Our kids are in REAL trouble with education!

[adrianh]

I rewrote this post about 5 times - I decided not to go into my history because I don't like writing about it or reading about it. Much better to leave the whole lot in the box where it has been for years. All I can say is this - I will do my damndest to try and teach my girls to be educated, independent individuals, who are able to make intellegent decisions based on the understanding of their own abilities and needs. I will support their endevours and be there for them when they fail. The best I can do is to try and teach them that they do not need to learn from their own mistakes, that it is perfectly ok to learn from mistakes made by others, including me. Maybe I don't care too much about my own life and care so much about theirs because I wasted mine but theirs are just beginning. I see the world from a different perspective than most other people in that I have very poor health, terrible headaches and many other side-effects of my missspent youth. This lot has led me to live my life very much from day to day. I see every day as my last day and maybe this is why I spend so much time with the wife and kids.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - it is what it is. People might say that I am being melodramatic, or quoting RA RA books, but is not so, it is a rare and great day that I don't wake up with a terrible headache or go to bed without a terrible headache.

If I could do it all over again I sure as hell wouldn't have gone down the road that I did.

[Butch Hannan]

Good for you for sticking to your guns and being involved with your children. Being 68 years old and a great grandfather I was brought up in a completely different era. My parents were farming folk and I spent a lot of my time in boarding school. I cherish one memory of my primary school time and that was when my mother once came and watched me play a game of cricket. Needless to sat I won the batting prize that day for making the most runs.
My wife and I always supported our three children in their school work, projects and sport and it was worth every cent and time spent with them.
Stick to your guns. Our school system is badly flawed and your kids need your support to get through.

Butch Hannan

[Rex]

I really am dreading the future of our kids. I recently watched a really stupid movie on how this guy had gone forward in time by several hundred years and everyone around him acted like 5 year olds. The systems had let them down, lack of learning and quite simply he was the smartest guy on the planet BY FAR! Stupid movie but what's scary is there could be reality in it.

My Grade 1 son yesterday started his homework. 3 hours later and a LOT of help from Dad, we finished. Him extremely tired and grumpy, and me with the worst temper in a long time. It involved maths, making up groups of numbers.

Question would be IE Complete the number set: 2, 4, 6, _ _ _ _ _ The answers being 8 10 12 etc
The next question 46, 44, 42, 40, _ _ _ _ OK so backwards in 2's
Another question counting forwards in 5's

This is the same work my daughter was doing I think in G4 or G3, don’t remember.

So can it make it the child smarter to be such advanced work at such an early stage. NOT!!! How can the child even define or READ the question for that matter when in Grade 1. How is he supposed to complete the sentences required in the same homework like : "I counted FORWARDS in 2's to get the answers" (he had to actually write these answers) The child's reading ability, just by the shear nature he is only starting school is no where capable of reading or defining the questions without an adult.

Bottom line is the homework is not for the child, its for the adults. Where does the education system get off saying that the reason children are becoming the way they are is because we don’t spend enough time with them. Where do they get off believing that we can afford to spend 3 hours on Homework. (1 child only) Children DO NOT want to spend time with there family doing homework. This is not bonding time, most children consider homework a punishment of sorts (I certainly did)

I chatted to another teacher who has refused to accept the new curriculum. She clearly states that in 5 years time, our G1 children are not going to be able to read the way we know reading by G5. Why, they are been taught to recognise site words, not sound words. A simple word "general" will be easily read as they learnt it as a site word but what about "generally", same word more or less but cant read it because its not a word they learnt. According to her this is happening ALREADY. Children are flunking as the parrot fashion type education is failing them.

A mathematician told me the times table and english are the basis for maths, get those 2, you fly. So start teaching them ENGLISH first, and the times table, then let do number sets, grouping all the rest of the crap! The child cant read the questions. IS THIS NOT AS CLEAR AS DAYLIGHT!

Very cross today…. Very very cross...

Hi Garth

I was looking for something completely different in forumsa when I stumbled upon your mail about education and could completely understand.
My wife and I were products of main stream education, which was still ok in "our day", but now things are very different now.

Anyway, my eldest is in grade 1 and loving it...the main reason is pure and simple - the school where she is at, understands that kids need to be kids and there are actually different stages of a child's development, which need to be honoured - now there is a word that we don't see often!!

Anyway, as I always say, check all the pro's and con's and make up your own mind.

Here is a link, I'm sure there are many more...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education

all the best

p.s.

world leader in education - definitely worth watching

http://www.collectiveconsciousness.org/people-blog.php

[adrianh]

The end of putcomes based education - great - new, aybe we can get back to teaching basic things lie maths & science.

[wynn]

lie maths & science.

a Freudian slip perhaps?

[daveob]

and engleish and speling ?

[adrianh]

Hmmm... my obe edukasion are great when I were smaller than I is today.

[garthu]

Well its gonna be interesting, so now they scrapped OBE education. (They clearly pay attention to TFSA ) but that doesnt fix things.... whats next!