Today I broke our food processor. It’s not a £400 disaster, massive mess-up, that would have been the case if we’d had one of those lovely Kenwood ones or something similar. It was a second-hand one from my parents and they’d had it for ages, and even then I’ve not broken all of it, just one of the attachments that we don’t actually use that much.
But I still broke it.
It was in the pursuit of something great: chocolate-orange energy balls with dates and cashew nuts in them. We had a load of dates delivered and we’ve just not got round to eating them, so I decided that chocolate orange thingies was the way forward. Popped all the bits in the blender gizmo and turned it on and all and it seemed OK but then progress stalled and the machine made odd noises then went bonkers-quickly. I’d broken off the bladey, spinny thing in the bottom of the gadget. Which really sucks because the chocolate thingies were amazing. They are amazing. They were SOOOO worth the effort I made and I’ve made quite a few, so that’s always useful. Better than if they tasted crap.
But the process just wasn’t quite right.
The recipe was good, and simple but there was a disjoint between what my resources were capable of and what was on paper. On paper, in theory it was all perfect and if I’d had a bells-and-whistles type kitchen gadget thingy then maybe it would have. But not everyone has a top-notch set of resources to produce things. I had to think outside of the box (or plastic jar) a little and I found a way to make it work, but that was only because I had a few spare bowls and could do it. Not everyone has that. Not everyone has a bit of back up when they need it. Even if the end game is good and worthy (my chocolate balls most definitely were), not everyone can get there.
Not everyone has the Kenwood Chef.
It’s like that in education resourcing so often. There is much good on paper and much good in theory. But the theory and the practice just don’t mesh together properly. I find this ALL the time. On paper, kids can use tech in class. On paper, kids have the right to this, that and the other. In reality, there just might not be this, that and the other; there might only be summat else and that summat else just isn’t up to speed. So the disjoint between paper and reality perpetuates and it’s our kids that don’t get what they need. The resources aren’t there or they may break on the way and be no back up.
The end game is good. But our kids don’t have the means to get there!
