Amazulu

Be aware that OzT is BE's resident grammar nazi

We've all been told off and put straight - I basically don't put full stops at the end of sentences just to annoy him

OzTennis

A lot of the modern generation seem to put in deliberate mistakes to annoy me.

Beoz

Yeah friends are great. We all have them. Private schools produce those too. I guess you would never know that as the government system has been your life for way toooooooo long.

OzTennis

The fact that without prompting you brag about all your business contacts harvested and waiting to be tapped in future and then later add yeah friends are great says all that needs to be said without any comment required about how you viewed your education. You know not a jot about the contact I've had with the private school system via moderation of courses, examination setting and marking, sport and my wife teaching for a time in the private sector but you continue with your assumptions if you must.

I was reflecting before on standards and how they've changed over the years I've been involved in education. I started out after graduating in Business Studies working in private industry for 4 years then went back to do teacher training and entered teaching in Australia. I began teaching Business Studies subjects at tertiary and year 12 level - Accounting, Economics, Economic Geography and Economic History. When we moved to Scotland I had to retrain because a Business Studies teacher in Scotland meant you had to teach Typewriting (which became Word Processing and then Secretarial Studies and finally Administration). I had to attend College to get my 80 wpm Typewriting certificate before the GTC would register me. Over the years I taught Accounting, Economics, Business Management and Typewriting which morphed into Administration. In retrospect learning and teaching touch typing was one of the best life skills I've had and has given rise to my penchant for noticing typos.

When I started marking typewriting exams and homework pupils used to lose a mark for every mistake and it was quite common for someone to get zilch out of 20 because they made at least 20 errors. Then those in authority said this wasn't fair and we should only penalise up to a maximum of errors of the different types - capitalisation, spacing, spelling etc. The same effort which once got zilch could now pass as you stopped deducting once the pupil got to say 2 spelling errors and 2 spacing errors. In other words the marking became much more lenient.

I'll retype that paragraph to show you a zilch effort of old - when I statred Marking type-writing exams and home work pupils used too loste a marque four every mistook and it was quit comon for some one to get zilch out off 20 becoz they mad at least 20 erors.Then ............. (20 marks lost already).

I'm happy to expand on how technology/automation has contributed to declining standards (as well as improving in other areas) if you wish? Touch typing went out the window to be replaced by 'hunt and peck'. Checking your spelling and proof reading went out the window too because the technology would sort all that for you.

xizzles

I touch type - 120wpm. Most of the words come out as gibberish but some sense can still be made of the others

OzTennis

Yeah, you can hold down a key and the space bar occasionally on a modern device and get hundreds of wpm.

My dear mother, now long departed won Victorian speed typing and shorthand dictation medals in the 40's as a young lady working in an office and attending business college. On an old Remington Rand typewriter she could type well over 100 wpm over a 10 or 15 minute period - of course that was with less than 1 error per hundred key strokes as well! A 'standard' word for these purposes is 5 key strokes so 100 wpm is 500 key depressions in 60 seconds to put it in context.

Typing on a computer is much, much easier because the key depressions are much shorter and keys can't get 'jammed' like they could on a manual typewriter. The QWERTY keyboard which we still have was invented to slow down the typist so the keys wouldn't get jammed. There's no need for it now other than so many people are used to it you couldn't readily change (there are alternative keyboard layouts but they never catch on).

Beoz

I hope the world doesn't leave you behind in wallowing in your past glories.

OzTennis

Did they inculcate you with respect for others with experience at your private school or just self interest and sneering?

To show how I moved with the times and not as you imply; as I said, I started teaching on typewriters, moved onto BBC computers then Amstrad word processors then PC's, Win 95 and all OS's and more powerful PC's and software since.

Beoz

Oh I interact and respect people from all walks of life from all over the world. You have to doing what I do.

What I don't respect is narrow minded, left wing, name callers like yourself. People who like to bracket others as "wealthy" or "private school" or "from Sydney". You lot at that end of the spectrum seem to think the world owes you something and think the answer to your own problems is targeting those who have what you perceive is a better life or those who you percieve have more than you. Success and wealth don't always make people happy. Being the chairman of your local tennis club in Scotland or being the typewriter champion gives others just as much fulfillment.

Bit like the Bill Shorten mentality. Lets target Malcolm Turnbull because he is rich. Australia like many other countries has presented a very level playing field to its people. Free education, free health, free housing (if you need it). Resenting those who have done better, or have more, or those who choose to do better, or strike a bit of luck along the way, should not be vilified by the likes of you. Its a disgrace.

Private school is not about education (its been said before). The ciriculum is largely the same and the exams are the same. What it does offer is opportunity beyond the standard government schools offer. Is it worth it? Not for everyone. What it for me? Absolutely.

old.sparkles

Pot, saying hello to kettle yeah

Beoz

Go on. Find me a place where I name call? Its narrow minded and left wing. Fact.

old.sparkles

Apart from the bit above where you basically called OzT narrow minded and left wing you mean - and not fact, your opinion, and name calling. Saying someone is from Sydney, or wealthy would be more factual. Same as saying someone is from Brisbane

Beoz

The left wing like blaming others for what they perceive as their misfortunes...... its a commonly known fact. Its highly bigotted and stoops to disgraceful lows. Like judging private school people, bracketting them into a box. Its a disgrace.

Dorothy

Like judging anyone who's not ultra right wing, state school people, bracketing them into a box. It's a disgrace.

Beoz

Agree. But I am not sure anyone on here actually does that. I'm not sure anyone is actually ultra right wing. Zulu is about as far right as you get and he's far from ultra.

There's a number of left wingers who resent though.