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W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
Hi WK. There is certainly a section of female society that view having kids as a meal ticket. The Council house them, and the Social put money in their pocket. If the errant father gives a few bob here and there that is a bonus. OK it's a grade C life with a screaming kid, but it's better that working for a living stacking shelves in a supermarket. The UK figures for 2008 (latest available) show that nearly 50% of all births are to unmarried mothers, with variations from 20% in Chelsea and Kensington in London to nearly 70% in one part of Liverpool. Re the Titanic even the History of the USA sites I looked at all list the sinking and the election of Woodrow Wilson as significant events for 1912. |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
Hi WK. There is certainly a section of female society that view having kids as a meal ticket. The Council house them, and the Social put money in their pocket. If the errant father gives a few bob here and there that is a bonus. OK it's a grade C life with a screaming kid, but it's better that working for a living stacking shelves in a supermarket. Does "unmarried mother" = "expectation that the Council house them, and the Social put money in their pocket"? [ETA]This book, which appears to be primarily for educational use, does not appear to show that the sinking of RMS Titanic is essential knowledge of US History for the period.[/ETA] I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
Does "unmarried mother" = "expectation that the Council house them, and the Social put money in their pocket"? The mother can apply for council housing, or can ask the social services to pay rent to a private landlord. Alongside this claim there will also be one for local council tax benefits. All mothers in the UK get child benefit for all children, £20.30 for eldest, £13.40 for all additional. And single parents can currently receive Income Support without having to seek work until their youngest child is 16. In 2006 Income support for lone parents cost the UK goverment nearly £4 billion. In 2008 the minimum income for a lone parent with 1 child was £210/week, excluding rent. Which was more than a worker on minimum wages (£5.73 taxable) would get for a 40hr week at that time. edit]The min wage quoted was for person over 25, there are lower rates for 16-18, 18-21 and 21-25. The 16-18 has been phased out as they are now meant to be in either in training or education. |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
Does "unmarried mother" = "expectation that the Council house them, and the Social put money in their pocket"? Chris's statement was "[t]here is certainly a section of female society that view having kids as a meal ticket". Are you suggesting that all (or a sizable portion) of unmarried mothers have their children so that they can live off £210/week? Other than figures of how many births were to unmarried mothers, and the potential for benefits, which are, at best, indirect indicators, is there any direct evidence to support a "meal ticket" motive? I am not convinced the two measures you have provided add up to certainty. I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
I am not convinced the two measures you have provided add up to certainty. Probably you have to see it personally. My Fathers home town, about 20 miles from here, ex cotton industry with not much replacing it, certainly has more young women with children roaming the town centre, than the town nearest to me, or the towns near my son who lives down south. I admit, it could be that these women, probably those who didn't, for whatever reason, get suitable qualifications at school, see it as a viable alternative to low paying part time jobs. In the 60's when I left school, if you didn't get an apprenticeship (about 60% of population), or go to University (less than 10%), then in East Lancashire you went into the cotton industry. But even then the cotton industry could see the end as production went to India, Eygpt and Brazil, helped, of course by a local firm that took contacts to build newer better cotton machinery for those countries, often with government grants. |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
Lets get back to education. Just red this on the Wshington Post site. I went to some of D.C.’s better schools ... |
BarryAZ Send message Joined: 1 Apr 01 Posts: 2580 Credit: 16,982,517 RAC: 0 |
Winterknight - -you read?? You realize that is unAmerican -- certainly something to be legislated against by TeaPublican legislatures. Lets get back to education. Just read this on the Wshington Post site. |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
As I read that don't know why I didn't add "Piranhas" into any earlier posts, as my son has one living about 200m from where he lives in Sussex. My son only found out at Easter when he met the son for the first time, he goes to boarding school in H_____, who mentioned who his Dad was and he had spent half term with his father in B__ O_______ ski resort. |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
As usual I hate quoting from the Mail but it is relevant. I think you will find Bobby that there are both upmarket and down-market meal tickets so to speak. This is nothing new, it's been going on since WWII. It's just these days a more liberal society tends to shrug their shoulders and accept it instead of moralising about it. A newspaper published anecdote is little better than one posted to these forums. Comments like: "Soaring numbers of men are being forced to part with their money once they have been ensnared in this way by pretty young females." tell us little, an increase from 5 to 50 might well be called soaring, though from a population of potentially several million, is still relatively trivial from a public policy (or indeed moralizing) perspective. Further, the lawyer in question appears to represent the men in the circumstances described in the article, those poor, unfortunate men that are now expected by law (courtesy of Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989, damn those liberals for introducing that one ;-)) to support their offspring. Ascribing motive of financial benefit to the women that become pregnant may benefit this lawyer's practice, though appears to have no foundation provided in the articles themselves other than the lawyer's word. Sorry Chris, while you and the lawyer might agree, it's still not verifiable evidence of anything other than a shared opinion. I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
"Some men are paying money because they are too thick to understand, because of a lack of education, that irresponsible casual encounters with females might result in unwanted offspring". Isn't there an old maxim about fools and money describing the length of time the former can retain the latter? I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
Getting back to education, and the claim by politicians and some of the teaching fraternity that exam have not got easier. Well this report if nothing else probably kills that lie stone dead. 'Worrying' How the hell can somebody get to university to study physics without knowing calculus. I'm gobsmacked. The Nuffield Foundation examined the 2010 A-level papers for business studies, computing, economics, geography, psychology and sociology. Full story on the beeb, A-level sciences 'lack the maths students need' |
Sarge Send message Joined: 25 Aug 99 Posts: 12273 Credit: 8,569,109 RAC: 79 |
How the hell can somebody get to university to study physics without knowing calculus. I'm gobsmacked. There has been calculuse-based vs. algebra-based physics for at least 27 years. Those only going so far can do the algebra-based physics if they like. Someone that majors in it will be better off already knowing calculus (though I know from experience 1 year high school calculus is not as good as the first two semesters of univerity calculus). But, the major can also learn the calculus in their first year of college. |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
Getting back to education, and the claim by politicians and some of the teaching fraternity that exam have not got easier. Well this report if nothing else probably kills that lie stone dead. Perhaps you could tell me where in the article it is suggested that the same findings could not have been discovered a year ago, a decade ago, or 50 years ago? It is also not clear that the level of mathematic skill development is the only measure of the difficulty of courses in sociology, psychology, etc. I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
It's official. A-level overhaul to halt "rampant grade inflation" Sweeping reforms to the “gold standard†A-level exams have been signalled by the head of the exam watchdog. Glenys Stacey, the chief executive of Ofqual, said that after more than a decade of “persistent grade inflation†in exams, which was “impossible to justifyâ€, the value of A-levels and GCSEs have been undermined. |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
It's official. An official has said that there is "grade inflation", no supporting evidence is included or referenced. Apologies if this appears to be nit-picking, though there was more evidence in favor of superluminal neutrinos last year than there appears to be in all the articles on this subject. I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
It's official. As Chief Exec of OFfice of QUALifications, I would assume she knows what she is talking about, and has all the information available. |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
Another report from the Office of Qualifications, that says exams in English schools have got easier. Science and geography exams easier, Ofqual says |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
Another report from the Office of Qualifications, that says exams in English schools have got easier. This appears to be the source of the BBC article. A fairly quick look through the A level Chemistry report will reveal lots of graphs and tables, though there does not appear to be a measure of how much less demanding the 2008 papers were compared to the 2003 papers. It's unclear, to me at least, how many of the 2008 'A' grades would not have been awarded had the students taken the 2003 papers. I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19091 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
Another report from the Office of Qualifications, that says exams in English schools have got easier. Bobby, There isn't much I can do to help you on this. Reports like this, full of graphs and tables, are all we have have had for the last 40 years. In the last 20 years they have insisted that the exams have not got easier and that is down to better teaching and the pupils made to work harder. This at last appears to be an official reversal of those statements. Which is what people, like Chris S and I, have been saying for eons. |
bobby Send message Joined: 22 Mar 02 Posts: 2866 Credit: 17,789,109 RAC: 3 |
Another report from the Office of Qualifications, that says exams in English schools have got easier. Seems to me that's a little sweeping, the report says that some A levels became less demanding between 2003 and 2008, nothing about reversing previous statements of improvements. The report says how levels of demand were measured, though appears to fail to show how the levels of demand compared between 2003 and 2008. I'm pretty sure I have not ruled out the possibility of exams becoming easier over time, only that the evidence for such a conclusion is to a significant degree lacking. Guesses (aka opinion) in the absence of evidence are "expressions of prejudice" (thanks Michael Crichton). It seems to me only sensible that curricula change over time, for instance the theory plate tectonics was part of the GCE O level Geography curricula by the early 1980s, though was absent in the early 1960s. Prof. Richard Dawkins' work that resulted in his book "The Selfish Gene" was part of BSc Biology by the end of the 1980s, though was absent in the 1970s. Do such changes make courses less or more demanding? How would one know without systematic reviews? If the reviews provide evidence to suggest courses are maintaining levels of demand, what evidence do we have to believe otherwise? I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ... |
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