Educashun...

[maviczap]

Well this is a nice warm up for my daughters parents evening! Especially as my wife isn't here to hold my hand!

So I've got to go and face it out with her teachers.

However despite having me as her father, she is a cleaver kid, not a genius, but ok. She gets picked to do special projects at school and the last time I went to hear how she was getting on, I heard some great things.

She doesn't like admitting she's clever, but looking through her maths book, her marks were good, even though its not her favourite subject.

I get the impression that my eldest think some of her classmates are well fick, certainly she's labelled some of them as chavs!

Yesterday I accompanied my youngest daughter and her class out on a field trip which was quite nice although blooming tiring. Luckily my group of 4 children were well behaved.

I do think its important to take an interest in you kids education

[Messie]

I tried and tried to keep out of this thread, but just can't help myself.

There are thousands of bright hardworking kids out there who learn a lot. they maybe don't learn the same stuff as you did, but who needs to know how to drive a horse and cart these days?

There are thousands of supportive caring parents out there who get involved in their kids' education, and even get involved in the whole school.

There are kids who struggle; there are parents who don't care. Always have been.

All of you who sem to know better, why aren't you in the classroom doing it, rather than sitting at a keyboard spouting it?

[Bri w]

Why do so many people generalise and have a pop at kids?

There's nowt wrong with the majority of kids. They are just as bright as xx yrs ago. Problems areas, and families still cause the same problems.

In certain areas of behaviour, and learning, I actually think kids are better than xx years ago. They can communicate better with adults if the adults give them a chance. And their analytical skills are often better because of the way they are taught than xx years ago when it was more about book learned skills.

C'mon, give em a break guys.

[Biker Biggles]

There have always been good and bad kids,teachers and parents.Probably the biggest difference now is the way the system is managed and controlled compared to twenty or more years ago.Just like the workplace education has been turned into a production line with every detail micro managed from above.The sole purpose is to produce kids who pass exams so the politicians can claim to be improving education.
Overall this may be a good thing with lots of compliant work fodder being produced,but the downside is if you dont quite fit in.If your face doesnt fit the production line as a student,teacher or parent you will be cast aside very quickly.Mavericks are not required in modern Britain.

Can't quite see where a horse and cart comes into it but if you mean basics like reading writing and arithmetic------its a good place to start
Modern teaching methods seem to consist of computers,calculators and electronic gadgetry but when taken away although they may know how,but they seem to struggle due to the reliance placed on the gadgets.
How much work is actually submitted in hand writing that is legible,spelling that is correct and expressed in good English?.
All things that seem to have gone by the wayside in some cases but when I was at school it was the "Some cases" that the teachers brought up to standard. I genuinely believe the overall standard of teaching has slipped which reflects in the results which in themselves have been lowered to compensate for the inadequacy

Originally Posted by Messie

I tried and tried to keep out of this thread, but just can't help myself.

There are thousands of bright hardworking kids out there who learn a lot. they maybe don't learn the same stuff as you did, but who needs to know how to drive a horse and cart these days?

There are thousands of supportive caring parents out there who get involved in their kids' education, and even get involved in the whole school.

There are kids who struggle; there are parents who don't care. Always have been.

All of you who sem to know better, why aren't you in the classroom doing it, rather than sitting at a keyboard spouting it?

coz my job pays more

I do believe that teachers have a hard and difficult job in today's society

[Messie]

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

Can't quite see where a horse and cart comes into it but if you mean basics like reading writing and arithmetic------its a good place to start
Modern teaching methods seem to consist of computers,calculators and electronic gadgetry but when taken away although they may know how,but they seem to struggle due to the reliance placed on the gadgets.
How much work is actually submitted in hand writing that is legible,spelling that is correct and expressed in good English?.
All things that seem to have gone by the wayside in some cases but when I was at school it was the "Some cases" that the teachers brought up to standard. I genuinely believe the overall standard of teaching has slipped which reflects in the results which in themselves have been lowered to compensate for the inadequacy

I believe you are wrong on almost every point here you make. For example, there is nothing intrinsically better about being able to do mental arithmetic and being able to use a gadget that does it. Even English GCSE has a complsory hand written part of the assessment and Maths GCSE has a non-calculator paper. And as to standards - more people pass the driving test these days but I'm guessing no-one would say it's got easier. No it means people are working harder to pass and teaching is getting better.

Originally Posted by 454697819

coz my job pays more

You MAY be wrong there but I don't know your circumstances. However if it involves wearing a Santa hat that I'm guessing teaching pays more

[Messie]

Sorry - double post

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

who take up all the time of the teacher because they can't bloody behave in school. That problem stems from parents who can't be ar$ed to discipline and educate at home.

I agree where the problem "stems from", but whilst a well behaved kid at home, will provide the grounding to be a well behave kid at school, they are different environments with different boundaries and rules. So kids that are badly behaved at school, may not be badly behaved in front of their own parents and vice versa.

My wife's biggest challenge as a new teacher is to figure out how to get those disruptive pupils to behave in class, the kid who hits his grandmother being one example, and he obviously has NO discipline at home. My wife teaches them languages, but every so often they have a 'life skills' class with their form tutor. My wife shadowed a class with this boy's form tutor and he sat good as gold and quiet as a mouse, and when his form tutor asks him to jump, he asks how high? He's a big bloke (PE teacher), with a big presence and a big voice, but in my wife's class the same kid is a nightmare.

It's like the supernanny programme says, if you change the carer, you change the kid.

My wife is struggling with it, and she is learning and making some progress, she has only been teaching a few months, but she recognises that it is her responsibility to control the behaviour of a pupil, whilst that pupil is in her classroom. If he then goes home and hits his grandmother, there is nothing she can do about that, but a kids bad behaviour at school definitely can't be blamed solely on the parents

Originally Posted by Messie

they maybe don't learn the same stuff as you did, but who needs to know how to drive a horse and cart these days?

All of you who sem to know better, why aren't you in the classroom doing it, rather than sitting at a keyboard spouting it?

What are you getting riled about? The bias of opinion on the thread seems to tip towards blaming the parents, not the teachers.

The parents on this thread have genuine and serious concern about these issues. If "spouting" from behind a keyboard on a forum, and seeing the other parents point of view is interesting/helpful/whatever then why shouldn't they?

Have you ever moaned about a train being delayed or cancelled, if so why aren't you out there running a train company? Ever moaned about customer service in a shop, so why aren't you running a shop? Everyone has their own responsibilities in life, it's just that on this particular thread you feel yours is under scrutiny. That doesn't mean the thread has no right to exist.

Whilst you're the only teacher so far, you'll note that many of those on the thread are married to teachers, me, Blue Pete, Owenski, etc. My life is a complete f***g s**t at the moment as a result her being in "out there in the classroom doing it", she's having a very hard time at school and that comes home with her and is the only thing we talk about over dinner, and she's spending her every waking hour lesson planning, meaning that myself and my son are basically functioning like a single parent setup! He's getting upset over not getting the attention he's used to (3 years old), he's not sleeping properly, being very clingy with his mum,cries when she goes out the door in the morning. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

The parents on the thread obviously feel (and my wife with inside knowledge agrees!) that there are current significant holes in our education system.

Originally Posted by Bri w

Why do so many people generalise and have a pop at kids?

C'mon, give em a break guys.

There's a few off the cuff comments of "kids are fick", but I don't think anyone's seriously blaming the kids Bri.