Interesting email reply

Tom Crispin said:

Are we just a few years away from a cycle training revolution for
schools? I estimate that £15m per year is sufficient to set up
National Standard cycle training to Level 3 in 3-5,000 one form entry
primary schools.

When I was a lad (15 years ago), alsmot everyone I knew
1) had a bike
2) rode for fun
3) did a cycling profficency course arround the age of 10

Same for my s.o. Have things changed that much, or were we lucky?

On 23 Jul 2006 06:05:06 -0700, "Paul Weaver" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Tom Crispin said:

Are we just a few years away from a cycle training revolution for
schools? I estimate that £15m per year is sufficient to set up
National Standard cycle training to Level 3 in 3-5,000 one form entry
primary schools.

When I was a lad (15 years ago), alsmot everyone I knew
1) had a bike
2) rode for fun
3) did a cycling profficency course arround the age of 10

Same for my s.o. Have things changed that much, or were we lucky?

The introduction of the National Curriculum and primary school testing
almost killed off cycling proficiency and other worthwhile school
activities.

The concern of paedophiles lurking behind every bush and tree keeps
children out of the park and off their bikes.

Tom Crispin said:

The concern of paedophiles lurking behind every bush and tree keeps
children out of the park and off their bikes.

UK too! This is a pervasive myth here in the US which has the country in
the grip of an almost panic.

I had some friends who got a grant from our CDC (disease / pathological
behavior study center) to study how to protect children from these
predators. They studied for a while and then turned back in the balance
of the grant because the number of paedophile attacks upon children out
in the field was roughly 80 per year. That is the same as 50 years ago.

As nasty as 80 per year is, my friends recognized that there is nothing
in a national plan to reduce that number. It's a constant which can't be
altered.

BTW, we also hear that 1 in 5 children online is sexually solicited.
That's true, but they are being solicited by other children their age.
That's not nearly as well publicized. The implication is that 12 year
old girls are being solicited by 50 year old men.

-paul

Tom Crispin said:

I recently sent an email to Emily Thornberry MP, a normal cyclist who
cycles to and from work in normal clothes and doesn't wear a helmet or
'funny shoes'. She is interested in expanding cycle training in
schools - which is exactly what I am doing. I sent her details of the
consultation I carried out with 120 parents and received over 100
replies. None of the replies were negative about the proposal.

Emily Thornberry didn't respond directly, I didn't expect her to as
there is a convention among MPs that they only respond to their own
constituents, or with the permission of the constituent's own MP.
However, I did get a response from Chris Peck, the All Party
Parliamentary Cycling Group Secretariat. Part of his reply says:

"It is very interesting to hear about the results of your consultation
with parents. Should we be suggesting this to the DfES as a potential
pilot project for introducing cycle training as part of the
curriculum? I know that most of the extra £15m promised for Cycling
England will be going directly to cycle training for children."

Evidently you're on a bit of a roll with school cycle training, and with
luck you could get the progress from one school to many. If not already
underway, I suggest constructing a positive set of suggestions for Chris
Peck and see how far you go. You might get called to a parliamentary
meeting.

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

On Sun, 23 Jul 2006 10:38:12 +0100, Tom Crispin
<[email hidden]> said in
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I recently sent an email to Emily Thornberry MP

Being chair of the all-party cycling group, yes?

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound