Stolpe ut för skolinspektionen

Skolinspektionen skjuter sig själv i foten. Direktör Begler beslöt att stänga skolan, stort drama, för barnens skull och allt det där.  

Det bisarra beslutet blir ännu mer löjeväckande när det påstådda syftet med den dramatiska åtgärden av Skolinspektionen och Direktör Begler omintetgjorts av beslutet i sig själv. 

Studenterna bjuds nu in att studera på en gymnasieskola i Karlstad och får bo kvar på internatet på Lundsberg. Skolinspektionen har nämligen ingen auktoritet att att utöva tillsyn över själva internatverksamheten. 

För att förtydliga. Anledningen till att Skolinspektionen stängde Lundsberg var för att säkerställa elevernas säkerhet i den s.k. internatmiljön. Det var ingenting fel med själva utbildningsmiljön på skolan. Faktum är att de akademiska resultaten på Lundsberg är utmärkta.

När allt är sagt och gjort så är resultatet av Skolinspektionens och Direktör Beglers godtyckliga maktutövande att:

1. Studenterna fortfarande lever och bor i den internatmiljö med "värderingar och kultur" som var så anstötlig för Skolinspektionen och Direktör Begler. 
2. Studenterna bussas till en annan skola med sämre akademiska resultat. 

Internatet är alltså intakt.  Den enda skillnaden är att Skolinspektionen och Direktör Begler lyckats försämra utbildningen för eleverna på Lundsberg. Stolpe ut med andra ord.

Big drama, bad decision, think again

The Swedish School Inspectorate (SI) shoots itself in the foot. Director Begler decided to close the school by force, big drama. "Save the children" and all that.

The bizarre decision becomes even more apparently ludicrous as the purpose of the dramatic actions by the School Inspectorate and Director Begler on a mission is thwarted by the mistakes of the SI.

The students are now invited to study at a high school in Karlstad and allowed to stay at Lundbergs boarding school.  The "boarding" is not within the SI and Director Begler's authority to shut down.

This takes some explaining. The reason the SI shut down operation at Lundsberg was to secure the "safety" of the children in the "boarding school" environment. There was nothing wrong with the study situation at the school, in fact the academic results of the school, i.e. the "class room" results are excellent.

When all is said and done the results of the arbitrary power exhibition of the SI and director Begler is that:
1. The students are still living in the boarding environment with the "values and culture" that was objectionable to SI and Ms. Begler.
2. The students are bussed to another school for classes with less impressive academic results.

The boarding school is intact. The only difference is that the SI and its director have succeeded in deceasing the quality of the education for the students.

"The Beast" is in Stockholm

President Obama is visiting Stockholm and so is his famous car "the Beast." The President is having dinner with the Swedish prime minister Mr. Reinfeldt at the Prime minister's residence, the Sagerska Palace in Stockholm. During the Presidential dinner the Senate Committee approved military action in Syria.

       The Beast in Stockholm, in the rear the royal palace.

         The Sagerska Palace in Stockholm, the Prime minister's residence.

                              Mr. Reinfeldt and President Obama in Stockholm.

       President Obama will also meet with HRH King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden.

Peculiar facts: Prime minister Reinfeldt's great-great grandfather was an african American reportedly from New York Mr. John Hood, he sometimes apparently also claimed to be from Borneo and had a circus in Sweden in the 1880's.

              Mr. John Hood in the 1880's, Mr. Reinfeldt's great-great grandfather.

The road to hell is paved by good intentions

I have previously written a piece on evil.  I believe that the problem with "evil" is that it always cloaks it self in good intentions.
The communists brutal regimes around the world was rationalized by concern for the poor - that is good right? A good man is his brother's keeper, every body knows that. The Nazis was motivated by far reaching concerns for the German people - the German at least  seemed to think that was a pretty good idea at the time.

Now these ideas have hit rock bottom. Communism more or less committed suicide as did Nazism. Its a common mistake to think that totalitarian regimes doesn't mind the public opinion. In fact nothing could be more wrong. Why else did both the Nazis and the Commies spend endless resources on propaganda? Mass-meetings, education and indoctrination of the youth. Nothing is more important for a dictator than the approval of his people, there are just different ways to get it - that's all.

Contemporary politics have found the new Columbi egg of public policy - the magic words are - "It's for the sake of the children."

The Swedish government closes Lundbergs boarding school "for the safety of the children." In Sweden parents that doesn't take their children to the communal day care are suspicious, because the dogma has it that the daycare "is for the good of the children." When Swedish authorities kidnapped Domenic from his parents when they were moving to India, they did it "for the children", i.e. for Domenic, when they put Domenic's father in jail for wanting to spend time with his son it was "for Domenic's sake." The authorities were concerned that his parents taught him wrong values. Now Ms. Begler has the same concerns about Lundsbergs boarding school.

One might think that the children at Lundsberg would now if they are in any danger or abused in any way. When the whole school, all the students, say that they love their school and want to stay in their school, which has one of the best academic records of any school in Sweden by the way, the school Inspectorate only retorts that they do this "for the sake of the children." Never mind that the children lives at the school and has no way to go, at least not on such short notice (24 hours).

Ms. Begler, Director of the School Inspectorate cares for the children and that they are taught the right values.

The freedoms of all are constantly being encroached by reason of "it's for the children." Well here's an novel idea - why don't we let the parents raise their children? How about that?

I think every parent reacts if he or she thinks that their child is attending a school that is unsafe, teaches weird values or otherwise can be deemed to be unsound. It is also my experience that when people pay for something, they tend to be more demanding for quality and adequate results as compared to when people doesn't pay. This is why Hyundai owners always are more content customers than BMW buyers, it has very little to do with the cars and more to do with the expectations of the consumer.

Is there any person out there that honestly believes that the approximately 400 parents of the students at Lundsberg who pays appx $30.000,00 a year for their kids at this school, would accept that this school would act in any way - any way at all,  that would warrant that the government rush in and by force close it down, for the sake of the children?

It's ludicrous.

Lundsbergs boarding school is an excellent school

Lundsbergs boarding school is without doubt one of the best schools in Sweden. A five minute research session on internet with access to public educational statistics is enlightening. Lundbergs boarding school can show a stunning 93.3 % success rate for the graduating elementary classes according to the prevailing measurement criterion.

Students at Lundsberg, whom the School Inspectorate have "saved" from the "abusive" and non conformist value-environment which they are the victims off.

I'm a father, I have been a youth coach in martial arts for many years. I know that kids are like open books. One thing I've learned and this never fails - unhappy children cannot do squat. They can't study, they can't focus, they get bad results. It's not exactly rocket science. A 93.3% success rate tells me two things.

1. The closing of the school by the School Inspectorate (SI) based on alleged lack of safety is nonsense.
2. At least 93.3% of the students at Lundsbergs elementary program are happy campers.

One would naturally think that a government agency like the School Inspectorate would take their assignment seriously and really focus on the schools that fail miserably in their most basic educational duties, like teaching the students Swedish, math and English. If I was the director of this institution with the intimidating English name reminiscent of some ominous government agency in the mind of George Orwell I would bring the Inspectorate's attention elsewhere. There's plenty of work in many other schools in Sweden.

In Sigtuna, the communal schools only succeed in giving 70.7% of the students the most basic educational basis necessary to be able to go on to high school. 30% of the students have failed in Swedish. That is a pretty grim reality considering that the schools are in Sweden.

In Stockholm, the capitol of Sweden, the Rågsvedsskolans elementary program only succeeds in giving a shocking 31.8% of the students the necessary educational basis to be able to go on to high school. That is absolutely flabbergasting; 60% of the kids in Rågsvedsskolan graduate from 9th grade practically illiterate.

              This is a picture of Rågsvedsskolan. An example of a school that upholds the government endorsed values and culture according to the School Inspectorate and where the SI don't think that student safety is an issue.

The School Inspectorate spends millions on investigations and a media circus to defame the Lundsbergs school, an excellent school with happy students and a success-rate of 93.3%. This also effectively sabotages seniors' at Lundsbergs boarding school's possibilities to maximize their grades and their academic futures since they now must move to a school where their academic results are unknown.

Not only that, they choose to punish studious students collectively to set an example against punitive traditions(!?),