Below, my column in Education Guardian today. A few weeks ago this newspaper published a piece by Sarah Vine, Daily Mail columnist and wife of the education secretary, Micheal Gove, explaining why they had decided to send their daughter to a London state school. It was a funny and lively article, and I agreed with… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Melissa Benn
The Ghost Road
Below, my latest piece in Guardian Comment, on education’s growing culture of overwork, and how it is affecting children and parents. Do you know a ghost child? Are you possibly raising one? A report this week by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) pinpoints a worrying new phenomenon – the institutionalised infant, a whey-faced… Continue Reading
Upcoming events and discussions
Apologies for lack of website activity over the past few months (site statistics suggest a lot of you have been visiting this site during this period) but I am sure regular readers will understand – given the final illness and death of my father, Tony Benn, a few weeks ago – why I have been… Continue Reading
Praise for ‘What Should We Tell Our Daughters?’
‘What Should We Tell Our Daughters? The Pleasures and Pressures of Growing Up Female ‘ was published earlier this autumn. Here are some of the comments that have been made about the book – and me! I am also doing a lot of festivals/talks and events; please check out this link http://melissabenn.com/2013/08/29/what-should-we-tell-our-daughters-autumn-events/ for accounts –… Continue Reading
What Should We Tell Our Daughters? Autumn events….
Below, details of some of the events I have been – or will be – taking part in over the autumn, as part of publication of ‘What Should We Tell Our Daughters?’ ( Unless otherwise stated, this will usually be the title of the session…) Please come along – and join the discussion… . Friday… Continue Reading
What Should We Tell Our Daughters? – details of autumn publication
What Should We Tell Our Daughters? By Melissa Benn Hardback £25.00 A manifesto for modern womanhood – and a guide through the perils and pitfalls of parenting girls We have reached a tricky crossroads in modern women’s lives and our collective daughters are bearing the brunt of some intolerable pressures. Although feminism has made great… Continue Reading
How do we keep our daughters safe, but not controlled?
Five man today appear in court, charged with the rape and murder of a still unnamed medical student on a bus in Delhi at the end of last year. I know I am not alone in continuing to feel haunted by the deep sadism, and even deeper sadnesses, of the Delhi case.. It feels like… Continue Reading
School Wars: new edition published…
If you didn’t catch it the first time, you might be interested now? School Wars: The Battle for Britain’s Education The story of the struggle for Britain’s schools, and a passionate call for education as a public good. School Wars tells the story of the struggle for Britain’s education system. Established during the 1960s and… Continue Reading
Is sixteen too young to vote?
Since my younger daughter, who is just 16, started A-level politics this autumn, every evening meal has been dominated by a spirited discussion on subjects as various as responsible capitalism (do I really believe in such a foolish, contradictory thing?) to the merits, or otherwise, of an unwritten constitution. Unsurprising, then, that yesterday morning, over… Continue Reading
‘Any chance of some proposals fit for the 21st century?’
Below – a post I have written on the Local Schools Network today on the implications of Gove’s new O-level style proposals: What with the GCSE regrading fiasco and the row over the selling off of state school sports fields, Michael Gove clearly needed a quick political fix – and some positive publicity – this… Continue Reading
Latest writing
THE CRISIS OF THE MERITOCRACY
The crisis of the meritocracy: Britain’s transition to mass education since the Second World War PETER MANDLER, 2020 Oxford: Oxford University Press 361pp, hardback, £25, ISBN 9780198840145 Cambridge historian Peter Mandler has a fundamentally optimistic story to tell about the growth of universal education in Britain over the last seventy years and one can sense… Continue reading…
Latest news & events
A Cold War Tragedy
Melissa will be in conversation with Anne Sebba about her new book, ‘Ethel Rosenberg – A Cold War Tragedy.’ Weds 15th September 2021, 5-6pm, in the Robert Graves Tent at the Wimbledon Book Festival. More information here. Continue reading…
