This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/14/david-bowies-bromley-school-wasnt-so-bad-mr-kureishi
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| David Bowie’s Bromley school wasn’t so bad, Mr Kureishi | David Bowie’s Bromley school wasn’t so bad, Mr Kureishi |
| (6 months later) | |
| Letters | |
| Mon 14 Aug 2017 18.57 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 18.31 GMT | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| View more sharing options | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Close | |
| As a contemporary of David Bowie at Bromley technical high school, I read Hanif Kureishi’s article with interest (Review, 12 August). Possibly it was a “shithole” in Kureishi’s time, 10 years after Bowie, but it wasn’t in ours; not a great school, but more than adequate judged by the standards of the time. | As a contemporary of David Bowie at Bromley technical high school, I read Hanif Kureishi’s article with interest (Review, 12 August). Possibly it was a “shithole” in Kureishi’s time, 10 years after Bowie, but it wasn’t in ours; not a great school, but more than adequate judged by the standards of the time. |
| The claim that all the teachers were incompetent with the exception of the art master is stupid. Some were hopeless, some OK and a few inspirational – pretty normal in those days. As for the implication that it was a sink school for the working and lower-middle classes is inaccurate, it was a bastion of suburban bourgeoisie when Bowie was there. | The claim that all the teachers were incompetent with the exception of the art master is stupid. Some were hopeless, some OK and a few inspirational – pretty normal in those days. As for the implication that it was a sink school for the working and lower-middle classes is inaccurate, it was a bastion of suburban bourgeoisie when Bowie was there. |
| Kureishi’s traducing of Bowie’s secondary education does a disservice to a model that allowed children who had not gained entry to a grammar school at 11 to progress to a university education if they so desired. Many from our cohort did. The categorisation of “technical high school” indicated the school offered A-level education in the liberal arts in addition to science and technology offered by the original technical schools. Howard ScholeyEdinburgh | Kureishi’s traducing of Bowie’s secondary education does a disservice to a model that allowed children who had not gained entry to a grammar school at 11 to progress to a university education if they so desired. Many from our cohort did. The categorisation of “technical high school” indicated the school offered A-level education in the liberal arts in addition to science and technology offered by the original technical schools. Howard ScholeyEdinburgh |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
| • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters |
| David Bowie | |
| Hanif Kureishi | |
| Secondary schools | |
| Schools | |
| letters | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Reuse this content |