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Nexus newsletter
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ asks W.S. in Sonnet 18. ‘Thou art more fair.’ Well he would say that wouldn’t he? And given one’s own experience of an English summer…
Comparisons, we were told as children, are odious but they seem to be woven into the fabric of daily life…Comparisons are made between Infant Mortality Rates, between Life Expectancy Rates and between any number of what are considered to be significant social indicators.
Hardly surprising then that government should attempt a means of comparing schools. (Especially given stated concerns over ‘information inequity’ and ‘need for transparency’ – not to mention others). And therein lies the rub (as someone has said). ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ pondered the Bard. His poetic licence (renewable, but not requiring photograph) let him make such a comparison. Here was ‘like with like’. Readers allow this literary sleight of hand and pass on. An entirely different licence is required when attempting comparisons between schools. What really constitutes ‘like with like? And what will readers make of the result?
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