Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Webby the Bear]

ooooops. apologies, speed read and thought it was about spending on education 

[MR MISTER]

ooooops. apologies, speed read and thought it was about spending on education 

You just said a mouthful, boy.

[MR MISTER]

Question for STEMO

Does your wife ever get stroppy parents who want to know why their kids aren't achieving? And then having found out at parents evening etc, do they then give their kids an incentive?

In my day it was called if you don't apply yourself you will get a good hiding and end up being a dustman. Oh and we did get a good hiding too if there wasn't an improvement.

Yes, of course, but far too few I'm afraid.

[albitz]

Question for STEMO

Does your wife ever get stroppy parents who want to know why their kids aren't achieving? And then having found out at parents evening etc, do they then give their kids an incentive?

In my day it was called if you don't apply yourself you will get a good hiding and end up being a dustman. Oh and we did get a good hiding too if there wasn't an improvement.

Yes, of course, but far too few I'm afraid.

I got the hidings, had a high pain threshold so ignored them - and ended up almost a dustman.
Trouble is that argument wont work any more as dustmen earn over 500 quid a week these days, which is why we all pay through the nose in council tax.

[MR MISTER]

I'll give you an example of what she's up against although, for obvious reasons, I must be careful. At the end of year 6, the kids sit the their standard attainment tests (SATS). If a child is expected to get a level 5 (top marks), then you count them in as such in order to give you some idea as to where you will end up in the league table. One level 5 can make all the difference.
One such child brought a letter in from her mum asking for permission to go on holiday during term time, right in the middle of SATs week. Wifey was horrified and said no. They went anyway. Sanction?, 100 pounds fine. Saved on holiday? Probably five hundred pounds.
What can one do?

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

What saddens me is the number of adults who are either illiterate, or extremely poor when it comes to spelling.

How the hell can a child go through more than a decade at school and yet not have the ability to read and write to a reasonable standard.

Do children not read to their teachers these days?....

Back in the sixties we all had our own individual 'spelling book'........with twenty new words to learn each week.

[Broomies Mate]

I'm guessing a lot has to do with these new fangle diseases (or whatever they are) like Dyslexia, ADHD, Chlamydia and the like! 

Seriously - There are no losers in our Schools anymore, nobody is allowed to be an 'underachiever'.  Every child has to be taught the same and told they are doing just great.

Bullshit!  If a kid is struggling, less playtime and more studying!  Can't see it happening though!

[Rods2]

What saddens me is the number of adults who are either illiterate, or extremely poor when it comes to spelling.

How the hell can a child go through more than a decade at school and yet not have the ability to read and write to a reasonable standard.

Do children not read to their teachers these days?....

Back in the sixties we all had our own individual 'spelling book'........with twenty new words to learn each week.

Unfortunately, didn't work with me where I'm dyslexic. I have since I was sixteen / seventeen when I realised the importance of English put in a lot of time into improving my English to go from abysmal to poor on spelling, having to rely heavily on spell checkers, without them them I'm back to the old method of a dictionary by my side.

With my grown up daughter I could see she was struggling with arithmetic at school, where the teacher struggled to teach it. So I paid for my daughter to learn with extra private lessons using a Japanese system called Kumon, which is based on repartition and it works. On Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, division and fractions she can answer a question almost instantly.

Where my wife is a primary school teacher, my 3 year old daughter already knows the alphabet and is beginning to read and write along with learning simple arithmetic. She is also very practical where she enjoys painting and simple paper model making which you can download off the Internet and print. This week she has been making Christmas cards with coloured paper. My wife and her sister rarely watch television where they would rather be making things themselves and helping my daughter to. Spending time and inspiring children is all too easily overlooked.

[Varche]

What saddens me is the number of adults who are either illiterate, or extremely poor when it comes to spelling.

How the hell can a child go through more than a decade at school and yet not have the ability to read and write to a reasonable standard.

Do children not read to their teachers these days?....

Back in the sixties we all had our own individual 'spelling book'........with twenty new words to learn each week.

Err do they read to their parents might be a better question first!

[aaronjb]

Sanction?, 100 pounds fine. Saved on holiday? Probably five hundred pounds.
What can one do?

£10,000 sanction, take the kids off the parents and then shoot the parents.

Er.. I came over all TB for a minute there I think.

Seriously, though, £100 is nothing to an awful lot of people (and the world to some!) so clearly the fine needs to be bigger and the threat greater - parents held culpable under the thread of serious (criminal) sanctions, perhaps?

[MR MISTER]

Sanction?, 100 pounds fine. Saved on holiday? Probably five hundred pounds.
What can one do?

£10,000 sanction, take the kids off the parents and then shoot the parents.

Er.. I came over all TB for a minute there I think.

Seriously, though, £100 is nothing to an awful lot of people (and the world to some!) so clearly the fine needs to be bigger and the threat greater - parents held culpable under the thread of serious (criminal) sanctions, perhaps?

Fine in theory, Aaron, but when people are getting community service for burglary or worse, hardly practical. You can't actually send them to prison, and you wouldn't want to because it wouldn't sovle the problem. Any lesser punishment is likely to be ignored, even paraded as a badge of honour. It's a very sticky problem, intertwined with lots of other social/economic woes.



Where's my rope? 

[aaronjb]

Sanction?, 100 pounds fine. Saved on holiday? Probably five hundred pounds.
What can one do?

£10,000 sanction, take the kids off the parents and then shoot the parents.

Er.. I came over all TB for a minute there I think.

Seriously, though, £100 is nothing to an awful lot of people (and the world to some!) so clearly the fine needs to be bigger and the threat greater - parents held culpable under the thread of serious (criminal) sanctions, perhaps?

Fine in theory, Aaron, but when people are getting community service for burglary or worse, hardly practical. You can't actually send them to prison, and you wouldn't want to because it wouldn't sovle the problem. Any lesser punishment is likely to be ignored, even paraded as a badge of honour. It's a very sticky problem, intertwined with lots of other social/economic woes.



Where's my rope? 

to the rope bit - some of the threads on here have been very depressing lately

I know you're right though - it was a half hearted tongue in cheek response on my part anyway. I don't pretend to have all the answers to fix what's broken where I work, let alone to fix what's broken in society

[The Red Baron]

What saddens me is the number of adults who are either illiterate, or extremely poor when it comes to spelling.

How the hell can a child go through more than a decade at school and yet not have the ability to read and write to a reasonable standard.

Do children not read to their teachers these days?....

Back in the sixties we all had our own individual 'spelling book'........with twenty new words to learn each week.

Err do they read to their parents might be a better question first!

my lil girl does every night. she`s in keystage 2 but sits with ks5 & 6 with her spellings. i do push her though. 

[blackviper90210]

What saddens me is the number of adults who are either illiterate, or extremely poor when it comes to spelling.

How the hell can a child go through more than a decade at school and yet not have the ability to read and write to a reasonable standard.

Do children not read to their teachers these days?....

Back in the sixties we all had our own individual 'spelling book'........with twenty new words to learn each week.

Err do they read to their parents might be a better question first!

my lil girl does every night. she`s in keystage 2 but sits with ks5 & 6 with her spellings. i do push her though. 

Ditto, my boy started reception school in September and has come on leaps and bounds. He loves coming home and telling us what new sounds and words he has learnt. After playtime dinner and bath, he sits and reads his book to me and we go through his "rocket words" that he has to learn, before moving onto the next stage.

I'm making the most of his enthusiasm and lust for learning as I'm sure over time that may well diminish. In the meantime, I'm giving him all the encouragement and time he wants 

[The Red Baron]

What saddens me is the number of adults who are either illiterate, or extremely poor when it comes to spelling.

How the hell can a child go through more than a decade at school and yet not have the ability to read and write to a reasonable standard.

Do children not read to their teachers these days?....

Back in the sixties we all had our own individual 'spelling book'........with twenty new words to learn each week.

Err do they read to their parents might be a better question first!

my lil girl does every night. she`s in keystage 2 but sits with ks5 & 6 with her spellings. i do push her though. 

Ditto, my boy started reception school in September and has come on leaps and bounds. He loves coming home and telling us what new sounds and words he has learnt. After playtime dinner and bath, he sits and reads his book to me and we go through his "rocket words" that he has to learn, before moving onto the next stage.

I'm making the most of his enthusiasm and lust for learning as I'm sure over time that may well diminish. In the meantime, I'm giving him all the encouragement and time he wants 

We must be doing something right then Dave.