Speaking is indeed neglected in modern state education. This is done by reading widely and writing well, but also by learning to speak better. Matthew Arnold famously said that the purpose of culture was the pursuit of perfection by “getting to know …the best which has been thought and said in the world”.īy doing so, one improves one’s own thoughts and words. That he reserved for his article for The Sun on the same day, perhaps considering the word “oracy” too clever for Sun readers.īut Sir Keir’s thoughts about speaking should be taken seriously. Sir Keir’s accompanying article in Thursday’s Times did not include his speech’s attack on the “snobs” who undervalue vocational training. He also varies his words for different audiences. He plays down his own tax policy on independent schools which, if implemented, would be the most punitive that Labour has ever imposed. In Thursday’s speech, he quoted, with attribution and approval, Michael Gove’s famous words about “the soft bigotry of low expectations”. It is true that Sir Keir, who now follows the Blair/Mandelson glidepath to electoral victory with almost slavish devotion, is pitching to wavering Conservative voters.
Critics point out that, by highlighting oracy, he is avoiding discussion of more immediate educational problems, notably the alleged need for more money and higher pay for striking teachers. Some of Sir Keir’s words have been received rather cynically. It enables a pupil to “break the class ceiling”, he thinks. Being able to speak clearly and argue cogently “opens up a lifetime of empowerment”. The Labour leader wants to add “oracy” to numeracy and literacy as one of the key skills mastered at school. So, more or less, said Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday. ‘Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue,” says Hamlet to the actor.
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