Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

thats it, african queen was his best by far though.

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

No it was the Caine Mutiny

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

didn't win the oscar for that one though.

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

my fave was casablanca

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

falcons or not - it's probably just too small to make the figures meaningful, maybe. A quick wiki search shows approx 66,000 kids under the age of 15 on the whole island.

Just a thought, anyway. Don't know how they did the survery - whether they just interview 5,000 kids in each country or a percentage, or what ...

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

nicely back on track. would it not be the case though, with much fewer kids to care for, they would do a better job?

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

as someone who dragged 2 kiddies though uk system and hated it 90% of the time i must interject a little reality. a large part of the problems in the uk edu system are from people coming from lesser systems! its no excuse, but still, when a school has more than 100 first languages spoken by its populace it all becomes a little towering babel-ish. when the older, somewhat alcoholic nonetheless charming english matrons taught my oldest in our lovely hampshire local surrounded by english kids the results were great - she was reading and writing long before she hit school. besides, netherlands is an exception - what dont they do well besides weather???

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

Yeah right, lies damn lies and statistics springs to mind. who compiled this hogwash.

Of course, Austria scores much better than us at 11th, as they hide their kids out of the way in cellars.........

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

ok, i am going to be even more committal - once in the right school (first was terrible) my daughters education was better in the uk. it slays me to admit it and this is the first time i have outright said it, but nz has been painfully lacking and she has left the system after 3 years with no realistic credentials for anything outside nz which would not have happened elsewhere. makes english system look good. am going to have bad guilt dreams tonight re. parental failure.

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

This applies to just about every European school aswell, my 3 are in switzerland,the multi culti is just as rampant there as any where else. I wonder tho how switzerland would have faired in this survey ?????

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

i assume that you realise this is exactly the same here, huge immigration, many different languages being spoken, there is a bit of a french bit here as well.
like it or not, its the system as a whole, not everyone is sat beside a village green watching the cricket.
surrounded by 'english' kids. i take it immigrants to the country gaining citizenship are not 'english'.

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

i take it you are content with the education system in the uk then.

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

Errrm, reasonably. My 4 year old is at his first school which I believe has a good holistic and rounded approach. My three year old is at pre-school and happy. Could it be better? Yeah I guess so. One could always argue that. Are we really worse than all the other listed nations? well I don't know but I'd guess not. Am I complacent? Possibly.

My contentious, slightly controversial point that I was attempting to make was that every country has good and bad (that includes Canada by the way).

However, I certainly feel that we in the UK are often a child-unfriendly country, and our tolerance of children can be alarmingly low. But then, nowhere's perfect.

Where I think the Uk does come out on top is in bashing itself, unlike the US and Canada, both of whom - I hugely admire by the way- will put a positive spin on everything.

Everyone I know in the US and Canada lives in the sunniest, cleanest, less crime-ridden city etc etc blah blah blah. This civic/national pride is all very commendable, and maybe we on this windswept, rain-lashed, inhospitable little lump of rock are a little cynical, bet hey! vive le difference...........

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

May I just add, that I very much like what I have seen and know about Canada, and would one day like to experience living there full-time. However, I wouldn't move anywhere because I hated where I currently was, that I think would be a recipe for future problems. Everywhere has the same or similar issues if one cares to look closely enough. It may make some feel better about their own choices if they 'bash' the choice they have left behind. If that helps, then i suppose, as a coping strategy its no bad thing.

Re: uk 24th out of 26th
 

Got to take the report with a pinch of salt really.

Comissioned by the Child Poverty Action Group - who are hardly likely to ask questions in a pole which would lead to the response that the UK is just dandy, otherwise it would limit their raison d'etre somewhat.

- Basically if your kid is not dead, fat, poor or living in a tent, then the study may have little bearing on your childrens life and future in the UK.

If your kid isn't living in a house where both of you are not working, then this report may not accurately reflect your situation and your kids future in the UK.

- as the UK suffers from a very negative outlook in general, particularly perpetrated by the doom and gloom media, is it any wonder that kids are similarly infected and have a negative outlook on life?