Those Exam Results
Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times says what all of us have been thinking about the GCSE results. They can’t go on rising without any visible means of support for ever.
After all teachers like results to improve as it makes them look good and if they get worse, then teachers look bad. It is better that kids find out they’re not the new Jane Austen or Stephen Hawkins at school, where hopefully teachers can do something about it.
It probably why understanding of statistics is so bad in this country, the first set they come across are massaged in their and their teachers favour.
The Anonymous Widower 
I agree, plus nowadays kids are taught to the test – they can do the things on the syllabus, but there is no breadth to their learning at all. They are taught to pass exams rather than love the subject, or more important, to love learning for its own sake.
Comment by Liz P | August 26, 2012 |
Cobblers – the good state results argument undermines the cause of private education in this country – after all there is never a debate about private school exam results being so good every year! why not? Surely something is wrong – are we suggesting that every child in private schools are inately more intelligent than kids in the state sector? How many adults cannot read or write? how long must we put up with this? think about it a bit.
Comment by gingerfightback | August 27, 2012 |
The trouble with education is that it doesn’t prepare people for life afterwards. It’s always been thus! My father had a letterpress printing works and took on one apprentice every year. He was always complaining that schools sent him prissy kids with good English, whereas the ones that were successful, were ones that didn’t mind getting there hand dirty. Most had very poor English skills, but given time, he could get them up to the standard he required. It’s a long time ago, but some of his kids rose to the highest levels in the printing industry. I’ve not employed anybody for some years, so I can’t judge education myself. On the other hand my kids didn’t get the best of schooling over thirty years ago.
I don’t know what the solution is, but my friends who employ a lot of people or who admit them to university, say that the system isn’t working.
Changing to GCEs isn’t a solution either, as my youngest son was in the first year to do GCSE and his good teachers completely misunderstood what happened in the change.
Possibly we need a lot more prctical training in schools. I don’t mean woodwork by that. But should everybody be taught things that they will need in later life, like life skills and perhaps how to write a simple App.
Comment by AnonW | August 27, 2012 |
The children in private schools are literally spoon fed the information for the exams, they aren’t usually encouraged to read around the subject or widen their knowledge. At least, that is my personal experience of them.
Comment by Liz P | August 27, 2012 |
One thing that has always helped me, is knowing my way around a library and latterly the Internet. So as school you don’t plagiarise, but when you have a problem at work, you may not be totally alone.
Comment by AnonW | August 27, 2012 |