Comprehensive school and Ghosts of Mars: Difference between pages

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{{Infobox_Film |

A '''comprehensive school''' is a secondary school that accepts pupils of all abilities. Comprehensives have dominated British secondary education since the 1970s and currently educate over 90% of secondary pupils. There is an ongoing debate about the merits of the [[Comprehensive System]].

name = John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars |

image =Ghostsofmars01.jpg |

imdb_id =0228333 |

writer =[[John Carpenter]]<br>Larry Sulkis |

starring =[[Ice Cube]]<br>[[Natasha Henstridge]]<br>[[Jason Statham]]<br>[[Pam Grier]]<br>[[Clea DuVall]]<br>[[Joanna Cassidy]]|

director =[[John Carpenter]] |

producer =Sandy King |

distributor =[[Storm King]] [[Screen Gems]] |

released =[[August 24]], [[2001]] ([[Theater]])<br>[[December 4]] [[2001]] ([[DVD]]) |

runtime =98 min. |

language =English |

music =[[John Carpenter]] |

awards = |

amg_id = 1:250566 |

budget =$28,000,000 |

}}

'''''Ghosts of Mars''''' (also known as '''''John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars''''') is a [[2001]] movie directed by [[John Carpenter]], which in its basic themes is similar to his earlier [[Assault_on_Precinct_13_(1976_film) | Assault on Precinct 13]].

==Operation==

==Plot==

Comprehensive schools in [[England]] are usually neighbourhood schools taking their students from a defined local [[catchment area]]. But parents have an element of choice in choosing a secondary school and it is not uncommon, especially in towns and cities, for students to travel some distance to school.

The movie is set in the mid 22nd century. The planet [[Mars]] has been [[terraformed]], allowing Humans to walk on the surface without having to wear pressure suits. The story concerns a police officer, Melanie Ballard ([[Natasha Henstridge]]) who is leading a small team to pick up and transport a prisoner named Desolation Williams ([[Ice Cube]]). Arriving at the remote mining town where Williams is being held, Ballard finds virtually all of the people missing. On investigating she discovers that the miners found an underground doorway which had been created by an ancient [[Martian]] civilization. When the door was opened it released "ghosts", disembodied spirits who possessed the miners.

Violence ensues, as the now possessed miners commit acts of [[death]] and [[destruction]], as well as [[self-mutilation]]. <!--The self mutilation however may be merely the alien spirits attempting to alter their human bodies to look more like those of the aliens themselves (which are only partially seen very briefly).-->

In [[Wales]] the system strongly resembles the English model, but [[Scotland]] has a very different system, which, whilst based on comprehensive education, has different ages of transfer, different examinations and a different philosophy of choice and provision.

Ballard must fight off the attacking miners, escape the town, and if possible destroy the ghosts. Unfortunately all these tasks are complicated by the fact that killing a possessed human merely releases the Martian spirit, which immediately possesses another human. Eventually they decide to blow up a [[nuclear]] reactor, which kills the human hosts. All of Ballard's team are killed by the miners, leaving only her and Desolation. Not wanting the authorities to blame the massacre on him, he handcuffs Ballard to her bed and escapes the train, leaving her to return home. While she reccuperates at a hospital, the miners attack the city. Desolation returns with a pair of [[nickle]] plated [[uzi]]s and they team up to fight off the alien zombies, setting the film up for an unlikly sequel.

==History==

===Early Comprehensives===

The main testbed of comprehensives was London, where [[LCC]] Education Officer [[Graham Savage]], influenced by the US [[High School]] system, sought to build a system of equal-access secondary schools. The first purpose-built comprehensive in the country, [[Kidbrooke School]] in [[Greenwich]], was opened in 1954 at a cost of £560,000.

These early comprehensives modelled themselves firmly on the [[Grammar_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom|grammar school]], with teachers in gowns and lessons in a very formal style. The opening of the [[Rising Hall Comprehensive]] in [[Islington]] in 1960 offered an alternative to this model. Embracing the [[progressivism|progressive]] ideals of sixties education, the school abandoned [[corporal punishment]] and brought in a much more liberal attitude to discipline.

==Production Notes==

===Nationwide implementation===

*Although Mars has a day/night cycle almost identical in length to Earth's, most of the movie is set at night. The only moment in which we see Mars during the daytime is in a flashback through the character of the scientist, when she talks about how she found and opened a "Pandora's Box" that let the alien spirits out.

The [[Comprehensive System]] results from a policy decision taken by the [[1965]] [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government and implemented by [[Circular 10/65]], an instruction to local education authorities.

*Much of the movie was filmed in a [[gypsum]] mine in New Mexico. The pure white gypsum had to be dyed with thousands of gallons of biodegradable red food dye to recreate the appearance of the Martian landscape.

Over the next 10 years many [[secondary modern]] schools and grammar schools were amalgamated to form large neighbourhood comprehensives, whilst a number of new schools were built to accommodate a growing school population.

==Trivia==

In [[1970]] the incoming [[Conservative]] government continued the process. The secretary of state for education at the time was [[Margaret Thatcher]], who went on to be a vociferous critic of comprehensive education. By [[1975]] the majority of local authorities in [[England]] and [[Wales]] had abandoned the [[11 plus]] examination and moved to a comprehensive system.

*Originally Courtney Cox was set to play Ballard but after her foot was run over accidently by her husband she was replaced by Natasha Henstridge.

*On a similar note, Jason Statham was originally set to play Desolation Williams. This film also contains Statham's first on screen kiss.

===PostExternal 1976=links==

*{{imdb title|id=0228333|title=Ghosts of Mars}}

In 1976 the then Labour prime minister [[James Callaghan]] gave a speech at Oxford's [[Ruskin College]]. He launched what became known as the 'great debate' on the education system. He went on to list the areas he felt needed closest scrutiny: the case for a core curriculum, the validity and use of informal teaching methods, the role of school inspection and the future of the examination system. Callaghan was not the first to raise these questions. A 'black paper' attacking liberal theories in education and poor standards in comprehensive schools had appeared in 1969, to be followed by a second in 1971. The authors were the academics Brian Cox and A E Dyson. They were supported by ex-headteachers, led by Dr. Rhodes Boyson, who had left teaching for a career as a [[Conservative]] MP. The black papers called for a return to traditional teaching methods and an end to the comprehensive experiment.

*[http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/themovies/gm/gm.html Ghosts of Mars at theofficialjohncarpenter.com]

{{John Carpenter Films}}

{{2000s-horror-film-stub}}

That debate has continued since, and the comprehensive ideal is no longer seen as the goal of education policy by many educationalists. Many comprehensive schools have become [[Specialist_school|specialist schools]], notionally able to select up to 10% of the student body. This reflects government policy which states that parents have a right to choose which school their child should go to, depending on their interests and skills.

Currently, most government initiatives focus on parental choice and information, implementing a pseudo-market incentive to encourage good schools. This logic has underpinned the controversial [[league tables]] of school performance. Other ideas have included getting successful schools to share knowledge and best practice through partnerships with nearby schools; opening [[City Academy|city academies]] or closing and reopening 'failing schools'.

===Debate and issues===

Supporters of the [[Comprehensive System]] argue that it is unacceptable on both moral and practical grounds to select children on the basis of their ability. They also argue that comprehensive schools in the [[UK]] have allowed millions of children to gain access to further and higher education, and that the previous selective system relegated children who failed the [[eleven plus]] examination to a second class and inferior education.

Critics of comprehensive schools argue that the reality has been a leveling down of provision and a denial of opportunity to able children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who might once have expected to pass the eleven plus exam and have the advantage of a [[grammar school]] education.

During the late sixties there was heated debate about the merits of [[streaming]] pupils. In grammar schools pupils were taught in different classes according to their perceived ability. At first the comprehensives copied this structure, but the failings of streaming, principally that it failed to reflect the spread of abilities in different subjects, led to experiments with other methods. One controversial method, mixed ability teaching, was widely adopted. Over time however it was supplanted in many schools by 'setting', where children are grouped by ability in different subjects, allowing the possibility of being in the 'top' set for mathematics, but the bottom set for History.

==Comprehensive Schools outside England and Wales==

===Scotland===

In Scotland all publicly funded primary and secondary schools are comprehensive. The [[Scottish Executive]] has rejected plans for [[specialist schools]] as of [[2005]].

===Republic of Ireland===

In Ireland comprehensive schools are associated with [[secular]] values and a broad education.

These schools were introduced in to the [[Republic of Ireland]] in the [[1966]] by an initiative by [[Patrick Hillery]], [[Irish Minister for Education|Minister for Education]], to give a broader range of education compared to that of the [[vocational school]] system which was then the only system of schools completely controlled by the state. Until this time education in Ireland was largely dominated by religious persuasion, and in particular the [[voluntary secondary school]] system was a particular realisation of this. The comprehensive school system is still relatively small and to an extent has been superseded by the [[community school]] concept.

==External links==

* [http://www.cscs.org.uk/ Centre for the Study of Comprehensive Schools ]

* [http://www.casenet.org.uk/seminar.html Comprehensive Education - Examining the Evidence] Report of 1999 seminar organised by CASE (the [[Campaign for State Education]] in the UK).

* [http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1448039,00.html Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly on comprehensive education]

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/comp.shtml Comp], a [[BBC Radio 4]] documentary about the creation of comprehensive schools

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2061738.stm Discussions in 2002 about the future of comprehensives]

[[Category:Comprehensive schools|2001 films]]

[[Category:Mars in fiction]]

[[Category:American films]]

[[Category:English-language films]]

[[Category:Space adventure films]]

[[Category:Films directed by John Carpenter]]

[[Category:Science fiction action films]]

[[Category:Science fiction horror films]]

[[Category:Screen Gems films]]

[[Category:Ghost films]]

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