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Class of 76 - cleverer!


observer

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I had a good level of education and got some decent O'Levels etc etc..... but when it comes to helping my son with his homework in subjects like maths and science I can't do any of what he is doing :shock:

 

So in answer to your question.... I appear to be thick now (well when it comes to school work anyway) and he runs rings round me... but I wasn't always thick :?8)

 

I guess that although I learned all about tangents, cos, sin, pie and god knows what else in my O/A level maths lessons I'VE NEVER HAD TO USE ANY OF IT SINCE LEAVING SCHOOL so it has now been erased from my memory to make space for more interesting and usefull stuff :lol::lol:

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To put another spin on this, I only just passed maths at o'level but, as my job meant using maths in an advanced way (navigation is all about maths) I now understand it. The point I'm trying to make is that school subjects are pretty meaningless and only start to become meaningful when you have to use them in real life. :wink::wink:

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Ah, Asperity, I was also a Maths scraper-through.

 

I had no problem at all with arithmetic, I can add a column of figures to this day and perform feats of mental arithmetic that leave my (middle-aged) children standing. Geometry was a doddle, to me, as it was all memorising theorems and I have a phenominal memory. My stumbling-block was Algebra, I still can't make any sense of it, and it nearly cost me Maths O Level.

 

I can say, however, that in my lifetime and, in particular, in my career in the Inland Revenue I was never, ever called upon to use Algebra. :)

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If schools concentrated on Maths, English and Social skills instead of some of the nonsense subjects that are available kids would leave school better prepared.

Most of what I learned at school was totally useless but my numeric and literate skills are adequate if not better than most, I was also taught to behave (the odd six of the best helped).

The current teachers are not good enough to teach the first two and are not allowed to instill the other.

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Sad but True!

Your child is less likely to graduate from high school than you were, and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to a study by a children's advocacy group.

 

More than half the states have graduation goals that don't make schools get better, the Education Trust says in a report released Thursday.

 

And dropout rates haven't budged: One in four kids is dropping out of high school.

 

"The U.S. is stagnating while other industrialized countries are surpassing us," said Anna Habash, author of the report by Education Trust, which advocates on behalf of minority and poor children. "And that is going to have a dramatic impact on our ability to compete," she said.

 

In fact, the United States is now the only industrialized country where young people are less likely than their parents to earn a diploma, the report said.

 

High schools are required to meet graduation targets every year as part of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law.THANK YOU BUSH! for creating a program that is impossible to run!

 

But those targets are set by states, not by the federal government. And most states allow schools to graduate low percentages of students by saying that any progress, or even the status quo in some cases, is acceptable.

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The big world out there appears to reward the cult of celebrity rather than the old protestant work ethic; the top earners are pop singers, footballers and city spivs; rather than Doctors, Engineers and Scientists; so it's no wonder kids have a deranged set of ambitions! :wink:

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How do they measure levels of thikness and can you give us a critique of their research Obs?

 

Being able to spell helps :roll::roll:

 

:lol: But being fair to Geoff I can't find the research Obs was refering to either... but then I am thick :P

 

I can find all sorts to do with measuring the thickness of Ice, metals, skin etc etc but not thickness in people due to educational shortfalls :wink:

 

PS Obs... re your last posting... I'm sure if kids want to become top paid footballer etc it will actually help them if they are thick... just look at David Beckham :lol::shock:

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To put another spin on this, I only just passed maths at o'level but, as my job meant using maths in an advanced way (navigation is all about maths) I now understand it. The point I'm trying to make is that school subjects are pretty meaningless and only start to become meaningful when you have to use them in real life. :wink::wink:

 

Think you might have something there.

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But what about all the stuff that most of us had to learn that has never been any use to us whatsoever :lol: Why did I have to spend hours learning about Romulus and Remus.... that has never helped me in life other than for me to show my musical and poetry skills (dont ask!)

 

Would be handy if all kids knew exactly what job they were going to be given when they left schools so they could just learn what was relevant :D

 

I'M ONLY KIDDING !!!!!!

 

However, I must admit that I wish I had had access to similar subjects at senior school that are now on offer to my kiddie as the curriculum is now a lot broader. Subjects such as ICT, designs and technology, graphics, product design, real music lessons where you play an instrument, media studies, critical thinking, psychology, business studies, Law..... I could go on and on.

 

I think I'd have enjoyed school a lot more with all that on offer but maybe I'm just saying that now becasue I have grown up :wink:

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Knowledge, isn't appreciated by many young folk, they dn't see the relevence at an early age - I guess good teaching, is establishing "the relevence" of subject matter and it's application in later life, which may be difficult in the case of a chav, with chav parents, who provide no encouragement. :shock: Thus, your dealing with re-cycled ignorance, and the secret has to be, breaking the generation cycle. :? Take something simple: in the good old days, we had at least one square meal AT SCHOOL, with school dinner ladies who encouraged you to eat your greens and use a knife and fork properly, just one tiny example of the encouragement of a common standard by an agency outside the home. :? Rather than encourage their kids to aspire to normal, realisable ambitions; we have parents who never say NO to their kids, and aid and abett the fantasies of young dreamers. :wink:

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Knowledge, isn't appreciated by many young folk, they dn't see the relevence at an early age - I guess good teaching, is establishing "the relevence" of subject matter and it's application in later life, which may be difficult in the case of a chav, with chav parents, who provide no encouragement. :shock: Thus, your dealing with re-cycled ignorance, and the secret has to be, breaking the generation cycle. :? Take something simple: in the good old days, we had at least one square meal AT SCHOOL, with school dinner ladies who encouraged you to eat your greens and use a knife and fork properly, just one tiny example of the encouragement of a common standard by an agency outside the home. :? Rather than encourage their kids to aspire to normal, realisable ambitions; we have parents who never say NO to their kids, and aid and abett the fantasies of young dreamers. :wink:

 

Gone are the days of square meals at school Obs.

 

Comes to something when your teenage kid comes home talking about the fact that he a jacket potato with tuna for lunch rather than the usual foot long baguette or sandwich as for once the the spud queue was smaller than buttie queue :?: 'Real meal' queue has never been attempted in 3 years :shock: Made me smile but not really funny at all :oops:

 

With only 35 minutes for lunch and god knows how many kids to queue, be served and eat their food I recon we will see a sharp rise in digestive/eating problems amongst youngsters before we see a real increase in lack of education and exam results :shock:

 

Too much choice I recon and that's the problem. I can't ever remember buying a sandwich ot hotdog for lunch.

 

We had a dinner ticket and we lined up in one orderly line where we were served promplty with a choice of 3 hot foods with veg, potatoes etc etc and a pudding. It was sooooo easy :wink:... and we had an hour which gave us time to eat, chat and have some chill out time before afternoon lessons began.

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Wondered why kids are out of school at 3.30pm rather than 4pm - only half an hour for dinner - tut, tut, not good for digestion at all! :roll: My point however, wasn't about school meals, it was about external intervention in a child's upbringing, teaching good manners, respect for others etc; which clearly isn't available in some homes - and of course, the bad apples tend to corrupt the good. :shock::wink: P.S. I only discovered the other day, that Social Services don't take the children of smack heads into care - what kind of upbringing can such kids expect?! :shock::wink:

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