Acceptance Speech by the Winner of the Carnegie Medal 1999 for Postcards from No Man's Land
Aidan Chambers
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Issue 29 Autumn 2000 Acceptance Speech by the Winner of the Carnegie Medal 1999 for Postcards from No Man's Land Aidan Chambers >>>>>>>>>> Next Conference Item |
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We all know that readers are made by readers, and that non-readers are made by non-readers.
We all know that reading comes before everything else in education.
We all know that our ability to read a new book depends on the reading we've already done. This is why serious readers keep a diary record of what they have read. They know how important it is in their growth as readers to remember what they have read and when.
It therefore seems to me quite obvious that, when it comes to educating other people as readers a personal reading diary is required as a qualification to do the job. Of course this proof of qualification should apply most stringently to those who pass laws about how young people shall be educated, and in particular to those who dictate how reading shall be taught.
The present government claims its primary aim to be "education, education, education". Like the two previous administrations, it has increasingly legislated, issued injunctions, published requirements, and generally speaking taken complete control by imposing greater and greater administrative detail on educators - on teacher-trainers and on teachers themselves.
They have spent hundreds, indeed thousands of millions of pounds establishing bodies which impose the government's will upon schools and which investigate what the schools do.
Given its commitment to democracy and fair play, I know the present government will agree that accountability must apply to the governors as well as the governed.
So here's a practical suggestion:
It is now time to establish OFSPREAD. That is: The Office for Standards in Politician's Reading. To get the work of OFSPREAD going I propose that the Carnegie and Greenaway juries be appointed the first of Her Majesty's Inspectors of politicians' reading. After all, they know the books that matter. And knowing the books is where education in reading begins.
As everyone will want OFSPREAD's work to be open and transparent we now demand the immediate publication of reading diaries, covering at least the period of time they have been in office, of the following:
Naturally, we shall also want to consider the reading diaries of those who speak on education from the opposition benches, such as:
Needless to add, we all know that what matters is not how much you've read but what you have read. For this reason, OFSPREAD will not concern itself so much with quantity as with the range and nature of what has been read. This will reveal the kind of reader the politician wishes our children to become. And so we will be able to decide whether or not he or she is fit to regulate the reading education of our children.
Of course, those to be inspected who cannot produce a reading diary will automatically be disqualified from having anything further to do with education. The same fate will attend those whose reading OFSPREAD decides is not up to standard.
Oh, and by the way, we all know that most people, especially privileged people like politicians, always find time to do what they most want to do. I notice, for example, that politicians take long holidays, engage in extra-parliamentary business activities, pursue their favourite hobbies and interests. Time? Of course they have time. If they don't read for the sake of reading itself, it's because they don't want to.
Another thing. Just as the government requires that children sit their SATs so all politicians will have to sit their PRATs. That is: The Politicians' Reading Attainment Tests.
So: Mr Blair, Mr Blunkett, Mr Woodhead, Mr Hague: I eagerly look forward to seeing your reading diaries soon. I'm sure there'll be a lot to learn from them.
To my friends and colleagues with me here today, readers all, I thank you again for the honour of your recognition.
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