That'll Teach 'em......................

[Pip]

Semm to have had some kind of hiccup here.[:$]

[Dick Smith]

I was going to reply, but I've been teaching 'em all morning (mostly Hitler) and now the bell has gone for afternoon registration...

Year 8 exams this afternoon, so a nice long, boring invigilation!

[Gluestick]

She was Pip: and I did, since education has been a great interest.

Elitist? No pragmatist.

There are far too many unemployed "graduates". In the mid-60s I worked with a number of people who were graduates at Ford of Europe; many had degrees they didn't use. One guy was doing computer print-out analysis with a degree in Ceramics. Not much connection there.

I believe from my own current experiences that the halcyon days of jobs with any degree are rapidly going. We live in the age of the specialist, mainly driven by technology and globalisation: and the UK is losing, big time.

Rremember just a few weeks ago, academics bemoaning the lack of physics and maths under-grads?

Sociology might be fine for social workers and and their ilk: doesn't hack it in leading-edge IT, I'm afraid.

China, India and Korea are turning out maths and science grads faster than almost anyone else.

This single reality ought to make both educationalists and politicans wake up: but it won't

 

[Gluestick]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]

I was going to reply, but I've been teaching 'em all morning (mostly Hitler) and now the bell has gone for afternoon registration..

[/quote]

Didn't know that he was around again, Dick. Amazing![8-)]

Is he well behaved?

 

[Patf]

I missed this series unfortunately. It sounds as if it was about

secondary schools - if so how many were there to a class? My first

teaching job was in a primary school in the docks area of Hull and

there were 50+ to a class and there wasn't much troube with discipline,

even though they were quite a tough lot. But there was a huge

proportion of non- readers who kept me busy as a remedial teacher. This

was in the late 60s, just before comprehensive education was

introduced.I think class sizes were reduced then. As to caning - I was

caned several times in primary school and had my head banged on the

black board a few times ( I was a bit of a rebel leader) but, as the

saying goes, "it never did me any harm"  ( I'm not so sure though

says the nervous wreck). Pat.

[Pip]

Rremember just a few weeks ago, academics bemoaning the lack of physics and maths under-grads

There has been a decline in teachers of mathmatics over the last few years and all kinds of juicy enhancements have been offered to graduates to take up this profession.  A friend of mine who taught this subject said it wasn't for the fainthearted (meaning that most pupils preferred media studies, art, physical education etc.) and that this made it an even harder task for the teacher.  It follows that if an element of a class don't want to be there it opens the door for unruly behaviour and this makes it an even less attractive subject to teach.  Could be the cause of the lack of physics and maths under-grads ?  So it's full circle.  In the 60's we were required to be disciplined and diligent with every subject no matter if we liked them or not - it seems nowadays this isn't the case.

[Gluestick]

Absolutely agree, Pip.

What does concern me, significantly (since I am deeply involved in technology and have been since the early 80s and have spent much of my HFE involved time trying to make academics come into the real world and accept that much of what they hold dear has little if any relevance for grads obtaining useful, future proof and lucrative employment) is the ostrich-like perspective of so many towards creating and maintaining Competitive Advantage in the globalised, technology driven commercial world of today.

My other posts in "The French are Revolting" also embrace this topic, as the thread has gone in this direction.

 

[TWINKLE]

[quote user="Harley"][quote user="TWINKLE"][quote user="Harley"]

Bet Tinkle has something to say about that!!

[/quote]

Do you mean TWINKLE?

 Why on earth would I have something to say on this subject?  I know I'm not the brightest light-bulb on the forum (although I like to think I'm the shiniest[:)])

   Please enlighten me Harley.

[/quote]

Sorry Twinkle, I just thought you of all people would find something funny to say about a Mod called Miss Whiplash![:D]  You have such a great sense of humour.

[/quote]

That's so sweet Harley, thank-you.

  I'm trying very hard not to say funny things at the moment.  I'm trying to give advice in a very serious and sensible manner.  Whenever I feel my sense of humour coming along I bite my fingers.  I'm in agony at the moment - I'm actually typing this with my toes[;-)]

[hastobe]

[quote user="Pip"]

Rremember just a few weeks ago, academics bemoaning the lack of physics and maths under-grads

[/quote]

They are two of the most difficult subjects but then offer some of the

poorest salaries or career prospects - you can see why students avoid

them.

Hastobe

[Gluestick]

Says something about he core backdrop to Britain's future, then, doesn't it, Hastobe?

In the age of technology, no wonder all our IT products are made abroad! Where does this leave us in the future?

Worried, I would think![:-))]

[Patf]

I can't resist the opportunity to boast about our no.2 son who is a

maths teacher and was teaching in UK but became disillusioned with the

lack of motivation of his pupils, even in a selective grammar school.

He now teaches A level maths in a school in SE India, which proves your

point. Pat.

[Gluestick]

Smart man, your son Pat!

In fact, I am waiting now for a conference call with India, The place to watch over the next few years, as are Korea and China, of course.

 

[Missy]

[quote user="Harley"]Anyone been watching this programme - great viewing - reminded me of my school days - but it wasn't as far back as the fifties.[:P]  It has been great to see the effect of discipline on todays youngsters and also the way they have responded to it.  Hope the Government have been watching - they might learn a thing or two...................then again,  maybe not!![:(][/quote]

 

That's a repeat. It was broadcasted about this time last year.

My kids were amazed! at the time the eldest in his last year of a BSc preparing for a MSc and the youngest just done her A-levels, gap year and thinking of teacher (primary school) training !... They could just about work out the maths, found the english far too strict, as to the french ... forget it... incidentally I found that the methods to teach it were very similar to the methods used in France to teach me english! How times have (not) changed!....

Their Father just winced and related his one and only school story : I was 8 and I was beaten up 13 times in a 12 week term during my first term in my first year at R... (his prep school circa 1959) for being late or for not being able to read correctly some sport fixture notice on the board in the schoolhall. Didn't know how to read or write much before 9, did not know how to tell the time until 11... and after 1/2 hour went to the pub!..

Me... bring back that thorough curriculum just update the methods to teach it... instill the love and the discipline of learning... and cut out the mountain of admin ***p that teachers have to fill in to be sure to make it to the league table ... LET THEM TEACH !!

[Squirrel]

I saw trailers for this and when I saw the dead animal I decided not to watch it. I would not let a child of mine do biology if vivisection were involved.

[Dick Smith]

Vivisection has never been allowed (or even suggested) in schools, do you mean dissection?

[KathyC]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Vivisection has never been allowed (or even suggested) in schools,[/quote]

Although I can think of several students I would have liked to have vivisected at one time or the other!

[Dick Smith]

Don't tell me - blunt knife?

[KathyC]

No, blunt spoon!

[Dick Smith]

Ooooh. That's nasty.

[Beryl]

Rusty blunt spoon surely?

[vervialle]

I think teachers nowdays do an amazing job, I cannot believe how much my son learnt at school compared with me, my education was so narrow, mind you I did go to a convent.  I think a lot of the problems are to do with parenting, if you have got kids saying to teachers , I know my rights you cannot keep me in at breaktime, how can teachers maintain authority, if you bring your kids up to be polite , have respect for other people and instill in them the work ethic it must make a difference.My stepdaughter teaches in a deprived area in Lancashire and 12 of her class have fathers in prison and they are proud of it, years ago you would have been ashamed, but she really gets them wanting to learn as they do not get any attention at home but it is an uphill struggle without the home support.Do you know what really annoys me ,its when people think teaching is a 9-3.30 job with lots of holidays, I would like people to shadow our daughter for a week.

[Dick Smith]

There's some very vindictive people on this forum...

[Beryl]

My DIL , a late entry into teaching,  used to come home very irate from parents evenings when parents told her how lucky she was to have so much holidays etc. She used to tell parents that half terms and Easter were filled with writing reports and that she was luck to get a couple of weeks to switch off completely in the summer and a few days at Christmas.

[Gluestick]

Spoons? Knives?

Reminds me, when I was a governor, of the strict parent who suggested at the annual school parent's meeting, that we ought to consider "capital" punishment........................................

One of the governors or Hs o D choked a bit and then said something like, "We do consider it, madam: every single day!"[6]

Most of us collapsed.

 

[SaligoBay]

[quote user="Squirrel"]

I saw trailers for this and when I saw the dead animal I decided not to watch it. I would not let a child of mine do biology if vivisection were involved.

[/quote]

Surely if it was dead it wasn't vivisection? 

They do this all the time in French collège, they've dissected fish, frog, lamb's hearts, and the teacher did the rabbit for them, but they were allowed to have a groovy poke at it. 

No touchy-feely letters home about whether they were allowed to do it or not.  They just got on with it.  Doesn't do them any harm.