NationStates Jolt Archive

Full Times Article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2014198,00.html)
Failing to teach them how to handle real life
A new report reveals that children today struggle with questions they could have answered 30 years ago, says Sian Griffiths
For a decade we’ve been told that our kids, just as they seem to be getting taller with each generation, are also getting brighter. Every year new waves of children get better GCSE, A-level and degree results than their predecessors. Meanwhile, in primary schools, the standards in national maths and English tests at 11 head in one direction — relentlessly upwards.

Last week came the bombshell that blew a gaping hole in this one-way escalator of achievement.

Far from getting cleverer, our 11-year-olds are, in fact, less “intelligent” than their counterparts of 30 years ago. Or so say a team who are among Britain’s most respected education researchers.


Well, we can't let the children know that they might be stupid! It would crush their fragile mental condition. Best just tell them they're coming up with "alternate answers" and let them know it's perfectly ok to hold their opinion...[/sarcasm]

There's no such thing as a "British education system".

England and Wales have one system, Scotland has an altogether system, and Northern Ireland has another completely seperate system (and it's regarded as one of the best in the world).

So which system is it referring to?

Full Times Article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2014198,00.html)


Well, we can't let the children know that they might be stupid! It would crush their fragile mental condition. Best just tell them they're coming up with "alternate answers" and let them know it's perfectly ok to hold their opinion...[/sarcasm]
I'd wonder whether at least some of it could be attributed to teachers concentrating on making sure the students can "jump through hoops" required by examination boards, but teach fewer things (Eg problem solving) that aren't directly tested.

The problem with that line of thinking is that as times change, needed skills change as well. When I was 11 years old, computers were an up-and-coming field but in general were still the league of programmers and the rich. When I was in secondary school, only the very rich or the very *ahem* academically gifted had laptops. Even when I was in community college, the mobile phone was something carried by drug dealers or the foolish.

Look at a standard test for people of the same age from a century ago. Do you think you could answer some of those questions now? I looked at a standardised test from 1895 I think and I was amazed they expected 13 year olds to know what they were expecting. Unless you grew up on a farm, you're not going to know certain things about crops that were on that test.

Well, we can't let the children know that they might be stupid! It would crush their fragile mental condition. Best just tell them they're coming up with "alternate answers" and let them know it's perfectly ok to hold their opinion...[/sarcasm]

See, this is what I don't get - why do people seem to think this supposed trend to tell all kids they are achievers HAS to have something to do with schools failing? I'm only 18 and so should have seen this evidence of not telling kids they are failing - but I saw nothing of the sort. No concessions were made for people who were struggling, and we were put into banded classes - there was a class A, B and C band for subjects like maths and english, and we we all knew that being in class C was a sign you weren't that smart.

If the system is failing, which the article seems to suggest only applies to a small part of education, then I doubt it has anything to do with trying to make all kids feel valued.

Heh, looks like you guys have the opposite problem we have in the States. Here, the teachers will teach you something in 7th grade and you'll still be reviewing it in Trig. It's stupid and overly redundant. However, to this day, I can still do exponenets without thinking about it.

At least they aren't being taught Intelligent Design. The important thing to keep in mind also is that these "street smart" type things they are using as a rubric are an inappropriate measurment.

See, this is what I don't get - why do people seem to think this supposed trend to tell all kids they are achievers HAS to have something to do with schools failing? I'm only 18 and so should have seen this evidence of not telling kids they are failing - but I saw nothing of the sort. No concessions were made for people who were struggling, and we were put into banded classes - there was a class A, B and C band for subjects like maths and english, and we we all knew that being in class C was a sign you weren't that smart.

If the system is failing, which the article seems to suggest only applies to a small part of education, then I doubt it has anything to do with trying to make all kids feel valued.

About feeling valued, my math teacher used to find that demotivating his students got them through the exams.. I don't know whether it's true, but i did pass!

I was never taught intelligent design. However, I did learn about evolution and most of the theories that it supplanted, so I don't understand how learning intelligent design is any less valuable. The point of education is to learn as much as you can, not to be right.

The section of the England & Wales national curriculum which suck most is English. Most children leaving school today, are functionally illiterate, or have severely deficient spelling, grammar and punctuation. Foreigners actually have a superior grasp of the language these days, as the teaching in other European countries tends to be more thorough.

The section of the England & Wales national curriculum which suck most is English. Most children leaving school today, are functionally illiterate, or have severely deficient spelling, grammar and punctuation. Foreigners actually have a superior grasp of the language these days, as the teaching in other European countries tends to be more thorough.So we should be spelling "color" and "honor" instead of adding those pesky "u"s? Oh well. :p

We have the same problem here in the States, TBH. I've seen people from other European countries whose first language isn't English who can write far better than some "college" students I've seen, including those whom I would not have guessed weren't native speakers or writers of English based on their grasp of the language.

We have the same problem here in the States, TBH. I've seen people from other European countries whose first language isn't English who can write far better than some "college" students I've seen, including those whom I would not have guessed weren't native speakers or writers of English based on their grasp of the language.
Yeah, I mean I'm Russian for example. English is my second language. And yet I totally own it, compared to most people I meet.

I hate how utterly useless our education system is for 90% of students. I am lucky, I am going to one of the best schools in the country and getting a good education. But the vast majority of children in this country do not get that chance to shine. I am ashamed by some of the english spoken by those around me, where words like 'innit' become common. Our country is skrewing with the children's future, and something has to he done :mad:

Officially my mother tongue is dutch, but seeing as I was around 5 when i went to a british school, English seems more like my mother tongue than anything else. This school wasn't in the UK either, it was in the Middle East. Now I have the problem with my dutch, but that's pretty much because I was only in a dutch school for 2 years of my whole life...until now because I go to a dutch Uni (but half of the things, such as exams, I'm even allowed to do in english if I want to)

I can't believe though that there are some people in this world that do not speak any languages fluently (although they do speak several at least a bit, or just sort of ok), just because they have never been taught in anyone of them sufficiently...

I was never taught intelligent design. However, I did learn about evolution and most of the theories that it supplanted, so I don't understand how learning intelligent design is any less valuable. The point of education is to learn as much as you can, not to be right.

Ok, lets teach intelligent design:

"Some people who don't understand evolution and how it works claim that God did it."

Right, that's done.

Sarcasm aside, teaching evolution is infinitely more useful than teaching 'Intelligent Design' because:
1. It's true.
2. It is used a lot in medicine and modern biology.
3. It explains to people why they must always finish a course of anti-biotics.

There is no follow up from ID, no information to be gained, no science to be derived from it. It serves only to damage learning.

For all this doom and gloom, even the thickest peple I know can spell and wrie just fine (me? Reading my writing is the challenge, it's spelt right but unreadable).

However, the test we do are very poor when it comes to our understanding of a subject. I cannot rote-recite caselaw to save my life but I understand the principles of law as well as anyone else in the class. (A-level)

Rote learning does no-one any good but it's often what you need to do, we still have tickbox quizzes in science for huge lumps of our grades at GCSE level!

As long as we persist with comprehensive education, Britain's education system will be dismal. Why governmnet can't look at Northern Ireland and learn from them is beyond me.

As long as we persist with comprehensive education, Britain's education system will be dismal. Why governmnet can't look at Northern Ireland and learn from them is beyond me.
The government prefers to look at Northern Ireland and wreck it.

They're doing away with out current system and replacing it with an English based system.

An absolute tragedy. We have such a brilliant education system...for now...

Really? I mean, sure I heard a 13 yr old being unsure whether blue and red paint mixes to make purple, but failing education? Surely you can hardly say a system is failing just because "above average" students think the solar system is bigger than the galaxy ? Ok, so lower class kids spend their free time making videos of themselves assaulting people, and we have one of the highest rates for underage drinking, but does that mean our education sucks?

/sarcasm?