Will! Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29518319 Quite an interesting account of the start of the modern decline in school education. The schools were described as 'experimental', but they weren't run as experiments. There was no recording, analysis and publication of results. It seems to me that the 'no curriculum' model could only work for children who stumble serendipitously across a vocation they find interesting enough to want to learn about for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 start of the modern decline in school education. Start? I was at school in the 1970s, and adults of that era were quite clear that decline had long-since set in. And no, I didn't go to any kind of 'experimental' school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidg Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I remember a Panorama from the 70s about William Tyndale school. http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=34667 "All this was being ruined by a bunch of middle-class ideologues who did not themselves have a proper experience of state education. Their prejudices were at the expense of working-class children. There was clear evidence that working-class parents and children wanted education and what they wanted was not the same as the middle-class Labour people from Islington, the trendy lecturers from higher education who wanted education at the expense of working-class kids. Jim and I talked about this. Whenever I heard those people talk I got very angry . . . Their thinking was based on Guardian-style ideologies and prejudices." Lesson learned, if someone has mutton chops and a corduroy jacket, don't hire them at your school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 "Middle-class ideologues", "Guardian-style ideologies and prejudices", usually the sort of thing trotted out by someone with their own set of prejudices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Start? I was at school in the 1970s, and adults of that era were quite clear that decline had long-since set in. And no, I didn't go to any kind of 'experimental' school. It was more like Hogwarts really! Except girls were forbidden! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long time lurking Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I think they were called free schools i know some one that attended one in Liverpool, Scotland Road? from what i can make out they had mandatory Maths /English the rest was all about life skills with all the other parts of the corriculum being optional where the pupil could choose how much they wanted to do in each subject and that could be nothing if they wanted They said many would just concentrate on the subjects they had an interest in ,not a bad idea IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 If it has to be said, I learnt far more from the day I left school......a whole new world with a completely different picture opened up to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkG Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 It seems to me that the 'no curriculum' model could only work for children who stumble serendipitously across a vocation they find interesting enough to want to learn about for years. Like most of us, then? Or, hey, we could not keep kids at school until they're 21 or older, and they could go and try a bunch of things when they're young until they figure out what they really want to do. Radical idea, I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 What became of the scholars? That's what matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 What became of the scholars? That's what matters. I'll bet you had a fine education at "Wackford Squeer's academy for young gentlemen" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 My history teacher told the class that he only became a teacher because of the school holidays........an awful supply teacher that popped up every English lesson didn't like us and was obvious she hated her job. The maths teacher was the best....we all loved her and she wanted the best out of us..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I went to a very good school, where I was a "very naughty boy". It was great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I went to a very good school, where I was a "very naughty boy". It was great! Apart from a few good lessons with the good teachers I didn't bother to go in, bunked off....a few of us met down the road and round the corner and then went and played chess at somebodies house....doubt if we were missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Like most of us, then? Or, hey, we could not keep kids at school until they're 21 or older, and they could go and try a bunch of things when they're young until they figure out what they really want to do. Radical idea, I know. Yeah, radical. I reckon I peaked at age about 12 or 13. After that, school just drummed it out of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Apart from a few good lessons with the good teachers I didn't bother to go in, bunked off....a few of us met down the road and round the corner and then went and played chess at somebodies house....doubt if we were missed. Can I bunk off with you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Can I bunk off with you? If you had been around at the time of course you could...the more the merrier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 If you had been around at the time of course you could...the more the merrier... MrPin is omnitemporal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheBlueCat Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 The school I went to - bog standard comp in a market town in Yorkshire - was taken over by a cabal of left wing ideologues consisting of the headmaster (a self declared member of the communist party), a collection of similar people he hired into senior positions and the NUT shop-stewards. All teaching was moved into mixed ability classes, most competetive sport was stopped, there were no exams beyond the official ones (i.e. O levels, CSEs, 16+, A levels etc) and, by the time he'd been in charge for ten years, more or less no discipline at all. It was an absolute disaster. A school that regularly sent half of its sixth form to university (this was before all the polys had their names changed) ended up sending maybe two or three a year. And who was impacted the most by this? Well, it sure as hell wasn't the middle class kids because they mostly ended up at other, better, schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I didn't become a Communist at school! In fact I became French, much to the disgust of my German imaginary aunt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qetesuesi Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/12872/dumbing-down-the-proof/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNACR Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Apart from a few good lessons with the good teachers I didn't bother to go in, bunked off....a few of us met down the road and round the corner and then went and played chess at somebodies house....doubt if we were missed. Somehow, I just know 'played chess' isn't a euphemism either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erat_forte Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 School is an instrument of opression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidg Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/12872/dumbing-down-the-proof/ That doesn't look too hard, apart from the Latin. It is possibly a bit long on regurgitating facts and a bit light on analysis though. They miss a couple of stanza's of Kingsley's poem but it seems clear the Dee is a treacherous beach with fast moving tides and poor old Mary got caught by the incoming waters. Then again given that Kingsley was a bit of a socialist maybe Mary symbolizes a more innocent pre-industrial Britain rolled over and drowned by change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 School is an instrument of opression. See me after assembly, ex-prefect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 If you had been around at the time of course you could...the more the merrier... I'm sorry I made such a lewd suggestion. I've just looked up "innuendo" on Wikipedia, and I think I may have done it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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