Welcome to the Academy, children

I have several problems with the idea of the idea of state schools in this country becoming academies, under the new Education Secretary, Michael Gove. The first is that I can't fathom a world in which we start talking about which "academy" we went to instead of "school". "Academy" always brings a kind of science fiction/Top Gun/action film association along with it. "The academy" is where you go if you're the top fighter pilot for the United States Air Force. You only talk about the academy when one your buddies takes a bullet for you - "Damn, we were at the academy together" The other problem of course, beyond my fifteen year old's imagination, is that the academy system seems neat and will probably yield some good, individual results and case studies for the Conservatives to use in their next election manifesto. However, it still represents another example of the latest government making wholesale changes to the way children are taught, what their schools are called, how they are funded, which ends up being more of a political sleight of hand than a genuine reform.