BBC News | Pupils forced to listen to Mozart

I should have known from the headline that I'd object to this story and, if that wasn't enough, the photo of the headteacher should have given it away too. He looks like the type. An ideas man. Thinks he can reinvent the wheel and change the world of education while gaining the adulation of his peers. I'll bet he starts the day with a  soy latte and a brief dive into some Steven R. Covey before turning his attention to the task at hand; revolutionising something that worked far better before everyone started to revolutionise it. It was probably on one such day that he had his eureka moment and, like Archimedes leaping from his tub, danced a little at the force of his own genius: "I know how to enforce discipline; if they cross the line we'll play Mozart at them, that'll learn them." See, I told you, revolutionary. I bet Stalin wishes he'd have thought of that. There would have been no gulags, just large open air concert arenas where political prisoners were exposed to Mozart day and night.

The only problem is, well, it's not really punishment, is it? I mean, I'm sure some of the obstreperous little tykes will find it punishing but that's a reflection on them not Wolfgang. I can't help but think that Mr. Walker hasn't quite thought this through. He's effectively taken a whole aspect of culture and loaded it with a hugely negative connotation. He is sending the message to all of those young people that listening to classical music is a punishment, that if they do wrong they will be trapped in a room together and forced to listen to it. I doubt my fifteen year old self would have wanted to listen to it either but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to teach the next generation that it's a punishment.

Now Mr. Walker, naturally, says it's not even meant to be a punishment - this detention is a window of opportunity to "help them see they are part of something bigger that will enhance their life chances if they become a net contributor".  He goes on to tell us that "when it's finished, there's no anger or resentment, because it's not a punishment, but pointing out the consequences of their behaviour". I want to look at this from a starkly logical angle. He claims that it is an opportunity and a good thing, he also claims that it is the consequence of their bad behaviour, ergo is he not sending out the message that if you are bad then good things will happen to you? I'm getting a mixed message here it's like he's saying it's great and awesome and then still using it as a punishment and then denying it's even a punishment. For goodness sake, we wonder why the education system is a mess? It's all wishy-woshy rubbish. Be a man, Walker, if it's a punishment call it a punishment and if it's a good thing then why do you feel you should reward bad behaviour? Is there a sliding scale? If you're a little naughty you get Bach, if you're pretty bad you get Verdi but don't really hack the fellow off or he'll go Wolfgang-Amadeus on your hieny?

Yes, it may be effective in the short term - though I must say that if the young rebels of today are so tame that the prospect of having to hear a bit of Bach stops them from raising carnage at school then they're not worth a jot as rebels - but in the long term it's another example of society taking something that was once valued and making it into a negative thing. Classical music isn't for everyone, that's cool, why would it be? Nor is pop, rock, hip-hop or anything else. I have about as much desire to watch thirty-three and a half pence (dashed exchange rate!) rap about his lady friends' posteriors as I do to watch paint dry but I'm assured that some of the youngsters find it a regular wheeze. Music is broad enough for there to be something for everyone but what can't be argued is that, like them or not, the classical composers were geniuses. They were unbelievable. Beethoven went deaf but it's fair to say that on musical merit Ode' to Joy knocks the socks off Lady blooming GaGa. To reduce Classical music to being used as a cheap punishment is stupid, our schools should be teaching about the merit of such things not making it into a negative bogeyman to stop thirteen year-olds blowing raspberries behind the teachers back.