What do you remember about CSEs from school?
Feb 5th 2015 | 1:30 am
#61
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Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
you could do both if you picked the other one as one of your free options.
I hated my history teacher and had a serious crush on my Geo teacher, so no contest!
I hated my history teacher and had a serious crush on my Geo teacher, so no contest!
Feb 5th 2015 | 1:44 am
#62
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From: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Feb 5th 2015 | 1:58 am
#63
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Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
I found history, either on it's own or paired, to be dead boring. Tudors and Stuarts; Chippendale furniture (the strippers would likely have been more interesting) and someone or other's Fireplaces; Boston Tea Party...that's really all I can remember.
I recall actually having to draw some Chippendale furniture as part of the lesson.
Feb 5th 2015 | 2:07 am
#64
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Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
I had a mildly unusual education in that I attended a middle school until the age of 12. When you went to high school , you went straight into third form ( there was no first or second form)
I did Latin for the last two years of middle school and for the first two years of high school, until you took your "options" when I dropped it quicker than a red hot coal.
The national curriculum was just coming in, limiting what options we were allowed.
Basically you picked History or Geography. Then a "technology" subject ( I ended up doing child development , don't ask , just don't!)
then you had two "free choices" I opted for business studies and what was called " keyboarding" ( was really typing and transcription)
I was told in no uncertain terms that "people of my ability didn't take those kind of subjects"
so I ended up doing German and another course that escapes me at the moment. All GCSEs
So now I can order a beer in German but can't touch type.
Just remembered , it was religious studies" - again tres useful!
I did Latin for the last two years of middle school and for the first two years of high school, until you took your "options" when I dropped it quicker than a red hot coal.
The national curriculum was just coming in, limiting what options we were allowed.
Basically you picked History or Geography. Then a "technology" subject ( I ended up doing child development , don't ask , just don't!)
then you had two "free choices" I opted for business studies and what was called " keyboarding" ( was really typing and transcription)
I was told in no uncertain terms that "people of my ability didn't take those kind of subjects"
so I ended up doing German and another course that escapes me at the moment. All GCSEs
So now I can order a beer in German but can't touch type.
Just remembered , it was religious studies" - again tres useful!
I wanted to go to evening classes to learn typing but was told that "no girl educated in this establishment should ever have to earn a living by typing" a little short sighted of them.
Feb 5th 2015 | 2:08 am
#65
limey party pooper
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Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
Actually, loons were generally advertised as loon pants anyway. At least in the NME, spunos, Melody Maker etc
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http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...A7udxK9Z1g.jpg
Feb 5th 2015 | 2:31 am
#66
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Feb 5th 2015 | 2:51 am
#67
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Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
My parents were understanding about my reasons for not choosing history, but believed it was a Very Important subject & so homeschooled me in it. I wasn't too keen on that at the time, but appreciate it now
.(My (quite academically oriented) family were big on home-tutoring: I chose Spanish over German, reasoning that it was a) an easy option, & b) if I did German & didn't get good marks, I'd be stuck with "extra lessons" from Grandpa. Much goofing off & bad reports in Spanish (& Latin to a lesser extent) eventually led to the discovery that Grandma was more than capable of sorting out my Spanish & Latin...
Despite my resentment, her Spanish lessons were made amazing through her anecdotes & reminiscences of working in Spain in the 'twenties!Latin? She was such a "Drill sergeant" that I buckled down & worked my arse off to avoid ever having to study with her again!!!!).
I wanted to go to evening classes to learn typing but was told that "no girl educated in this establishment should ever have to earn a living by typing" a little short sighted of them.
We *did* go to very similar schools: I was refused the evening typing class option because my "calibre" made them "unnecessary"! 
Feb 5th 2015 | 3:06 am
#68
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From: Ottineau
Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
History was my all time favourite subject. Until an horrendously awful & incompetent teacher killed all the joy. I chose geography to get away from her. That teacher was boring, but I ended up liking geog.
My parents were understanding about my reasons for not choosing history, but believed it was a Very Important subject & so homeschooled me in it. I wasn't too keen on that at the time, but appreciate it now.
(My (quite academically oriented) family were big on home-tutoring: I chose Spanish over German, reasoning that it was a) an easy option, & b) if I did German & didn't get good marks, I'd be stuck with "extra lessons" from Grandpa. Much goofing off & bad reports in Spanish (& Latin to a lesser extent) eventually led to the discovery that Grandma was more than capable of sorting out my Spanish & Latin... Despite my resentment, her Spanish lessons were made amazing through her anecdotes & reminiscences of working in Spain in the 'twenties!
Latin? She was such a "Drill sergeant" that I buckled down & worked my arse off to avoid ever having to study with her again!!!!).
We *did* go to very similar schools: I was refused the evening typing class option because my "calibre" made them "unnecessary"!
My parents were understanding about my reasons for not choosing history, but believed it was a Very Important subject & so homeschooled me in it. I wasn't too keen on that at the time, but appreciate it now
.(My (quite academically oriented) family were big on home-tutoring: I chose Spanish over German, reasoning that it was a) an easy option, & b) if I did German & didn't get good marks, I'd be stuck with "extra lessons" from Grandpa. Much goofing off & bad reports in Spanish (& Latin to a lesser extent) eventually led to the discovery that Grandma was more than capable of sorting out my Spanish & Latin...
Despite my resentment, her Spanish lessons were made amazing through her anecdotes & reminiscences of working in Spain in the 'twenties!Latin? She was such a "Drill sergeant" that I buckled down & worked my arse off to avoid ever having to study with her again!!!!).
We *did* go to very similar schools: I was refused the evening typing class option because my "calibre" made them "unnecessary"! I still have all my school reports. There is a classic from my first year at high school, when we were forced to do things like woodwork, metalwork and pottery (until our parents forced a change).
The woodworking teacher remarked that I did not enjoy the subject much. That makes me laugh. It's now my hobby. I've made a lot of the furniture in my house.
Feb 5th 2015 | 3:13 am
#69
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Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
Of course the German I was forced to learn comes in useful everyday - NOT
Feb 5th 2015 | 3:49 am
#70
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Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
My parents bought me a touch typing computer program that seemed obsessed with using poems. I remember that typing out Shelley's Ozymandias with my eyes closed was a somewhat challenging task. I don't suppose people do that to their kids anymore, it's just assumed you'll pick it as a matter of course.
Feb 5th 2015 | 3:58 am
#71
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From: Steinbach-to-back. Manitoba. Canada.
Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
I dropped German as soon as I could. The French exam was so complicated that I did no revision and thought the time would be better spent revising other subjects. I passed them all except French. Later I moved in with a German girlfriend, in Augsburg, never learned much German as all the locals wanted to practice English. After that, I moved in with a French girlfriend, Dordogne this time. The lady and her kids only ever spoke French to me and I picked it up quite well. Now in Canada, where my French puts the Quebecois to shame and they speak to me in English. C'est la vie!
Feb 5th 2015 | 4:09 am
#72
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From: Ottineau
Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
seems to be a theme. I never learnt to type properly. I am now in the awkward situation of being reasonably fast with two fingers so that if I attempted to learn "properly" I'd be so slow as to be unproductive for far too long.
Of course the German I was forced to learn comes in useful everyday - NOT
Of course the German I was forced to learn comes in useful everyday - NOT
I type fast. I have no idea which fingers I'm using. They seem to know where to go, even if it is at the other end of the keyboard.
Feb 5th 2015 | 6:39 am
#74
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From: South of Calgary
Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
I was taught to touch type in the Army. They had a Mavis Beacon type of lesson approach and one had to reach a speed of 60 wpm with a 98% accuracy. It took me a number of attempts to pass. The keyboard they used for the test was blank - nothing on it at all, and the text we had to type used just about every shift key there was
Feb 5th 2015 | 6:52 am
#75
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From: Ottineau
Re: What do you remember about CSEs from school?
I was taught to touch type in the Army. They had a Mavis Beacon type of lesson approach and one had to reach a speed of 60 wpm with a 98% accuracy. It took me a number of attempts to pass. The keyboard they used for the test was blank - nothing on it at all, and the text we had to type used just about every shift key there was
The founder of the company I work for had a savage test for people back in the 70s, apparently. You had to add up all the phone numbers from a page in the directory without looking at the calculator.
