is utterly worthless. Tell me how can you defend eleven years of compulsory studies in the name of a smattering of cliches? And citizens deserve to be free to build their own identities. The Welsh-identity totalitarians should not be permitted to foist the language on the unwilling. In amid the welter of debate about ‘rights’, absolute or qualified, I hope that those looking to devise a specifically Labour policy on the Welsh language will not lose sight of some of the social justice consequences in the real world of such a focus.
Dave was kind enough to leave his details on his webpage prior to its dissappearance:
dave@grangetownlabour.co.uk
If you wish to make a complaint to the Grangetown Labour team, their
contact details are:
lynda@grangetownlabour.co.uk
Postal address: 51 Bessborough Drive, Grangetown, CF11 8NE
Telephone: 2034 5679
13 comments:
Address and phonenumber have been removed, as are the comments relating to it to prevent this thread being hijacked.
I couldn't believe it when I picked up the Post today. If anyone's brain-dead it's this guy!
You read it in the Post? This was a coup for alert bloggers - well done whoever spotted it first.
I suspect Dim Dave is currently being made to write out "I will not contribute to blogs under my own name" by his political masters as we speak.
well done whoever spotted it first
Thanks
;-)
This Welsh-language and class stuff is the biggest load of crap I've read. Where I live, Caernarfon, is one of the most underprivileged areas in Wales, and thus the UK. They all speak Welsh. Are they brain dead? Isn't this a racist slur to call them so? As for the old adage 'if you want to get on, get out', I recall this being the adage long before the Welsh language Act of 1993. Is Collins trying to tell us that the historic migration of talent from Wales, which has been going since the 1930s, is due to Welsh! It beggars belief that a mainstream political party can be represented by people willing to scapegoat a minority language for such disgusting political advantage.
I will never again vote Labour, a party I have campaigned for in north Wales for 10 years. I am in any case too 'brain dead' to do so, as are my parents, children, neighbours and friends. We're Welsh-speakers, see! Middle-class, brain dead, nasty nationalists, according to the Welsh-hating Labour party.
Why do Labour politicians hate Welsh and the Welsh speakers so much?
Why do they put their party before the welfare of Welsh people?
Because they see them as a threat to their party's domination of Wales!!
To be fair, there are a number of young students who feel that learning Welsh is a waste of time and that it will have no application in the "real world." Of course, they feel the same way about maths, science, English, etc. Obviously, our schools SHOULD be teaching children how to become famous or live on heavy credit card debt. Also, if the adage that "if you want to get on get out" is true, why is South Wales growing so quickly?
If anyone wants to post considered comments on the original blog I would be pleased to receive considered critiques of the issues relating to labour. Dave got me off to an unbalanced start.
If anyone wants to post considered comments on the original blog I would be pleased to receive considered critiques of the issues relating to labour.
Original blog, Martin? I'm afraid you must be confused.
Chris Cope said...
"Also, if the adage that "if you want to get on get out" is true, why is South Wales growing so quickly?"
What are you getting at Chris? By the way, Shwt mae? ;-)
Martin Eaglestone, could you tell us where you stand on this? Do you think Welsh is Brain Dead? And are you in agreement with the bogus class politics element of the diatribe - are the peopel of Bangor and Caernarfon you hoep to represent brain dead and middle-class?
And the restaurant in your ward Felinheli which banned that girl from speaking welsh, did you make your stand on that?
These are genuine questions not trick ones. I don;t know the answer but woudl appreciate them.
DR
To be fair, there are a number of young students who feel that learning Welsh is a waste of time and that it will have no application in the "real world." Of course, they feel the same way about maths, science, English, etc.
Well this is it, Chris. People talk of "forcing Welsh" on children, as if every other subject was greeted with unfettered delight by them. School is about "forcing" (or "encouraging", depending on one's point of view) children to learn subjects. If one wants to discuss how to change this then it has to apply to every subject, instead of singling out a particular subject that one may have a personal bias against.
No you'r right there. When I was in school, I was rubbish in Sports, music, science and CDT. I could have spent my time doing the things I enjoyed and was good at. But unfortunately, I was 'forced' to do them.
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