Fish n Chips 56

Ed, I feel exactly the same way, cleaning up isn't rocket science, its an easy job.

Whatever happened to pride, why throw any trash down when you could take it home with you or throw it in a bin.

America does have trash by the roadside, local inmates crews in Oregon are made to clean it up, The Cities are very clean.

DDL

Back in the 60s I was taught World History and World Geography in High School, and it's still taught as you point out above, Derrygal. My oldest daughter also took AP courses/exams which really helped her uni placement.

DDL

There's one here, as well http://www.potholes.co.uk/

jasper123

Julie what cheers says here is a fact about the difference in driving 200 miles in UK verses the same distance in the States,
Cheers also mentioned the stress on my Sister, this is the problem, my Mum and I need to go together, Mum is not in terrific health anymore and a 200 mile car/coach/train journey really takes it out of her and wears her down, wouldn't be so bad if we could sleep overnight at my Sisters house like we used to do, My Sisters carer is her Son and he has become impossible to deal with and he will not allow anyone to stay overnight anymore, hes rather strange im afraid, so last time we did it all in one day, my Mum was exhausted and took her 3 days to get back to normal, she is 91 you know, when we can afford it we will book a night at a B&B but we would need three rooms, one for me, one for mum, and one for my Nephew and wife, and it can get really expensive,

jasper123

Cheers you are so darn knowlegable, I thought Branson owned 100% of Virgin, Wow how did you know that?

dunroving

I'm sure things will improve now that Jamie is coming to the rescue:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...hool-interview

(Where's the yawn smiley when you need it?)

Pistolpete2

Not wanting to take anything away from Cheers, it's called CUT or COPY and PASTE!

Pistolpete2

Dunroving what is your impression of the damage that has been done to the State Education System in the UK as a result of the endless tinkering with it, in terms of overall political strategy, setting of targets, examinations, top-up fees and the need to maintain a supply of quality teachers etc .etc?

I was interested to see that a number of universities are thinking of setting their own examinations as they simply aren't satisfied that A levels are a good enough measure of the quality of candidates to provide their desired supply of good undergraduates. What is more, employers are ever moaning that there are no quality candidates at interview time as well, as universities are churning out graduates who are often incapable of putting forward a reasoned argument on a given topic.

julierandall

I am sorry to hear that Rodney. Has he (your Sisters son) always been strange or has it devoloped more recently? The reason I ask is I know it is really stressful to be a carer for another. Do you think he is fit to look after your sister and are there any others involved with her care? My step-son is in a Hospice and receives 24/7 wonderful care in a really lovely environment, so I do know how good care can be. It seems we are going thro the same sort of thing but in kinda different circumstances - Hubby and I do feel for you and your mother. Sometimes the grief process starts before the person we love actually passes. This, we feel, has started with us - do you feel the same?

Julie xo

dunroving

Oh, blimey, don't get me started ... OK, in brief:

Interesting commentary by AA Gill on Jamie's Dream School program in last week's Sunday Times Culture magazine (books/TV, etc.), referring to the problems in UK education that have crept in over the past 10-20 years, and the fakeness of Jamie's premise of supposedly being able to do what teachers can't do, simply by bunging a load of money, celebrities and fancy activities. To paraphrase:

Huge classes
Lack of cash
A restrictive and relentless national curriculum
Round-the-clock OFSTED form-filling
Inspections, forms, tests, health and safety

... in fact, some of the celebrities brought in to work miracles on a bunch of 20 children who had poor GCSE results highlighted how out of touch celebs are with the realities of coal-face teaching. You can't, for example, crack jokes about a fat kid (as David Starkey did). And you can't just take kids sailing (and anyway, how does this tie in with studying hard?)

I see the outcomes of a Narcissist-focused philosophy (never say work is not satisfactory; praise everything) of latter-day teaching in current university students. Appalling writing skills, lack of basic knowledge in maths and science, poor work ethic, etc., matched with a sense of entitlement without merit and an inflated sense of ability.

To be clear, I have taught (from primary school to university and community education) for over 30 years and love the job. I'd never want to go back to the days when teachers could give kids the slipper, and boring "chalk and talk" was the norm, but I think the term "student-centred" is applied only to rights and wants, and not student responsibilities. The opinions I am writing here are not even "allowed" in today's PC-obsessed culture. I don't live in a fantasy world, I live in the real world.

OK, rant over. You did ask. There are some good schools and some good teachers, and good students with good parents will still succeed, but in general current standards of UK education are not the same as they were when some of our current posters were in school.

Pistolpete2

Thanks for that! I'll need to take your points "on board' but there's nothing there that surprises me greatly or I have not already been aware of, particularly in your "I see the outcome....." paragraph.

I'm trying to make choices as we still have one school-age kid (and I'm sixty next week ) who would be due to consider tertiary education in four years or so. I have one who has a good MA at Glasgow and an MSc there who is a waiter at the moment for want of anything in his chosen field which is City & Regional Planning in spite of more than usual action north of the border. So I'm doubly apprehensive.

I'm sorry I can't get hold of AA Gill online for this one as it's subscription. He's a harsh reviewer though, when he's in a good frame of mind.

dunroving

As an aside, the "narcissistic generation" thing is not just my opinion, there is sound, respected research and opinion on this phenomenon - Google or Google Scholar for Jean Twenge (San Diego SU) for more on this, for example

Pistolpete2

Heh! I've been bitching and moaning about the never say work is not satisfactory; praise everything approach for days! I'm glad I can be backed up with solid research.

between two worlds

Yes, this is very sad....having realised children were sometimes crushed and made to feel worthless in the bad old days (but not always of course, and not by good teachers) we have gone too far in trying to build their self-esteem.

A trend in parenting as well as in education...in the end, kids see through it--if you praise everything they do, even when they themselves know they didn't try very hard, they can't have confidence in your judgement and it doesn't mean anything.

We were so lucky in our public high school in a small town in the USA, it just happened that there were a few crucial and brilliant teachers with high standards teaching the honors classes...

Tina

dunroving

I have actually been asked to change a comment of "unsatisfactory" on a section of an assignment to "not yet satisfactory".