Surplus subjects learnt at school.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

I spent 14 years as a governor of a very good Primary School and the longer I was there, the more it became obvious that our educational system is seriously flawed. The politicians impose constraints in the form of (academic) levels that must be achieved and league tables are used as a metaphorical stick to beat those establishments that do not do well. This has very little to do with ensuring that children are fitted to take their place in the world at large. Some children achieve brilliantly at academic subjects whilst others really struggle but have strengths in other areas. Under our current system those who achieve poorly in academic subjects are cast aside by the system which strives to show ever improving academic results in the league tables. A good school, and the one I was governor at was one, will make every effort to include all pupils in making sure that all have a chance at achieving in some form or other, be it sport, drama or other non academic activities which unfortunately are not recorded as academic achievements . I am very disappointed that the system still focuses on producing at the end point, pupils who have achieved the requisite number of GCSE’s and there is no account taken of other activities that contribute to making young people fit to take their place in the world of work. We need to get away from teaching subjects at school just because we have always taught that subject, we need to focus on what engages youngsters and contributes to making them better citizens, we need a more holistic and vocational education system. It is evident from some of the experiences in this thread that many of us would have benefitted from a radically different education that focussed on our abilities that were not academic. If I had my way I would burn all the Latin textbooks, but that is just born from my excruciating Latin lessons that I was forced to take.

Dave W

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Samsaranda on 24/07/2019 17:24:49:

I spent 14 years as a governor of a very good Primary School and the longer I was there, the more it became obvious that our educational system is seriously flawed.

…

If I had my way I would burn all the Latin textbooks, but that is just born from my excruciating Latin lessons that I was forced to take.

Dave W

Hear, hear. But don't burn textbooks – there's an anti-Nazi German saying that says that if you burn books, you will generally end up burning people too. It'd be better to quietly supersede them (Latin super – above, sedere – sit, as in a higher court overruling a lower one's ruling) with books that explain the roots of our own languages.

Edited By Mick B1 on 24/07/2019 17:36:42

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Nicely put Mick B1. Dave W

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Monday morning, start tech college at 9am finish at 7pm, start work at 8pm, Tuesday morning 7am, go home for a well earned sleep. I wonder how many youngsters would be up for doing that these days?

Mike

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

The one subject I was not too fond of was "the headmasters cane" it must have been regarded as a subject as it was taught in a lesson..? Just before applying the punishment he always said "right boy, here is a lesson you wont forget in a hurry".

And yes I did suffer it on a couple of occasions.. arguing your innocence was futile, he considered that if you had been sent to his office you were 100% guilty.

Edited By Ron Laden on 25/07/2019 09:28:39

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