Schooling

realitybites

realitybites

making lemonade
Don't think there has ever been a thread on schooling. I don't mean higher education. But we could talk about that as well. But what I am interested in discussing is formal education.

Typically in the US we attend school from age five until age 17 or eighteen - K-12 (kindergarten through twelfth grade.) In the UK it is a bit different. Perhaps these differences can be discussed.

Another notable difference is that a private school in the US is called a private school. Whereas a private school in the UK, such as Eaton, is called a public school. (Eaton is also a boarding school.)

Public schools in the US are tax-funded.

Private schools in the US include parochial schools (affiliated with religious denominations), non-profit independent schools (charter schools), and for-profit private schools (Montessori).

We also have home schooling. And of course there are boarding and prep schools.

It's all a bit confusing, isn't it?

Anyhow, what I am interested in is what kind of school you went to? What was it like? Are you/will you school your children the same way? Ever wish you were educated differently? If you are from somewhere other than the UK or US can you share how your educational system works where you live?
 
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In the UK, Public and Private mean the exact opposite of in the US. I went to a UK Public School. Hated every second. Turned me into a socialist.

P.
 
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Uncleskinny said:
Hell no. Though they forced religious morning services on you. I am now a militant atheist too.

P.
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Yes, I know. :) Are you raising your kids without religion? Do they have morning services where they go to school? If so, how do you feel about that?
 
realitybites said:
Yes, I know. :) Are you raising your kids without religion? Do they have morning services where they go to school? If so, how do you feel about that?
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Well, they're both University age. My daughter's at Oxford. She amazes me. It's none of my business whether they are religious, eat meat, are gay or straight, or whatever. It's their lives. They can do their own thing and find their own way. None of my business. If they're happy, that'll do for me.

P.
 
Uncleskinny said:
Well, they're both University age. My daughter's at Oxford. She amazes me. It's none of my business whether they are religious, eat meat, are gay or straight, or whatever. It's their lives. They can do their own thing and find their own way. None of my business. If they're happy, that'll do for me.

P.
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Oxford. Fantastic. Wow. Good way of seeing it. But... I am quite pleased that my son does not believe in any of that nonsense. I fear he may marry a religious woman and that my grandchildren will be churched--at her request. But, it is not my decision, I know.
 
My school was a bit shit. A state school. Teachers used to come and go and we used to f*** about during lessons. Most of the shit I learnt at school is of absolutely no value now. They should teach more lessons about real life and how to get on in everyday life. Not f***ing algebra. And more Poetry/grammar classes. The kids were thick as f*** in some of my classes.
 
Mozza220559 said:
My school was a bit shit. A state school. Teachers used to come and go and we used to f*** about during lessons. Most of the shit I learnt at school is of absolutely no value now. They should teach more lessons about real life and how to get on in everyday life. Not f***ing algebra. And more Poetry/grammar classes. The kids were thick as f*** in some of my classes.
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That responsibility belongs to parents/family/legal guardian. It is not the school's responsibility.
 
Mozza220559 said:
My school was a bit shit. A state school. Teachers used to come and go and we used to f*** about during lessons. Most of the shit I learnt at school is of absolutely no value now. They should teach more lessons about real life and how to get on in everyday life. Not f***ing algebra. And more Poetry/grammar classes. The kids were thick as f*** in some of my classes.
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I agree. Teach the kids about tax, drink and drugs.

Going a bit off topic now. I think they are getting better at teaching sex ed in schools. The kids get taught about it all at 9 years old. I remember that I had to wait till I was 11 years old and even sex wasn't discussed, although I was in a rubbish Catholic school where talks of contraceptives were prohibited and pregnant teenagers were accepted. Morans!
 
I hated most of what school entailed. Although I appreciate that, due to being of a younger generation than most on here, the schooling system I experienced may have been less harsh than it was in the past.

I initially went to a Catholic school, which puzzled me as I wasn't Catholic. In fact, I can't remember there being many Catholics there at all! Yet we were taken to Church and things like that.

Soon I moved to a Primary school were a majority of the students were Muslim, and there were very few Christians/Catholics yet everyone was made to sing songs about God and Jesus every morning. One thing that annoyed me about primary school is that religion was taught as fact.

Dinner time was terrible too, because if you didn't eat what was on your plate then you were forced to do so, often the portions were beyond my capacity! I remember being reduced to tears once because I was physically unable to finish what was on my plate. It got to the point where eating became a chore. But from what I hear, teachers are no longer allowed to force feed their pupils which is an improvement!

The syllabus taught in secondary (or high) schools are much more fulfilling due to being encouraged to think for yourself slightly more. However the quality depends on which school you go to. The one I went to was rather rough and deprived. It had a bad reputation due to pupil violence. Stabbings were a common occurrence. This was mainly due to bad supervision, lack of staff and poor teaching environments. Lessons were always disrupted by juvenile behaviour and teachers were often bad tempered and unqualified. The school was declining rapidly. However since leaving, the school has been put under new management thus all the inadequate staff have been replaced. Everything has been refurbished.

It seems that there is a lot more guidance out there for young people now, more so than there was in the past perhaps. Also, mental health is taken more seriously now, whereas in the past psychological issues were often misconstrued as unruly behaviour. I was often in trouble during my early school years because my crippling shyness was seen as difficult behaviour. Schools are much better at spotting these things now.

It's still a shame though, that schools mostly invest in subjects such as maths and science. Arts departments are often deprived and have to survive on a low budgets, creativity is something that is severely undermined in schools.
 
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^^^ Thanks for sharing your story. I enjoyed reading this. I am glad they stopped the force-feeding policy. Talk about a way to create an eating disorder.:(
 
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DAVIE said:
I agree. Teach the kids about tax, drink and drugs.

Going a bit off topic now. I think they are getting better at teaching sex ed in schools. The kids get taught about it all at 9 years old. I remember that I had to wait till I was 11 years old and even sex wasn't discussed, although I was in a rubbish Catholic school where talks of contraceptives were prohibited and pregnant teenagers were accepted. Morans!
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I am much older than you DAVIE. I am pointing this out to demonstrate just how progressive my school was when it came to sex education. When I was in the seventh grade, our health class was made to watch a film about venereal disease. We saw images of genitals with open sores and warts. One young man turned ill and had to leave the room. But... we were not shown these things to scare us into abstinence. Because we were then taught about condoms and other forms of birth control. And guess what? I adopted both early on, convinced that there was no way in hell I was getting an STD. Education is the ticket to prevention. :)
 
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realitybites said:
^^^ Thanks for sharing your story. I enjoyed reading this. I am glad they stopped the force-feeding policy. Talk about a way to creating an eating disorder.:(
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Yep. Food did become difficult to tolerate at one point. Luckily it's something I grew out of!
 
I had a horrible year in Primary School. Our class was kept in a cold grey mobile outside the school. It was so cold you would breathe on a window and write words and play games like noughts and crosses on it. It was very disconnected and isolated from the school building and community, nobody from the other classes played with us. Our teacher was one of the most horrible people from my childhood that I cannot remove from my memory unfortunately. It was the 90s, but she still used physical force on many of us including two of my best friends who were bashed on head, mimicked endlessly and hit on the knuckles and wrists...to the point where we would soil ourselves. "GET OUT YOU DISGUSTING CHILD!" she yelled at me - I wasn't allowed to the toilet at 7 years old 'as a punishment' and therefore did the worst. I HATE HER. We were so happy whenever the supply teacher "Mrs Green" came in and read to us and played games with us. I'm not sure she understood fully what was going on, but she must have wondered why we were depressed in there. I remember her saying on a few occasions to me how bleak it looked. A year later we were put with most loveliest positive teacher ever...Maybe to make up for the horrible year we had? The teacher however remained, although not as a teacher, she moved onto special needs (god knows why) and she still remains...at the school I work in.

Maybe I should have used this as a blog? Ah well... :rolleyes:
 
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DAVIE said:
I had a horrible year in Primary School. Our class was kept in a cold grey mobile outside the school. It was so cold you would breathe on a window and write words and play games like noughts and crosses on it. It was very disconnected and isolated from the school building and community, nobody from the other classes played with us. Our teacher was one of the most horrible people from my childhood that I cannot remove from my memory unfortunately. It was the 90s, but she still used physical force on many of us including two of my best friends who were bashed on head, mimicked endlessly and hit on the knuckles and wrists...to the point where we would soil ourselves. "GET OUT YOU DISGUSTING CHILD!" she yelled at me - I wasn't allowed to the toilet at 7 years old 'as a punishment' and therefore did the worst. I HATE HER. We were so happy whenever the supply teacher "Mrs Green" came in and read to us and played games with us. I'm not sure she understood fully what was going on, but she must have wondered why we were depressed in there. I remember her saying on a few occasions to me how bleak it looked. A year later we were put with most loveliest positive teacher ever...Maybe to make up for the horrible year we had? The teacher however remained, although not as a teacher, she moved onto special needs (god knows why) and she still remains...at the school I work in.

Maybe I should have used this as a blog? Ah well... :rolleyes:
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That sounds horrific. You often wonders how.evil people like that get into such professions.
 
DAVIE said:
I had a horrible year in Primary School. Our class was kept in a cold grey mobile outside the school. It was so cold you would breathe on a window and write words and play games like noughts and crosses on it. It was very disconnected and isolated from the school building and community, nobody from the other classes played with us. Our teacher was one of the most horrible people from my childhood that I cannot remove from my memory unfortunately. It was the 90s, but she still used physical force on many of us including two of my best friends who were bashed on head, mimicked endlessly and hit on the knuckles and wrists...to the point where we would soil ourselves. "GET OUT YOU DISGUSTING CHILD!" she yelled at me - I wasn't allowed to the toilet at 7 years old 'as a punishment' and therefore did the worst. I HATE HER. We were so happy whenever the supply teacher "Mrs Green" came in and read to us and played games with us. I'm not sure she understood fully what was going on, but she must have wondered why we were depressed in there. I remember her saying on a few occasions to me how bleak it looked. A year later we were put with most loveliest positive teacher ever...Maybe to make up for the horrible year we had? The teacher however remained, although not as a teacher, she moved onto special needs (god knows why) and she still remains...at the school I work in.

Maybe I should have used this as a blog? Ah well... :rolleyes:
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I have turned at least two posts from the forums into blog entries. Sometimes I too get inspired out here when interacting with everyone. :)

But I am glad you shared this Davie, here. So sad that that teacher is still working with children. And she is probably the last person special needs children should have teaching them. :(

My worst teacher was Mr. Hipley--a big bald-headed brute. Turned me off maths. I was in an advanced placement program... learning algebra in seventh grade. We were isolated from the other students and placed in these individual learning cubicles--like solitary confinement. The idea was to learn at our own pace, in silence. Well, this was horrible for me as my best friend was in that program as well. And I'd much rather chat with her then crunch numbers. So we were placed in opposite corners so I would not be tempted to talk to her--she had much better impulse control. Mr. Hippo, what I called him under my breath, was mean and yelled at me several times. I also had a nasty art teacher who told me I had diarrhea of the mouth because I wouldn't stop talking to that same friend. But overall, I would say that I had some amazing teachers that DID care about teaching and nurtured my desire to learn.
 
I went to public school and have no complaints other than a few negligent teachers here and there. The 80s era California school system did a good job for the most part, even as the daughter of a truck driver I managed to take a few AP classes to boot.
 
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