Friday, August 04, 2006

More Gems In The News

Well there goes my chances of ever getting another job:

BBC News

Those of you from outside the teaching profession might find it hard to believe, but there are still some of our number who do not think that spelling and grammar are important. No wonder employers are tearing their hair out. All most of them want are kids that can read, write and do a few simple sums without going off with stress and depression every three days.

Sir Digby Jones, ex Head of the Confederation of British Industry was also pretty shocked to discover a few home truths about the kids we are churning out:

BBC News

However not all the news is bad. Whilst half of school leavers cannot spell, read properly, punctuate a sentence or do simple sums; nobody could accuse the Professional Association of Teachers of not knowing what's important:

BBC News Again

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Teenagers should learn how to bath a baby and change a nappy, a teachers' union has heard."

Well they ARE the ones that are having all the babies! Who cares if you can multiply numbers as long as you can "multiply"!

Anonymous said...

"I found it unacceptable that no one had shown me."

Mrs Edwards said she was lucky because her mother lived nearby.

"Few people now are that fortunate - the extended family no longer occupies a village or urban neighbourhood."

As a result, few young people learned how to be "good parents on a practical basis" by watching other family members interacting with their offspring.

What planet has this woman been living on?

Jurgen

Anonymous said...

All very interesting. BUT...

...later this month the media will be screaming their annual 'GCSE results better than ever before!' headlines, accompanied by pictures of slips of paper revealing that everyone in the country has got a string of 'A' grades.

Yet, as you say, 'half of all school leavers cannot spell, read properly' etc etc.

So how do you explain this, Mr C? Are school-leavers dullards or geniuses? They surely can't be both, now, can they?

It appears the education system either fails pupils completely or else happily churns out lots of little Einsteins. I, for one, find this paradox most confusing.

Your thoughts on the matter would be most welcome.

Anonymous said...

I think teaching them parenting skills is a bloody good idea. Post 14 education contains a whole group of kids who don't want to be there studying History/french Etc. Some of them are going to be parents quite soon. why not use the time, at school, usefully and productively. 100 years ago they wouldn't have been there. they would have been in the work force being productive.

Anonymous said...

Our school lent out "robot babies " to the Y 11 childcare pupils consisting of 6 of our finest female students. These wonderful things record every hug, feeding session and nappy change over a weekend and are supposed to teach pupils how to care for a child.....
They were all dead before they left school. One was thrown through a basketball hoop in the gym.

Anonymous said...

Surely I'm not the only teacher who thinks that education is about more than "skilling up" for a job? I hate being part of a system which only values learning for what it gets you in terms of a job (ie money) Can't wait for digby whatisface to retire (not long now)

And I really really resent having to do those things parents can't be bothered to do - we now have SEBs to teach (social emotional behavioural skills). Why don't mummy and daddy tell their little darling that even when angry, walloping another child is wrong?


grrrrr

Anonymous said...

"Lynn Edwards ...said parenting classes should be taught in schools before children could legally become parents."

Hmm. Interesting propsal. Just one question: given that they can't even stop people from f****ng each other in prison, exactly how are you going to enforce that, you retard?

Anonymous said...

you don't suppose the stupid bitch coud have read a book about nappy changing or even....gasp! found out about nappy changing before the event!!!

Fat Sparrow said...

Wow, apparently British kids are becoming American. Now you know what we have had to put up with over here.

I have a 2-year-old, and I'll be home schooling him. I've found that most of the teachers aren't bad, but the other students are awful. If I want my kid to learn violence, I'll beat the crap out of him myself, thank you.

As for Mrs. Lynn Edwards, changing a diaper is not exactly rocket science; the diaper goes on the end of the baby that the yucky mess comes out of, that is not the head. It's a fairly easy formula to follow. If she's that dumb, maybe she shouldn't be having children. Just wait 'til she becomes a geezer, and her kids complain that no one taught them how to diaper geezers.

I didn't change any diapers until I had kids, and I didn't have any problems learning. Touching the crap of other people's children is nasty, duh, which is why I waited til I had my own. I hand the stinky sprog off to the husband as often as I can, heh heh heh. "Your baby needs changing," I tell him. Maybe Mrs. Lynn Edwards should have tried that.