farmgirl

Whoaaa.................. the thread was why are so many people leaving britain and this has all got a bit personal now

re education standards , i was thinking none of this matters really as the kids will grow up and get jobs in the country they are educated in so as long as they have the same education as the other uni applicants and jobe seekers does it matter to them ???????

fundamentally the education is DIFFERENT but most of us celebrate these differences or we wouldnt be the kind of people to emigrate anyway

we were concerned about putting a 14 yrs old into system in canada and if we decided to go back the unis in UK might not recognise his exams so we found a school that did IB , ironically lots of Uk schools are now looking at this instead of A Levels , notably ETON lots of diplomats kids do it as its universally recognised . we are in Regina , back of beyond compared to Toronto etc and theres 2 schools here that do it so there must be in more populated cities as well.Instead of going to 3 subjects at a level they have to keep doing all subjects and also do community work

So my suggestion is : be glad if your kids school in Uk was ahead of the canadian one it goes to will give junior some breathing space and earn them some brownie points and if they continue to be bright make the most of the
system in canada get them through basic graduation credits in Y10 and Y11 and do IB or advanced subjects in Y11 and Y12
HOWEVER we have since found out that pushing them doesnt always help you with university entry , unless you want yale or harvard ( as we are not millionaires the fees are out ) most canadian unis seem to base your childs grade average on the compulsory subjects average , so you could stretch them and they could get 70% in lots of subjects and lose a place to a kid who did the minimum and got 75% , so we have had to get out of the UK mindset of doing more and more to distinguish yourself as bright candidate for uni entry , doing the basics but VERY good scores are actually better is the advice from school careers teachers and at university "fair" attended
any way as a mum thats our take on it and we are not career experts

I like the way here kids are not expected to decide their future at such a young age as in uk , they can keep their subjects broader for longer and even do a degree "majoring " in one thing but covering lots of others so if they decide to swop specialities its not such a negative thing

farmgirl

Only in Britain..................

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Something lighthearted for a change!

Subject: Only in Britain.....


Only in Britain... can a pizza get to your house
faster than an ambulance.

Only in Britain... do supermarkets make sick people
walk all the way to the
back of the store to get their prescriptions, whilst
the healthy people can
buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in Britain... do people order double
cheeseburgers, large fries and a
DIET coke.

Only in Britain... do banks leave both doors open
and chain the pens to the
counters.

Only in Britain... do we leave thousands of pounds
worth of car on the
drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the
garage.

Only in Britain... do we use answering machines to
screen our calls and
then have call waiting so that we won't miss a call
from someone we didn't
want to speak to in the first place.

Only in Britain... are there disabled car parking
spaces in front of a
skating rink.

NOT TO MENTION....
3 Brits die each year testing a 9 volt battery to
see if it works on their
tongue.

142 Brits were injured in 1999 by not removing all
the pins from new
shirts.


58 Brits are injured each year by using sharp knives
instead of
screwdrivers.

31 Brits have died since 1996 through watering their
Christmas tree while
the fairy lights were plugged in.

19 Brits have died in the last 3 years believing
that the Christmas
decorations on the tree were chocolate.

British hospitals reported 4 broken arms last year
after cracker pulling
accidents.

101 Brits have had broken parts of plastic toys
pulled out of the soles of
their feet since 1999.

18 Brits had serious burns in 2000 by trying on a
new jumper with a lit
cigarette in their mouth.

A massive 543 Brits were admitted to A & E in the
last 2 years after
opening bottles of beer with their teeth.

5 Brits were injured last year in accidents
involving out of control
Scalextric cars.

AND FINALLY...

In 2000, 8 Brits cracked their skulls whilst
throwing up in the toilet.

RULE BRITANNIA!!!!

SANDRAPAUL

Interesting. As a parent and putting aside education and the rights and wrongs of one system to another I would love my children and my children's children to grow up at a slower pace. If this means starting slower and building up to a speed level to get a job or go to Uni I would applaud it. When you have children and you watch them grow it matters not if they are super intelligent or not - you want them to be happy. A child is a child for a very short time. The rest is eternity. If the system (Canadian or wherever) keeps them children for a little longer, helps them develope with more confidence and makes better and more wholesome adults - good on them.

This discussion of who has the better system. Who is right and wrong hightens my lack of respect for do-good social workers. Opps. Shouldn't have said that in such a politicaly correct country.

Ooooh. Negative again.

the-smiths

Eila,

For someone that comes from scandinavia, that happen to have visited the UK, and not living in Canada now like some of us, you sure have a lot to say, even though you don't have a kid in the school system here.

Like I said before, I have an 8yr old kid in the scool system here, french immersion for that matter, and yes the school system in the UK, is a year ahead of here, but we won't change a thing about it.

I don't want to get into a nag with you, I just want you to know that we are aware of what is going on in the UK, and over here too. Oh...and we have been to more than 20 countries too, in Europe alone, not to talk of the world in general. I have first hand knowledge of what is going on here in Canada, and am able to comment about it, the same goes for the UK, having gone through all that ourselves.

ENOUGH OF THIS ALREADY ! Scandinavia, UK, Canada, all have their own good and bad aspects.

Cheers

the-smiths

PS: Lets put the teddies away now eh? LOL

Tiaribbon

Sorry you guys, this discussion has definitely lost the plot; as I said before I have absolutely no issue with my daughter taking her time to settle in without the added pressure of education to-boot. I never expected my comment to become the subject of such obvious irritation for Eila, and I still can't understand why. This was not a comment suggesting that I was disappointed with the schools that I visited; had this been the case then we would not be moving to Canada.

I don't get angry, but I also won't sit quietly in a corner when someone shouts me down and tells me that what I have seen and witnessed is a load of garbage and that I should instead make my life decisions based on surveys and statistics. What percentage of statistics that are made up on the spot?

Anyway going back to the original reason for this (hijacked) post: Taxes? LOL!!!

Alberta_Rose

"58 Brits are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of screwdrivers."

uh?....... I always use my potato peeler!!! (it does cross-head screws too )

Morw

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and btw one shouldn't generalise about social-workers, they have a terrible job!! ..... no I'm not one

Tiaribbon

Another Hijack In Process!!!!!

I am a DIYer, and am constantly amazed at the "tools" that some people use for jobs around the house.........I visited my parents last year and found my father trying to drill a hole in the wall with a srewdriver bit attached to his cordless drill!!! Didn't do damage to himself but the newly wallpapered wall................

Why have social workers got this reputation I wonder?

Alberta_Rose

lol....you talk about hijack and then "wonder" that?

I positively Forbid anyone to even conjecture the reason on this post ! .....

Start another thread in the lounge if you must!!

Morw

Tiaribbon

LMAO!!! The mind is dancing tonight, lol!!! This is what a rainy Sunday does to me, coops me up and makes me fiddle about on a computer all day! Roll on sunny days.

Velouria

well i must be one of the most.. what exactly is a solid english word???

taking a russian course in the UK a few years ago, i was amazed at how many british students in the class were never taught grammar... nevermind the countless "it weren't like that" phrases that made me cringe...

a lot of people, when they emigrate to a new country, tend to live close to those from their homeland... often building up communities where its not necessary to speak perfect english. the same is true for these communities in ever country... including britain.

Tiaribbon

Aaargh, that is one of my bug-bears too! Incorrect English is comparable to fingernails scratching down a blackboard for me. Funnily enough it doesn't bother me when Americans or Canadians speak "incorrectly". I think you will find that in todays society, the UK is embracing regional accents and therefore accepting of slips of the tongue (or however they categorise it). The accents don't bother me and the quirky little words that certain areas of the country make up, are fine too, but the use of phrase like "weren't like that" and such, are not nice.

Posidrive

And just to add my two pence worth, a little late in the thread

It's sad to say that I'm now ashamed to say that I'm British born and bred because of so many reasons

Our youth are the biggest load of drunken louts in the world such that most inner city areas are now no go areas for families in the evening.

It is becoming the norm for school children to carry knives, that alone is reason enough to get the hell out. This does not just apply to the more depressed areas.

Where else in the world would a nine year old child be bullied purely because his mother is German. Perhaps because the last thing of any worth that the British did was rid the world of Hitler, but that was 60 years ago.

Plus of course the embarassment to having to admit that our prime minister is Teflon Tony.

Airseir

OK so I can get me fill of sticky buns here now but what about a trip to Tim Hortons?

the-smiths

No one is condoning the behaviour of the louts/chavs in the UK, but you will be wrong to think that does not happen here in canada, or in other countries. I think the problem is, most people come here on vacation for a little while, see what they see, and think everything is jolly good.

It's not until you move here full time, and listen to the news, and read the papers, that you actually see that the things you were running away from, do actually exist here too.

Some might say those things only happen in big cities, but that is not the case. Over the last few months, I can tell you countless things that have happened in smaller towns, old ladies being butchered in her house, houses being set on fire, people being shot, kids taking all sort of drugs et al, all these in small towns.

You mention 11yr old kids carrying knives? Over here and in the states, they have access to guns, yes guns. And if you think there isn't racism here, think again. You won't get many Jews and Germans living together here, that is why all the Germans are concentrated in the kitchener/waterloo area ( formerly known as Berlin ), and the Jews in Toronto. The history still leaves on, and there is the natives, and everyone else.

When you get here, is not just the high taxes and less holidays you have to worry about, things run deeper than that. The same people that are now saying they want to go back home, am sure they were saying all what you are saying now, back then, thinking everything is all rosy here.

We don't mind it here, things are fine as long as you have a job, and both you and your spouse are earning a nice crust, couldn't really care less about the 3 weeks we are getting right now, we make the most of it, and travel on short trips over the weekend.

Our 8yr old just loves sitting at the back of the van, watching her dvds, so we don't get that "are we there yet treatment"....LOL


the-smiths

the-smiths

Am happy to be here now, and you can see that in the pics in the link below, and, wild mooses can't drag us away from all these, back to the UK ......LOL

http://photobucket.com/albums/v171/leoville/

NOTE: Type in christmas as the password to see the pics