Mecky Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 So what you are saying is that 13 years of a subsequent Labour Government totally failed to address the issues. That's a pretty sad state of affairs. Yeah because things have really improved over the last 2.5 years and from 1979 to 1997 and because the tories are really great and popular, so much so they've had to hire a Spin Doctor to influence public opinion in the run in to the election. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20382666 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 It's hard for a Tory government to do anything with education when the unions are so powerful and the teachers so determined to prevent any kind of reform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wednesday1 Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 I'd beg to differ, standards were in decline before she came to power. My children started school (in South Yorkshire) in the early/mid 70s and the style of teaching at their first primary school tended towards allowing the children to learn if and what they wanted. We soon moved to a catchment area for a school that had a more traditional approach. And, I pretty much agree with Fox20thc in an earlier post. If books and reading aren't part of a child's life before the start of school, then the child is disadvantaged from the start. Books don't have to cost money, my small grandchildren all have library cards. I'm pleased that my oldest grandchild, who's five, and in her second year at school has spelling lessons! I'm of a generation who almost all learnt to spell properly. We had a test most days, and its stood me in good stead in my various jobs. It helps with crosswords too. Yes we used to have spelling tests in 'form period' before the school day started in earnest too! Agreed also Thatcher was a disaster for everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrod Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 I think the government needs to break the teaching unions and take the education system in hand to bring it up to speed. We used to have the greatest education system in the world till the liberals got hold of it.The liberl/lefty concepts of education are so anit-elitism that they seem to forget that some kids are much brighter than others. Some are born to fail exams and are not smart enough to do anything beyond sweep floors or clean toilets - unfortunate but true. To avoid inflicting the nasty, right-wing idea that we're not all of equal intelligence or potential, the education system has been tragically dumbed-down to make it possible for utter dimwits to leave school with qualifications, while the bright kids are held back and our exam standards have become a joke. The old system of identifying talent early and putting those with potential into faster-stream grammar schools worked well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 It's hard for a Tory government to do anything with education when the unions are so powerful and the teachers so determined to prevent any kind of reform. Your comments are way off the mark. You really don't know what you're talking about. Various governments have done nothing but foist one disastrous reform after another on the education system for the last 40 years. Teachers have to comply whether they agree with it or not. Whole schools have been designed and built round some crackpot educational theory in the past. Ofsted inspects regularly and expects to see the latest reforms in place. Teachers are trained, experienced and work at the chalk face with the children every day but are never listened to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puisseguin Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 Yeah because things have really improved over the last 2.5 years and from 1979 to 1997 and because the tories are really great and popular, so much so they've had to hire a Spin Doctor to influence public opinion in the run in to the election. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20382666 I think you are missing something if you are trying to make a political point here. Folk who went through the education system when Thatcher was running the country are now heading for middle age and seemed to have no problem reading their exam papers. But folk who are about to sit their GCSEs will have received most of their education under Blair & Brown. It is these pupils who the report finds to be 5 years behind in reading ability. By the way do you know what Alistair Campbell's job was when he worked for Tony Blair? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mecky Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 I think you are missing something if you are trying to make a political point here. Folk who went through the education system when Thatcher was running the country are now heading for middle age and seemed to have no problem reading their exam papers. But folk who are about to sit their GCSEs will have received most of their education under Blair & Brown. It is these pupils who the report finds to be 5 years behind in reading ability. By the way do you know what Alistair Campbell's job was when he worked for Tony Blair? No, because I'm not a Labour fan and the problems in the UK education system go far back before 1997 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puisseguin Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 No, because I'm not a Labour fan and the problems in the UK education system go far back before 1997 All of a sudden your credibility went from zero to minus 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wednesday1 Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 All of a sudden your credibility went from zero to minus 10. And as for your credibilty........... puisseguin[/b];8263997]Yes I remember how British Steel closed its inefficient plants that couldn't compete in the world markets. It took the millstone from around the world-class plants that could produce steel at a competitive price. I had the privilege of touring Corus's plant near Conisborough a few years ago alongside the Master Cutler. It is a world-class facility that turns out thousands of tons of high quality steel each day but with barely a handful of employees. I compare that with what I saw 20 years or so before when I visited Firth Brown's. All you saw then were hundreds of folks aimlessly passing the time of day waiting for their particular piece of the production process to crop up. The Victorian plants have gone along with the inefficient poor quality output and let the plants producing competitive steel thrive. T 42[/b];9293126]Actually the vast majority of British built cars are made mostly from UK sorced components. I went to visit Corus out near Conisborough and saw steel being manufactured and turned into forging blanks for the UK motor industry myself. Ford do not manufacture motor vehicles in the UK and yet they turn out millions of engines and other components for Europen factories. I think on ballance we make more car components for export than we bring in. According to the figures there are around 200,000 people employed in vehicle manufacture in the UK and a further 700,000 employed in peripheral industries making components etc. I'll say no more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 They need to learn how to communicate across all areas and not just between themselves. It is exactly this type of stupid comment and blinkered thinking that has lead us to where we are now !! Exactly - who wants to hire someone for a job, if they are incapable of writing something down in a way others can understand! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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