Comments on: The Great Education Debate

by: Phi.

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:11:13 +0000

sorry Bill ‘too’.

by: Phi.

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:10:30 +0000

Just in case Bill’s watching any of my comments, please be tolerant when marking them as I’m always in a hurry, especially the ’s’ instead of ‘z’!
Didn’t they used to take all the disruptive kids and put them in one centre, mind you it’s been left to late they may aswell just turn the schools in to centres for disruptive kids and start again!

by: Alan Douglas

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:40:24 +0000

In order to advance the argument about selection by ability, or streaming, I think a simple experiement should be done.

Take one single bright pupil, and put him/her in a rowdy class. Carefully note if the bright pupil’s presence raises or lowers the overall achievement levels.

Then take one disruptive pupil, and place him/her in a high ability and studious class. Carefully note if this pupil’s presence raises or lowers the overall achievement levels.

From my own distant schooldays, I think I can predict the results.

Then tell David Cameron.

Alan Douglas

by: bill

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:29:06 +0000

Despite your comma in the second line of your post, I believe the word “which” is meant to refer to “musings” which as you know is plural so instead of “shows” it should read “show”.

by: Phi.

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:16:18 +0000

I find this subject vast and agree and disagree all along the way, he is right, school is a place for education to be achieved it should not be disrupted for the children with the ability to keep up by other children that haven’t and their reasons for this should be dealt with out of valuable lesson time. Poor teachers (the genuine ones) not only (as seen also this week as a topic relevant to male applications for jobs that involve working with children,) do they have to be so careful with political correctness that it may affect their teaching skills and also other problems they may encounter trying to discipline behaviour in the class room I dread to think of some of the confrontations that can arise by doing this with the parents who do not acknowledge they have a responsibility to maintain this discipline.
My disagreement here is that it has only been made relevant to behavioural problems, I think there needs to be better provisions made for the non fluent in english children to have extra curricular time in or out of the school evironment too because I know for a fact that can also be hugely disruptive. Late in my childrens primary school years one of their favourite and lovely teachers married in to my social circle and left work, she informed me at an occasion after this that she felt dissapointed with her career and the little time she had to generally concentrate on the general learning in her class room as she was obliged (equal rights) to spend more of her time helping the children with difficulties (behaviour and language)
than she had left for the capable children in her class.
I am a home schooling parent with two children achieving so much formally and also the general skills they aquire informally when they have been taught to desire to know more and I am very proud of them, there is no official or financial support for this and it does in fact get frowned upon by many in the authorities despite the fact that I chose to take them out of school legally with their best interests at heart and I am convinced by their manners and social skills that even despite what they are achieving with their formal qualifications to date that they are better children for it. This does not mean that I would not have preferred for them to go to school but unable to fund schooling that might have been to a higher standard of learning my choices left me with little faith that they would achieve well and not have been mislead by now.
Could continue forever but to much to do!