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Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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A couple of interesting points from both ReallyBrown and Icon. I'm not a teacher, but many I have spoken to suggest that the National Cirriculum has put intolerable strain and constraints on the teaching profession - so much so that several have left. The concept of being able to compare and contrast seems to me to be a good one. How otherwise do people compare and contrast. How do parents make quantative and qualative judgements as to which school is best for their children. How do "meta-educators" decide which schools are doing well and what can be learnt from them, conversely what schools are doing badly and how can they be helped? But when it becomes dogmatic in it's application, it has an adverse effect. The NC seems to be a one size fits all straight jacket. Within my own family I have had children at special needs schools who, by law, have had to follow the NC even though it is totally inappropriate - causing the teachers to use sophist arguments to try and circumnavigate the stupidy of government legislation. There is an argument that "tables only give partial information". This may be true, but some information is better than none. On a slight aside I am basically a libertarian/free marketeer about these things - if a school is failing and can't be fixed then perhaps it should be allowed to suffer death by natural selection. And if that "selection" process involves giving parents information that lets them decide that they are not going to send their kids to that school, then this is a good thing. The PC attitude that some hold - that it is wrong to criticise and even close a school - puts major inertia in place against improvement. [The obvious criticism to the above is that it is the most able and involved parents that use the data to find the best schools for their kids, leaving those who are lesser equipped sending their kids to the failing schools.] Basically I'm saying I think there is a problem with implementation rather than the concept. Without being patronising, I think those who overcome an innate limitation to succeed in any field deserve extra praise. I used maths as an example because it's "my subject" and reason I was visting my daughter's college. But any subject would have done to exemplify the point - standards are dropping, less is expected of children these days. Education is being dragged down to the lowest common denominator. |
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ReallyBrown IP address: Logged Posts: 596
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The tables are fiddled. |
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| Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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That's a problem in the implementation and not the concept. Those caught fiddling should have their goolies cut off! |
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| Icon IP address: Logged Posts: 1646
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10 extra credits for you Dud for using the word 'goolies' in the new millenium |
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| ReallyBrown IP address: Logged Posts: 596
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Job swap. Come see. |
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| Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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Ok, but only if flogging is still allowed? Seriously - I know my limits - so for the sake of the kids I politely decline |
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| ReallyBrown IP address: Logged Posts: 596
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Maths teachers are very hard to find. |
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| Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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If I could teach, if the job was not hampered by the NC, red tape and socialist interventionalist government, I still wouldn't consider teaching such a condescending syllabus. |
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LeeW IP address: Logged Posts: 5284
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Good post Dud It's not just Maths though, as you said. Apparently, it doesn't count against in your English exam and coursework if you don't know the difference between "there", "their" and "they're". The same goes for "your" and "you're", and all the other common obvious things that most of us had learned before we left primary school. I can't believe that people are leaving school, armed with a load of GCSE grade A*, and still don't know the most basic things. How can they possibly have passed, never mind get the highest possible grade? I did my GCSEs in 1989. They were the second year of GCSE exams to be taken. I got two Bs and 4 Cs, which was pretty good at the time. It seems we were taught considerably more complex stuff in all subjects than nowadays. We did trig, logs, stats etc in maths lessons, and it was in the final exam. People will tell you that exams are not getting easier, but they are. It's a joke. |
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| Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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Something that it appears that you can't say in this PC world: Exams are MEANT to differentiate and discern! How can that occur if the subject is so unchallenging, so easy, so basic that everyone gets top marks ? |
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| ReallyBrown IP address: Logged Posts: 596
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Not everyone does. |
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| Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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"Not everybody does" what? |
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| MoralApe IP address: Logged Posts: Too Many!!!
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I didn't.
5 C's, 4 D's and an E. Worked hard through college to get myself a Double Distinction and a Merit, and now I'm working even harder at uni and getting back 2-1 level work, with the occasional dip to a 2-2 and the odd 1st.
I don't know if exams are easier. I'd be very surprised, if I'm being honest. It's odd that the people that work really hard to do well in school and get top grades are just put down with talk that exams are easier. I work really hard to get the grades I'm getting, and it always feels like a complete kick in the face to hear people saying how easy it is to get a degree now. It's normally those without. |
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| ReallyBrown IP address: Logged Posts: 596
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Not everybody gets top marks. I think hospitals are messed up. Many kids leave with low grades in this seemingly sugar-cake-easy exam system we have. My own take on this is that GCSEs are relatively straightforward for kids who've got something up top, who've listened and not mucked about, and who have done a modicum of revision. A Level, however sugared these days, are still the biggest challenge along Certificate Road. Pass those and get on a degree course and it gets simpler for a while. Finals might come as a knee in the nads. Based on my job, exam marking, my children, and tea leaves in a thin China cup. |
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| ReallyBrown IP address: Logged Posts: 596
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A plethora of other assessment systems exist. Always choose what suits you best. |
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| MoralApe IP address: Logged Posts: Too Many!!!
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Again, I completely forgot my A Levels, that due to my GCSE grades, I scraped into. I got a D and an E. |
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| Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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Ok, I see what you were saying. I think that because not everyone gets top marks, this takes away nothing from my point. if you get an "A", a first, a distinction etc., it should mean something, it should indicate excellence not just mediocrity. Ummmm sherbert :) |
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| ReallyBrown IP address: Logged Posts: 596
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A degree puts off work slavery for a few years. That's a bonus. |
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| MoralApe IP address: Logged Posts: Too Many!!!
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But what renders a top grade to be viewed as mediocre?
I worked my arse off trying to get a triple distinction at college. When I was short of that grade by six points, I was absolutely gutted. I still am, it has just made me even more determined to conclude uni with a top grade. |
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| Dud IP address: Logged Posts: 1641
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Overuse and low attainment criteria! |
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| Discussion > General Chat > Maths Dumbing Down | |||
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