BY TIM MIDDLETON
“Cricket is a game played by eleven fools and watched by eleven thousand fools”; so wrote the playwright George Bernard Shaw, who clearly was not one of the cricketing “in crowd”. However, the eleven fools who play the game may also consider that it is the people who do not understand cricket that are in fact the fools. For sure, many folk do not understand the rules or even the point of cricket and they are probably not helped by the following description of cricket provided by some wise person.
“You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.”
Many non-cricket lovers will be relieved to learn that the purpose of this article on education is not to discuss cricket. We need to look rather at what constitutes the “in crowd”, being “in” and not “uut”. After all, everyone wants to be in the “in crowd”, whether it is sport, politics, business, society or family. Are we “In” our “out”? The same crucially applies to education.
The big question is to determine which “in crowd” we should be in when it comes to education. On the one side, the “in crowd” in education may be seen to be made up of inability, incapacity, inaccessibility, inaccuracy, inadequacy, inadmissibility and inadvisability. It consists equally of inconsistency, indifference, indecisiveness and inattentiveness. It will only lead to intimidation, initiation, intrusion, ineptness, inferiority, inactivity and invasion. In short, they are all about inarticulateness and inappropriateness. There are clearly times when it seems that these are indeed “In” but the aim of the opposition when it is “In” is to ensure that these are “out”. For the most part, all of these go together but that does not mean they are “in”. In fact, we would go so far as to say that if all these do make up the “In Crowd” in education, what hope is there for our young people?
No, the “in crowd” in our schools needs to be made up of other far more relevant, significant, important ingredients. Our schools, and therefore education, needs to encompass, above all, individuality, inclusivity, integrity and ingenuity. They need to be full of involvement, innovation, invention, integration and inspiration. Education will be marked by investigation, information, inspection and induction. It will be steeped in insight, instinct, intuition, inquiry, interpretation, intellect and even introspection. The way to being “In” is by following these key items.
Harsha Bhogle is a former cricket player and current cricket commentator who recognises the finer aspect of cricket, making the astute point (with reference to a specialist bowler who has to go out to bat) that, “Cricket is the only sport in the world where you are absolutely horrible at something and you still need to go out and do it.” That player has to stay in somehow! However, the same is true of education. Players in education are doing all they can to remain in the “in crowd”, however terrible they are. They must make sure though that they are in the correct “in crowd”. There are two sides to education, both vying to be “in”. Both sides are looking to bowl the opposition over, to catch them unawares, to stump them for answers and to have them run out of excuses. They must stay in.
George Bernard Shaw also wrote that, “The English are not very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity.” For sure, education will appear to go on for an eternity for many youngsters if they are not in the right “in crowd”. We need to develop the individuality of each different player, their ingenuity to adapt to each learning situation, the integrity to do the right things right and the inclusivity to maximise the opportunities. That is the real “in crowd”. We must not be a fool; education is very simple. It’s just not cricket!
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l Tim Middleton is the executive director of the Association of Trust Schools [ATS]. The views expressed in this article, however, are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of the ATS.
