Global 'train wreck' coming

[postie]

It reminds me of the comments of a leader of a teaching union at the prospect of a mums army going into teaching for the day as 'dangerious'. What an astonishing remark! Parents of kids are apparently a danger!!

Do the spelling police have a special division called the Irony dept?

Can't say for sure what the union leader meant... but I certainly don't want a bunch of stupid fuckwits who think they can teach by virtue of having unprotected sex stepping into a classroom and spouting whatever kind of bollocks they've heard on the interwebs as "education". What next? I can be a mechanic because.. erm.. I drive? I can be a doctor in A&E because... erm.. I've seen Holby?

[UndercoverElephant]

Luckily there are still pockets of traditional teaching in our private, grammar and a select crowd of state schools which maintain world class standards.

Excuse me while I

[madibe]

LB3 Wrote thus...

Regarding teaching the semi-ironic comment from maudibe is a classic of the teaching profession. They have the attitude that only professionals are capable of teaching children.

It reminds me of the comments of a leader of a teaching union at the prospect of a mums army going into teaching for the day as 'dangerious'. What an astonishing remark! Parents of kids are apparently a danger!!

This is the arrogence of teachers and typified by Maudibe.

The fact that he comes out with a load of nonsense just shows how little we should listen to these so-called experts. Ludwig's comments above are a fine example of common sense which has sadly been lost by too many of the teaching profession in the recent decades.

Luckily there are still pockets of traditional teaching in our private, grammar and a select crowd of state schools which maintain world class standards.

Don't you just love it when people jump to conclusions?

However, to take your points first....

Yes, professionals are educated to educate. Belive it or not Pedagogy and Androgogy are well studied and respected disciplines.

Getting "Mr or Mrs I'm good at that" to teach without some understanding of educational theory is a recipe for all sorts of problems.

Point 2. There is a world of difference between entertaining half a dozen kids (even educationally) and looking after a class of 30, preparing, delivering teaching and maintaining cohesion.

Where are you getting the idea that I am being arrogant? (Also as an aside, I was not being patronising - I merely suggested that you may not be best qualified to judge educational methodology... perhaps equally, you are).

I am pretty easy going, and would not label myself (or most anyone) as arrogant. A little heavy worded LB, I think.

Also, you just managed to annoint all teachers as arrogant... really? Where is your critical reasoning here?

Alsooooo I do not teach children. I have taught at HE level (seeing the results of the school system!) but now concentrate more on practical work, demonstration and lab / workshop delivery. I do hold a PGCE so, yea, I have put the time in looking at the theory. Interesting stuff.

Thank you for telling me and the rest of the forum that I talk shit. Ludwigs comments are indeed valid for debate and not insulting. Take a leaf?

Regarding elitist schooling, I can not comment as I have no experience. I'm sure it is dandy. Mind, if it turns you into an arsehole then I'm pleased my parents passed on it

Over and Out

[Lord Beria3]

Fair enough old chap.

Having experienced both the state and private sectors, i have some strong opinions on why, as a rule, the private sector is superior in terms of expectations, discpline and the encouragement of a broader concept of education rather than the narrow functional view encouraged by elements of the state system.

On a personal level, I have found that some teachers who show a certain arrogance and although others are lovely people (like yourself I'm sure) - as a breed teachers do seem to have a certain arrogance about a profession which is not on the same level as doctors.

Rant over.

[Ludwig]

I do think British people have become lazy and complaining, and I've seen several colleagues - I'm going to say it again, particularly younger ones - roll their eyes at being asked to do anything beyond the call of duty (and sometimes even things within the call of duty).

The fact that Poles work their socks off uncomplainingly shows that it can be done.

Hmmm... I agree and disagree with the 2 points above. Firstly, young people. A lad of 18 has just been sacked from where I work and rightly so. He is incensed he was sacked and is threatening all sorts of legal action. He sees his right to a job as something the employer can't take away from him. Although he spent the whole time whining about how much he hated the job, how boring it was and what an arsehole the gaffer was. (he was right about the gaffer... he went bust 3 weeks ago!)

BUT.. here's the crux. He was fired for stealing from the takings!!! AND he still thought he shouldn't be sacked. He was also openly smoking dope and drinking at work.

I've got a friend who works as a university administrator. She is a stern, no-nonsense person, who unlike some of her colleagues is no sucker for a clearly manufactured hard-luck story. Students, blitzed by her refusal to let them resit their exams for the 17th time or to be let off for never having handed in a single piece of coursework, have actually pleaded with her, "But no one's ever said no to me before." They really believe that whatever they do, they are in the right. I don't doubt that your colleague sincerely felt he had been maltreated.

He threw his rubbish on the floor and believed once it was on the floor it wasn't his problem.

Only a couple of minor things but quite telling all the same... In a previous job, I and a couple of other people were in the work kitchen while the receptionist was filling up the coffee machine. She spilled a load of coffee on the floor and announced, unembarrassed, "I suppose I should sweep that up but I can't be bovvered", and walked out. She really didn't care that she came across as lazy and irresponsible, or perhaps she just assumed that we'd all have done the same.

A young temp in my current job moaned when a manager asked her to change an order for lunchtime sandwiches. Not only did she not bother to change the order, but she boasted to the 3 or 4 of us in the office that she'd lied to the manager about doing it. I find it strange that people can be so blatantly dishonest, and still expect others to respect and trust them.

I'm not saying that all young people are like that, but it's behaviour that you didn't use to see at all 20 years ago.

[RogerCO]

Only a couple of minor things but quite telling all the same... In a previous job, I and a couple of other people were in the work kitchen while the receptionist was filling up the coffee machine. She spilled a load of coffee on the floor and announced, unembarrassed, "I suppose I should sweep that up but I can't be bovvered", and walked out. She really didn't care that she came across as lazy and irresponsible, or perhaps she just assumed that we'd all have done the same.

A young temp in my current job moaned when a manager asked her to change an order for lunchtime sandwiches. Not only did she not bother to change the order, but she boasted to the 3 or 4 of us in the office that she'd lied to the manager about doing it. I find it strange that people can be so blatantly dishonest, and still expect others to respect and trust them.

As a matter of interest did you or any of your colleagues who witnessed these incidents say anything to the miscreants, either at the moment or very soon afterwards?

[emordnilap]

Millions that thought they had a positive net worth

That is a very telling phrase, vtsnowedin; it jumped out at me.

I wonder if that is how most people perceive themselves, in Europe as well as elsewhere? It would be an instructive exercise for everyone to conduct an honest 'net worth' survey of themselves.

[vtsnowedin]

Millions that thought they had a positive net worth

That is a very telling phrase, vtsnowedin; it jumped out at me.

I wonder if that is how most people perceive themselves, in Europe as well as elsewhere? It would be an instructive exercise for everyone to conduct an honest 'net worth' survey of themselves.

I was speaking of just the financial aspect of "net worth". The trade in value of your car minus the payments still due, added to the realistic market value of your house minus the mortgage and any other loans you have secured with it etc. If you get into the worth of yourself as a person it is hard to measure though very real. For example the value of a faithful spouse is for many there most valuable asset that far eclipses any bank balance they might have.

[emordnilap]

Oh, I was thinking in financial terms too; it is an exercise I've carried out twice in the last ten years in order to get my plans on a timetable. As a result of the first assessment, I became financially solvent and now have a small surplus which I keep putting into permanent assets.

I agree about non-financial assets - they're worth far more. And you tend to get ample interest if you pay enough in! Neighbours are another example, as might be care of the land.

[PS_RalphW]

I have always suffered from bouts of crippling guilt - usually sudden flashbacks to minor (or not so minor) incidents in my past when I have done the wrong thing (accidentally, thoughtlessly or selfishly) and then felt hideously guilty about it afterwards.

These are more likely to come on when I am drifting, with no obvious positives in my life, for example at present my wages are hard to justify, because my job has more or less vanished from under me - and I have had a few minor flashbacks in the last few days.

However, these have become much less of a problem these last 10 years since I settled down, adopted kids and started planning for powerdown.

My personal feeling of net worth can much more easily overcome these guilt trips, for now. I worry a bit about when the kids grow up, become independent, and deeply critical of their useless parents... the classic male mid-life crisis which will hit me when I am about 60, but then I remember PO and realise my kids will be very lucky to be independent that soon...

[vtsnowedin]

I agree about non-financial assets - they're worth far more. And you tend to get ample interest if you pay enough in! Neighbours are another example, as might be care of the land.

Depends on the neighbors your dealing with of course.
As to taking care of your land and topsoil that is a direct financial asset with direct returns on investment from higher yields and lower fertilizer requirements. I expect the value of unmortgaged land to rise rapidly in the near future.

[emordnilap]

As to taking care of your land and topsoil that is a direct financial asset with direct returns on investment

Yes and no. You're right in what you say of course; I also tend to think of the value and opportunity I give to wildlife, the carbon sinks of the trees I plant, the pleasant place I'm making for someone who comes after me, the lack of fossil inputs for it to be a pleasant place and the example I hope we're setting to others.

[vtsnowedin]

[, the lack of fossil inputs .

You mean you would refuse to use a chainsaw and tractor to harvest weed trees and install erosion prevention measures? Very limiting in the amount you can get done properly if that is the case.

[emordnilap]

[, the lack of fossil inputs .

You mean you would refuse to use a chainsaw and tractor to harvest weed trees and install erosion prevention measures? Very limiting in the amount you can get done properly if that is the case.

No; more about avoiding concrete and similar high-embodied energy products, re-using materials as much as possible. Our acre is not suitable for anything bigger than a push mower anyway.

[vtsnowedin]

[, the lack of fossil inputs .

You mean you would refuse to use a chainsaw and tractor to harvest weed trees and install erosion prevention measures? Very limiting in the amount you can get done properly if that is the case.

No; more about avoiding concrete and similar high-embodied energy products, re-using materials as much as possible. Our acre is not suitable for anything bigger than a push mower anyway.

I was thinking on the local 10 to 50 acre scale. Of course you can do an acre or even three with just an ax and bow saw and a shovel and crowbar. Push mower?? Where are your standards man, get that hand scythe a swinging.