We shouldn’t.
Oh well that was a brief blog post. Oh wait I actually have to flesh it out a bit? Oh brain you are a slavedriver to my poor fingers on my right hand.
So yes. Antonio is going to a catholic school around two miles away from the González/Clegg residence. His dad is an atheist but his mom is a devout catholic and all the boys are brought up following the catholic faith. The school has around 160 places each year to give out to pupils and the main criteria is that these people are practicing catholics. Well I think that is a fair representation of Antonio as they are taken to church weekly by their mother and are brought up within the faith. So why the hoo-hah?
Well because apparently as leader of a political party Nick Clegg should do things ideologically instead of doing the right thing for his family. The way things are his son has the chance to go to a school that he and his wife agreed would be the best place for him so why shouldn’t they send their son there?
I might shock a few people here but when I was Antonio’s age I went to a catholic school. Yes I’m very much an atheist but it was far better than my local school and I do not doubt that I had a better education there. I got in because they had a policy of taking a small percentage of their intake from other denominations (but they had to be from Christian families) and my mom was a local Methodist minister at the time. Both my older brother and older sister went to the same school.
Faith schools are not full of devout Christians I can assure you of that and not all of them have a good reputation but isn’t part of the job description of a parent to give their offspring the best possible advantages in life? I would strongly contend that it is. Now in an ideal world of course every school is just as good as the next but we do not live in an ideal world. Different schools have different ethos and strengths and weaknesses.
We are not in a position to judge other human beings on their choice of school for their children. Not even if one of those parents was the leader of the Liberal Democrats. If between them they agree that the London Oratory School is the right place for Antonio then so be it. If David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nigel Farage etc… choose any school for their offspring then it should be their decision. A child’s place of education is not – nor should it ever be – a political pawn.
I hope his story dies a quick death and Antonio enjoys a great education and an enjoyable time at school. They say school is the time of your life. Whilst I contend that might actually be the case I would kinda love to go back and do my school days again knowing that in the grown-up real world things are far more stressful at times. When I was 11 all I cared about was running around the garden and what was for dinner. I never lay in bed trying to work out what I wanted from life or stressing about work or relationships etc…
Enjoy your time at school kid and lets hope the media leave you alone as well as respect the wishes of your parents.
