Michael Gove, “the most important person in education,” (according to Nevile Gwynne), likes and promulgates Gwynne’s grammar, and for a while the grammarian himself is available in a brief conversation on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. This is the link that works for now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01c98k1.
In a very short piece on R4 it isn’t possible to explore Gwynne’s arguments very easily, any more than it was when he appeared on Saturday Live; sweeping statements go unchallenged, and this four or so minutes certainly isn’t a scholarly defence of grammar, still less the teaching of grammar in schools, but as a test of current government thinking has some interesting points to ponder. Was an understanding of grammar acquired “effortlessly” before the age of nine? I wonder whether Gwynne’s defence of corporal punishment on his website suggests otherwise. Here, as part of a class he is running, he suggests looking at the arguments around the subject:
The days of “six of the best” are now over, almost everywhere in every country in the Western world. But… will someone please, after reading the following (a) extract from a newspaper article and (b) letter responding to it, be so kind as to let me know what possible alternative there is to corporal punishment that is sufficient to do the essential job – both for the indicidual and society — that “the cane” had done everywhere throughout the whole of recorded history up to the 1960s and after?
Given the accuracy of my typing, it would be churlish to mock the typo, and in any case the pedant in me likes the fact that there is no apostrophe in 1960s.
Here, Neville Gwynne simply raises the question for others to respond to.
However, I feel torn when reading some of his articles. I seriously disagree with some of his ideas, and might well question some of his sources or approaches, but I must admit that when I mark the work of some of my students, from the generation that grammar forgot, I want to say with him that “A very great deal of our knowledge comes from argument, which is our most important means of checking and making sure that what we believe is true.” Similarly, when he states with obvious passion that “Real philosophy is simply the overall science of “getting it right” in all our activities, from deciding what time to get up in the morning to choosing the right religious or anti-religious position. We are all philosophers whether we like it or not,” I find myself nodding in (at least partial) agreement.
nicktomjoe 