Yes this should definitely be improved

The link was not what I was expecting though...

 

Well I wasn't going to post anything in this thread yet as I didn't have the energy to make a long post right now (but will do at some point), but when I saw that news story today it reminded me of sex education.

Well...I don't live there anymore, but my family lived in Mongolia and my father was the director of a "homeschool co-op" there...so that community was pretty close.

 

Edit: Lots of people couldn't afford the international schools and the Mongolian schools aren't very good...so often homeschooling was their best option.

Like most western systems, the Irish highschool system is mainly based on memory. There's exams when you get to the end of your 3rd year called the Junior cert, and then a final end of school exams, called the leaving cert.

One of a few upsides is that there are also practical elements too to these exams; geography and history projects that go toward your final leaving cert mark, lab reports and an practical experiment in Junior Cert science... etc.

 

Highschool here helps you get into college, it doesn't help you prepare for college.

I, however, was lucky enough to have very good teachers, many of which tried to make me understand what I was learning, instead of just remembering it off by heart. This was especially so with Chemistry (even though my teacher was a bitch of a woman). I had also always worked well on my own, on project or research work (the kind of work that need your own incentive). So I had no problem transiting over to college (where all of my work is research, etc), tbh I loved it. But a good number of people struggle with this transition.

 

ALSO Irish is compulsary for everyone and it is a giant ****. Higher level Irish is compulsary for primary school teaching. I initially did ordinary level, but seeing as I want to be a primary school teacher I am doing the higher level exam this year. I find it really really hard though D;

 

Y'all know I would make an awesome primary school teacher (let's just ignore the use of the words bitch and **** above). Why do I need to be fluent in Irish?

I often fantasise about what I could do if I had a memory.

Then I realise it'd just mean I could get a better paid shit job.

The things I'd actually like to do don't require any extra special form of memory skills.

Well...I don't live there anymore, but my family lived in Mongolia and my father was the director of a "homeschool co-op" there...so that community was pretty close.

 

Edit: Lots of people couldn't afford the international schools and the Mongolian schools aren't very good...so often homeschooling was their best option.

 

That's a lot more understandable.

I often fantasise about what I could do if I had a memory.

Then I realise it'd just mean I could get a better paid shit job.

The things I'd actually like to do don't require any extra special form of memory skills.

 

What was your education like, Braddock?

What was your education like, Braddock?

 

I was an intelligent kid and found some (but not all) quite easy. I was often top of the class at Primary School. Second year of High School I stopped trying and lost interest in a lot of the course material across all subjects. I still made it to uni after doing absolutely nothing for about six or seven years given I was a bright kid but I kind of lost faith in what was taught and the way it was taught. This wasn't really the teachers fault entirely, and I was to blame for my laziness of course, but then after going into teacher training I really fell out with the system in the United Kingdom. The rigorous testing of children and the pressures that come with this on things that won't particularly matter to the majority of children. The rigorous testing of teachers that shapes the way the course material is taught, moving it away from education as exploration and into simply learning and regurgitating facts.

 

My main gripe, however, as has been alluded to in a previous post which mentioned politics, is that schools don't really teach about the real world as such. They do not teach a child about the society that they live in and perhaps more importantly, how to look after themselves in the society that they live in. Alternatives to the current system, positives of the current system, ways in which people can make positive influences individually and collectively, the political system and the process of voting, a history of where we have actually come from, the things that have shaped our culture and those around us, rather than simply learning about Henry VIII and not having that put into any real context. Improved sex education, feminism, gay rights, minority issues, the impact of the media, the internet, social media etc etc etc etc.

 

A lot of that would be high school stuff (and it be stretched out over a long time) of course but still, there are plenty of people who get their opinions on these things solely from one source, and that source is often biased. I just don't think children are taught to question things. They simply accept facts and then repeat them. It'd be a slow process but a movement towards this kind of learning would benefit people a lot. It won't happen though, not least because it would be quite hard to manage with class sizes as they currently are. Plus it wouldn't be in the interest of those defining the syllabus to raise a generation of people who may question and challenge the status quo.

 

 

 

 

(that was a rant and i didn't read it back so will be more a stream of consciousness than a concise point)

We start school at 6, then in the 8th grade we start secondary school where things get more serious. That's from 8th -10th grade, and after that there's high school which is grade 11 - 13. After that there a few different choices, some which I think are unique for Norway (if anyoneone wants to know more, just let me know).

It's paid for by the taxpayers, which is a major plus, but there are also some aspects that are just weird. For example, our finals is a lottery where your name may or may not get pulled out of a hat, and where that grade will be added to your average along with the rest of the year's work afterwards. I have never made sense out of that, especially from a system that strives for equal possibilities.

the only thing I can say that the worst thing about the german educational system is that each federal state is responsible for their educational system and its politics. There are differences between the school system, the subjects that are taught, the quality of Abitur, etc....

I was an intelligent kid and found some (but not all) quite easy. I was often top of the class at Primary School. Second year of High School I stopped trying and lost interest in a lot of the course material across all subjects. I still made it to uni after doing absolutely nothing for about six or seven years given I was a bright kid but I kind of lost faith in what was taught and the way it was taught. This wasn't really the teachers fault entirely, and I was to blame for my laziness of course, but then after going into teacher training I really fell out with the system in the United Kingdom. The rigorous testing of children and the pressures that come with this on things that won't particularly matter to the majority of children. The rigorous testing of teachers that shapes the way the course material is taught, moving it away from education as exploration and into simply learning and regurgitating facts.

 

My main gripe, however, as has been alluded to in a previous post which mentioned politics, is that schools don't really teach about the real world as such. They do not teach a child about the society that they live in and perhaps more importantly, how to look after themselves in the society that they live in. Alternatives to the current system, positives of the current system, ways in which people can make positive influences individually and collectively, the political system and the process of voting, a history of where we have actually come from, the things that have shaped our culture and those around us, rather than simply learning about Henry VIII and not having that put into any real context. Improved sex education, feminism, gay rights, minority issues, the impact of the media, the internet, social media etc etc etc etc.

 

A lot of that would be high school stuff (and it be stretched out over a long time) of course but still, there are plenty of people who get their opinions on these things solely from one source, and that source is often biased. I just don't think children are taught to question things. They simply accept facts and then repeat them. It'd be a slow process but a movement towards this kind of learning would benefit people a lot. It won't happen though, not least because it would be quite hard to manage with class sizes as they currently are. Plus it wouldn't be in the interest of those defining the syllabus to raise a generation of people who may question and challenge the status quo.

 

 

 

 

(that was a rant and i didn't read it back so will be more a stream of consciousness than a concise point)

 

Well I can quite honestly say that I agree with you on all of that, and the bit about questioning things reminded me of this:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OnWnwwxNPA]George Carlin - pride - YouTube[/ame]

 

My friend tweeted it to me a while back when I was berating patriotism.

I was an intelligent kid and found some (but not all) quite easy. I was often top of the class at Primary School. Second year of High School I stopped trying and lost interest in a lot of the course material across all subjects. I still made it to uni after doing absolutely nothing for about six or seven years given I was a bright kid but I kind of lost faith in what was taught and the way it was taught. This wasn't really the teachers fault entirely, and I was to blame for my laziness of course, but then after going into teacher training I really fell out with the system in the United Kingdom. The rigorous testing of children and the pressures that come with this on things that won't particularly matter to the majority of children. The rigorous testing of teachers that shapes the way the course material is taught, moving it away from education as exploration and into simply learning and regurgitating facts.

 

My main gripe, however, as has been alluded to in a previous post which mentioned politics, is that schools don't really teach about the real world as such. They do not teach a child about the society that they live in and perhaps more importantly, how to look after themselves in the society that they live in. Alternatives to the current system, positives of the current system, ways in which people can make positive influences individually and collectively, the political system and the process of voting, a history of where we have actually come from, the things that have shaped our culture and those around us, rather than simply learning about Henry VIII and not having that put into any real context. Improved sex education, feminism, gay rights, minority issues, the impact of the media, the internet, social media etc etc etc etc.

 

A lot of that would be high school stuff (and it be stretched out over a long time) of course but still, there are plenty of people who get their opinions on these things solely from one source, and that source is often biased. I just don't think children are taught to question things. They simply accept facts and then repeat them. It'd be a slow process but a movement towards this kind of learning would benefit people a lot. It won't happen though, not least because it would be quite hard to manage with class sizes as they currently are. Plus it wouldn't be in the interest of those defining the syllabus to raise a generation of people who may question and challenge the status quo.

 

 

 

 

(that was a rant and i didn't read it back so will be more a stream of consciousness than a concise point)

 

I can relate to pretty much all this, I was bright in primary school then I became disinterested and my grades dropped. Plus the fact that our school went into special measures in my second year, we barely had any consistent teachers we had supply after supply in English and maths and I think in one exam I literally got 1 mark in the whole thing.

 

We had so much fun just messing about and some kids would deliberately wind the supply teachers up then get their parents to complain and they kept getting fired and replaced whilst the lazy teachers were always kept safe because the kids loved not being set any work at all and being shown Bruce Almighty for the hundredth time.

 

There was one RS teacher who would send people out of class for arguing about evolution and how they didn't agree with him about religion, basically any kind of debate or answer which contradicted him he wouldn't tolerate. He would rant about how the chavs were all scum and I genuinely can't work out why some of them were teachers in the first place.

 

The amount of kids who shout abuse at the gay minorites is horrendous and the fact that the teachers just tell them to not stand out and that what should they expect if they are different is even worse. More should be taught about respect for others and definitely more debates and students feeling like they can question things.

I can relate to pretty much all this, I was bright in primary school then I became disinterested and my grades dropped. Plus the fact that our school went into special measures in my second year, we barely had any consistent teachers we had supply after supply in English and maths and I think in one exam I literally got 1 mark in the whole thing.

 

We had so much fun just messing about and some kids would deliberately wind the supply teachers up then get their parents to complain and they kept getting fired and replaced whilst the lazy teachers were always kept safe because the kids loved not being set any work at all and being shown Bruce Almighty for the hundredth time.

 

There was one RS teacher who would send people out of class for arguing about evolution and how they didn't agree with him about religion, basically any kind of debate or answer which contradicted him he wouldn't tolerate. He would rant about how the chavs were all scum and I genuinely can't work out why some of them were teachers in the first place.

 

The amount of kids who shout abuse at the gay minorites is horrendous and the fact that the teachers just tell them to not stand out and that what should they expect if they are different is even worse. More should be taught about respect for others and definitely more debates and students feeling like they can question things.

 

Wow. You should anonymously whistle blow if it's still the same!

Wow. You should anonymously whistle blow if it's still the same!

The school's better now, we're out of special measure and that teacher left, my friend is contacting some kind of board about the whole homophobia in the school so hopefully she gets something done about it.

I wonder how I would have turned out if I had a decent education. But then again, being a lazy person, without any natural intelligence, it may have made little difference.

I can relate to pretty much all this, I was bright in primary school then I became disinterested and my grades dropped. Plus the fact that our school went into special measures in my second year, we barely had any consistent teachers we had supply after supply in English and maths and I think in one exam I literally got 1 mark in the whole thing.

 

We had so much fun just messing about and some kids would deliberately wind the supply teachers up then get their parents to complain and they kept getting fired and replaced whilst the lazy teachers were always kept safe because the kids loved not being set any work at all and being shown Bruce Almighty for the hundredth time.

 

There was one RS teacher who would send people out of class for arguing about evolution and how they didn't agree with him about religion, basically any kind of debate or answer which contradicted him he wouldn't tolerate. He would rant about how the chavs were all scum and I genuinely can't work out why some of them were teachers in the first place.

 

The amount of kids who shout abuse at the gay minorites is horrendous and the fact that the teachers just tell them to not stand out and that what should they expect if they are different is even worse. More should be taught about respect for others and definitely more debates and students feeling like they can question things.

 

RS was known as RE in my days and was always an interesting subject as the teacher refused to teach anything about other religions other than Roman Catholic and would argue pretty much every lesson, near the end of year 9 (easter-time), he either got sacked or left, as it was random supply teachers whom were all over the place.

 

For a winter term, PE for the boys was either outdoor football with a strict ex-ref or indoor football, neither was much fun as the trouble-makers did the indoor football (in a mid-sized gym). I think that is one of the reasons why I fell behind in sports due to some idiots trying to ruin every damn lesson.

 

One year (I think it was year 10) we had about 6 chemistry teachers, 1 retired, 3 supply teachers, 1 which got sacked after a couple weeks plus 1 whom stayed, hence my education that year was all over the place for chemistry as every teacher covered different parts in different methods.

 

The IT teacher didn't have a clue when it came to using Windows PCs as he trained up on Acorns (started in 98 with around 30 Acorns in the school, all in the IT room, ended in 03 and there was a good 150 windows PCs dotted about the school)

 

I did have a great maths teacher