John Marks - Revision history

Melissa Jones: updated/obituary

2012-03-04T20:37:04Z

updated/obituary

Tom Griffin: /* Background */

2010-08-17T14:15:55Z

Background

Tom Griffin: typo

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typo

Tom Griffin: rewrote intro

2010-08-17T12:56:12Z

rewrote intro

Tom Griffin: /* Education policy */

2010-08-17T12:44:35Z

Education policy

Tom Griffin: /* Faith in Education */

2010-08-17T12:38:53Z

Faith in Education

Tom Griffin: /* Affiliations */

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Affiliations

Tom Griffin: /* Education policy */

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Education policy

Tom Griffin: Faith in Education

2010-08-16T17:37:19Z

Faith in Education

Tom Griffin: support for Muslims schools

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support for Muslims schools

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-Professor [[John Marks]] is a British nuclear physicist, educator and author.
+Professor [[John Marks]] OBE was a British nuclear physicist, educator and author.  He died aged 77 in February 2012. <ref> [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/9119644/John-Marks.html John Marks Obituary], The Telegraph, 2 March 2012, acc 4 March 2012 </ref>
 He has worked closely over the years with Baroness [[Caroline Cox]].
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 *With [[Caroline Cox]], Islam, Islamism and the West: The Divide Between Ideological Islam and Liberal Democracy, American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, 2005.
 *With [[Caroline Cox]], This Immoral Trade: Slavery in the 21st Century, Monarch Books, Toronto, 2006.
 ==References==

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 ==Background==
-The son of a lorry driver, Marks was educated at Kingsbury County Grammar in North West London. He joined the fast stream which took the school certificate a year early, winning a scholarship to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1952. He subsequently became a phyiscs lecturer at North London Polytechnic.<ref>Valerie Grove, News In Focus: Trading places, Sunday Times, 20 December 1987.</ref>
+The son of a lorry driver, Marks was educated at Kingsbury County Grammar in North West London. He joined the fast stream which took the school certificate a year early, winning a scholarship to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1952. He subsequently became a physics lecturer at North London Polytechnic.<ref>Valerie Grove, News In Focus: Trading places, Sunday Times, 20 December 1987.</ref>
 Marks later became a parent-governor of his old school, which became a comprehensive as Kingsbury High. Fellow Old Kingsburian Valerie Grove wrote of him in 1987:

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 Professor [[John Marks]] is a British nuclear physicist, educator and author.
-He was worked closely over the years with Baroness [[Caroline Cox]].
+He has worked closely over the years with Baroness [[Caroline Cox]].
 Both were described by the ''New York Times'' in 1987 as part of "a small group of radical ideologists on the right of the party" which had shaped Conservative education policy.<ref>Stuart Maclure, A Radical Proposal for English Schools, New York Times, 8 November 1987.</ref> By 2003, Diane Hofkins was suggesting in the ''Times Educational Supplement'' that many of their educational ideas had become mainstream, shaping Labour as well as Conservative policy.<ref>Diane Hofkins, Bring On Some Good Old-fashioned Extremists, Times Educational Supplement, 10 January 2003.</ref>

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:56, 17 August 2010
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−	Professor [[John Marks]] is a British nuclear physicist, educator and author. He ~~has written extensively on British education and has co-authored,~~ with [[Caroline Cox]], ''~~This Immoral Trade: Slavery~~ in the ~~21st Century~~''~~, and~~ ''~~The West~~, ~~Islam and Islamism: Is Ideological Islam Compatible with Liberal Democracy?''~~<ref>~~[http://www.europeanfreedomalliance.eu/bios.htm Identity Crisis: Can European civilization survive?~~ - ~~Biographies]~~, ~~European Freedom Alliance~~, ~~accessed 7~~ January ~~2009~~.</ref>	+	Professor [[John Marks]] is a British nuclear physicist, educator and author.
		+
		+	He was worked closely over the years with Baroness [[Caroline Cox]].
		+	Both were described by the ''New York Times'' in 1987 as part of "a small group of radical ideologists on the right of the party" which had shaped Conservative education policy.<ref>Stuart Maclure, A Radical Proposal for English Schools, New York Times, 8 November 1987.</ref> By 2003, Diane Hofkins was suggesting in the ''Times Educational Supplement'' that many of their educational ideas had become mainstream, shaping Labour as well as Conservative policy.<ref>Diane Hofkins, Bring On Some Good Old-fashioned Extremists, Times Educational Supplement, 10 January 2003.</ref>

	==Background==		==Background==

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 Marks was a contributor to the 'Black Papers' on education, published in the 1970s.<ref>Lucy Hodges, Comprehensive schools lag behind selectives on exam results, study finds / Report by National Council for educational standards, The Times, 15 July 1985.</ref>
-In 1975, he published ''The Rape of Reason: The Corruption of the Polytechnic of North London'' with [[Caroline Cox]] and [[Keith Jacka]].<ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gj-LQgAACAAJ&dq=Rape+of+Reason+Cox&hl=en&ei=X4BqTMbBO9-kOIqm7NMB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA Rape of reason: the corruption of the Polytechnic of North London], Google Books, accessed 17 August 2010.</ref>
+In 1975, he published ''The Rape of Reason: The Corruption of the Polytechnic of North London'' with [[Caroline Cox]] and [[Keith Jacka]].<ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gj-LQgAACAAJ&dq=Rape+of+Reason+Cox&hl=en&ei=X4BqTMbBO9-kOIqm7NMB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA Rape of reason: the corruption of the Polytechnic of North London], Google Books, accessed 17 August 2010.</ref> [[Bernard Levin]] devoted three of his columns in ''The Times'' to the book.<ref>Diane Spencer, Where Are They Now?, The Times Educational Supplement, 2 March 2001.</ref>
 Marks and Caroline Cox published a survey of school standards in 1983. They later claimed they were the subject of a smear campaign, after an official briefing questioning their methods leaked to the press.<ref>Douglas Broom, Grammar success 'smeared', The Times, 27 December 1988.</ref> Critics argued that the report was statistically unrepresentative and did not take enough account of social class.<ref>Lucy Hodges, Comprehensive schools lag behind selectives on exam results, study finds / Report by National Council for educational standards, The Times, 15 July 1985.</ref>

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 Marks contributed to the [[Civitas]] pamphlet ''Faith in Education'' published in September 2001. He argued that standards in church schools were higher on average than those in local authority schools but that this was overshadowed by the variation between individual schools. He concluded:
 ::Therefore, in addition to encouraging the Church of England to expand the number of its schools, and its secondary schools in particular, the Dearing committee should urge the Church not to abdicate its responsibilities for standards, as it has all too often done in the recent past, in deference to the prevailing lay educational opinion.<ref>John Marks, Standards in Church of England,
-Roman Catholic and LEA Schools in England, in [http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/cs14.pdf Faith in Education, Civitas, September 2001, pp.27-28.</ref>
+Roman Catholic and LEA Schools in England, in [http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/cs14.pdf Faith in Education], Civitas, September 2001, pp.27-28.</ref>
 ==The Right after the fall of the Wall==

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 ==Affiliations==
 *[[Schools Examination and Assessment Council]],  1990-3
 *[[National Curriculum Council]], 1992-3
 *[[Schools Curriculum & Assessment Authority]], 1993-7
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 *[[Educational Research Trust]] - Co-director
 *[[Prague Society for International Cooperation]] - Member
 *Panellist at [[Identity Crisis: Can European civilization survive?]] a conference held in Rome on 13-14 March 2008, under the auspices of the [[European Freedom Alliance]] in conjunction with the [[European University of Rome]] and the [[Lepanto Foundation]].<ref>[http://www.europeanfreedomalliance.eu/program.htm Program - Identity Crisis: Can European civilization survive?], European Freedom Alliance, accessed 5 January 2009.</ref>

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:37, 16 August 2010
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	In January 1994, Marks attended a conference of the Moslem Education Coordinating Council in London, which heard that more than 150 Muslim groups were ready to set up their own state schools.<ref>Ray Massey, Moslem move to set up 150 schools, Daily Mail, 24 January 1994.</ref>		In January 1994, Marks attended a conference of the Moslem Education Coordinating Council in London, which heard that more than 150 Muslim groups were ready to set up their own state schools.<ref>Ray Massey, Moslem move to set up 150 schools, Daily Mail, 24 January 1994.</ref>
		+
		+	===Faith in Education===
		+	Marks contributed to the [[Civitas]] pamphlet ''Faith in Education'' published in September 2001. He argued that standards in church schools were higher on average than those in local authority schools but that this was overshadowed by the variation between individual schools. He concluded:
		+	::Therefore, in addition to encouraging the Church of England to expand the number of its schools, and its secondary schools in particular, the Dearing committee should urge the Church not to abdicate its responsibilities for standards, as it has all too often done in the recent past, in deference to the prevailing lay educational opinion.<ref>John Marks, Standards in Church of England,
		+	Roman Catholic and LEA Schools in England, in [http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/cs14.pdf Faith in Education, Civitas, September 2001, pp.27-28.</ref>

	==The Right after the fall of the Wall==		==The Right after the fall of the Wall==

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 ::'They have failed to act as the guardians of a good system; they are the dog that didn't bark.
 ::'What have they done about anti-racism, for instance? Now we see it exploding in Brent over the past three months, but it's been around for the past two or three years in the borough.'<ref>Nicholas Wood and John Clare, Radical shift proposed for state schools / Conservative manifesto on educational change, The Times, 29 December 1986.</ref>
 In the same month, Marks was one of four people appointed to the [[Conservative Collegiate Forum]], the body which replaced the disbanded [[Federation of Conservative Students]].<ref>Nicholas Wood, Beloff takes charge of Tory students / Appointments to Conservative Collegiate Forum, The Times, 20 December 1986.</ref>
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 Marks criticised proposals by the National Union of Teachers to address anti-racism in the national curriculum in 1992, saying:
 ::'It is not a function of the Curriculum to seek out racism explicitly and attack it. Such tactics often raise such antagonisms. Black parents want their children to be engineers, nurses, doctors - they want to make their way in British society. Much of this anti-racist spouting exacerbates the problems.'<ref>Ray Massey, NOW CLASS WE'LL TEACH YOU NOT TO BE RACIST, Daily Mail, 18 June 1992.</ref>
 The Daily Mail reported in 1992 that Marks was one of a number of right-of-centre educationalists advising the [[Moslem Schools Trust]], which had plans to take hundreds of schools out of local authority control:
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 :: 'I have always been in favour of Moslem schools, providing the safeguards are there. The teachers must be qualified, the National Curriculum must be followed and the school must comply with the regulations. Parents have the right to choose a school which reflects their philosophy.'<ref>Ray Massey, Moslems will campaign to take over state schools, Daily Mail, 3 August 1992.</ref>
-By 2003, Diane Hofkins was suggesting in the ''Times Educational Supplement'' that Marks and Cox were no longer the right-wing outsiders that they had seemed in the education debates of the 1970s:
+In December 1992, Marks and Cox backed a delegation seeking state support for Muslims schools. ''The Independent'' reported:
-::Now, so many of their ideas have been adopted by New Labour (prescription of 3Rs teaching, devolved management, baseline assessment) that they have been neutralised. Instead of fiery, opinionated figures from the right and left, we now have worthy managerialists. How can you shake your fist at these people, when they are just tweaking the system?<ref>Diane Hofkins, Bring On Some Good Old-fashioned Extremists, Times Educational Supplement, 10 January 2003.</ref>
+::[[Baroness Blatch]], Minister of State for Education, is due to receive a delegation from the Muslim Education Forum which will include Baroness Cox, a Conservative peer, and John Marks, a traditionalist recently appointed to the School Examinations and Assessment Council.
 ==The Right after the fall of the Wall==