Parents role in Education ?

Some do, my youngest always since he was about seven wanted to know all about computers, now MSc in computer science with mathematics, Manchester and Imperial.
My sister always wanted to follow her mother into nursing, specifically surgery, has been a senior theatre sister in large English city for over 20 years.
One of her daughters wanted to follow in her fathers footsteps and become a doctor, did change her mind though, she qualified as a dentist at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary's two years go.

So in our family, even in the younger generation, 40% knew what they wanted to do at a young age and did it.

Children and knives:

When I was in middle school, early 70's, I had one pulled on me. The other kid wasn't interested in hurting me, just getting me to shut up and get out of his way. I think I had one on me at the time, but I wasn't interested in a fight.

IIRC then you if you just had one, your parents would have gotten a call, if you used one a week vacation. Today just having one will get you expelled. Of course they give one to every kid in the cafeteria ...

What has really changed? Hype by the press.

Cant say for sure as to the cause, but I suspect the decline in moral standards in the general populace may have some bearing[?sp].

People tend to forget that for many millenia the ordinary populace of what is now the United Kingdom carried weapons of some sort, mainly bladed as a matter of course. Its only since we became 'civilised' or more likely over civilised that those weapons have become taboo.

As I recall another 'civilised' society had similar problems, when it was in decline, although it tended to be the 'upper' crust that roamed about with gangs of thugs terrorising others.. Rome in decline had more than slavery and corruption dragging it down.

Regards,
____________
Cliff,
Been there, Done that, Still no damm T shirt!

U.S. Math Education reform is trying to fight the "inch deep, mile wide" curricula. Kids from Asian countries score higher on international comparison tests because they obtain this deep knowledge beginning in elementary school.

US education is a mess, I wouldn't compare it to French or German for example where kids do the baccalaureate. They don't specialise before they are 18, but they certainly cover a good depth of the subjects they learn.

U.S. Math Education reform is trying to fight the "inch deep, mile wide" curricula. Kids from Asian countries score higher on international comparison tests because they obtain this deep knowledge beginning in elementary school.

US education is a mess, I wouldn't compare it to French or German for example where kids do the baccalaureate. They don't specialise before they are 18, but they certainly cover a good depth of the subjects they learn.

A Mile Wide, an Inch deep.
TIMSS-Third International Mathematics and science study.
Cross-Cultural comparisons of Mathematics Achievement

Some interesting reading there. Thanks.

they can't teach in depth because slower students are forced into classes that they are ill equipped for. These students tend to gum up the works while adding to the classes roll call so they can justify a class.

I recall being in advanced classes in High school that a couple of kids were just out of their league. They asked questions about the most simple topics and slowed the learning process down to a crawl. In effect forcing teachers to dumb down the class so that they can say at the end of the year they met all their goals and taught every aspect of their topic when in fact the had to glaze over many thing because of the slower kids.

I am by no means calling slower kids mentally retarded. I am saying that classes could more easily be divided to provide better learning for all.
____________
Proud member of TSWB.

End terrorism by building a school

I agree with the "mile wide an inch deep" analogy. Subjects just don't seem to be taught to the same depth as they were decades ago. Mainly because modern day students cant hack that level of education.

Is it because they are stupider, dumber, or thicker? No it isn't. It's because they are simply lazier because of modern technology.

50 years ago when I was set school homework, it was not unusual that I had to go to the local library to research my answers. These days kids just tap a button and look it up on the Internet. I used to have to use Log tables to work out trig questions, we didn't have scientific calculators to do it for us.

Result? Everybody knows something about everything, but nobody knows much about anything.

I agree with the "mile wide an inch deep" analogy. Subjects just don't seem to be taught to the same depth as they were decades ago. Mainly because modern day students cant hack that level of education.

Is it because they are stupider, dumber, or thicker? No it isn't. It's because they are simply lazier because of modern technology.

50 years ago when I was set school homework, it was not unusual that I had to go to the local library to research my answers. These days kids just tap a button and look it up on the Internet. I used to have to use Log tables to work out trig questions, we didn't have scientific calculators to do it for us.

Result? Everybody knows something about everything, but nobody knows much about anything.

You wouldn't, by any chance, be descended from Yorkshiremen, would you? ;-)

Is using the latest available technology really so evil? What use is the ability to navigate log tables when most have a calculator on their phone? Or have access to a spreadsheet? I remember from my school days, going to an RAF base to transcribe meteorological data for a geography project, then plotting the data onto a graph. A time consuming and mind boggingly dull task. Today, in the time I spent doing that, I could download raw data from multiple sources into a spreadsheet and be able to slice and dice that data over a hundred ways. Leading to, in all likelihood, a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

I think I learned one valuable lesson from that project. The value of good data.

I think there is a basic problem with your argument, you were taught and understand the ground rules, the present day generation for the most part do not.

I agree with the "mile wide an inch deep" analogy. Subjects just don't seem to be taught to the same depth as they were decades ago. Mainly because modern day students cant hack that level of education.

Is it because they are stupider, dumber, or thicker? No it isn't. It's because they are simply lazier because of modern technology.

50 years ago when I was set school homework, it was not unusual that I had to go to the local library to research my answers. These days kids just tap a button and look it up on the Internet. I used to have to use Log tables to work out trig questions, we didn't have scientific calculators to do it for us.

Result? Everybody knows something about everything, but nobody knows much about anything.