Under Achievers Need Help

[mikey10 10]

Interesting story on the BBC today. What should be done?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6223968.stm

[kittenta 10]

My first thought would be to kick the parents into gear but it isn't always their fault. My lad has trouble with some of the basic skills even though i'd taught then to him at home. The school he attended seemed to ignore the gaps in his basic knowledge yet complain when he couldn't build on them.

 

Every child and situation is different, different family values, child behavioural problems, which school. The list could go on.

[Swan_Vesta 11]

Mcdonalds require a recruitment pool to draw staff from .......... Start manning those grills and tills boys

[baileys_mum 10]

Mcdonalds require a recruitment pool to draw staff from .......... Start manning those grills and tills boys

 

I had my first job in Mc D's and I have to say they look after thier staff very well! They gave me a foot up when no one else would. Give them some credit

[mikey10 10]

its not right to ridicule people who are unfortunate enough to have lower aspirations. more should be done to resolve the problem while at school. teachers are more interested in the brighter pupils because they are easier to teach.

[Mo 10]

teachers are more interested in the brighter pupils because they are easier to teach.

 

Soooo unfair

 

There has never been more money pumped into primary schools to provide extra support and teaching for children who fit into this category. Schools do their best but education needs back up from home and without this then schools face an almost impossible task.

[waxonwaxoff 13]

Whats to be expected when only a small percent of skills are encouraged at school. Yes great if your the acdemic type but lets be honest not everybody is. Wanting to be a mechanic is not having low asperations. Yet kids are made to feel that these jobs are two bob jobs and makes them worth nothing. At the same time this usually degrades the childs parent who he looks up to who is probably also a mechanic. A child that wants to be a taxi driver should be encouraged as much as the child that wants to be a doctor. We are all good at something. Teaching a child to have the courage to try and acheive his own goals whatever that may be, is the most valuable lesson they can learn.

[Mo 10]

Whats to be expected when only a small percent of skills are encouraged at school. Yes great if your the acdemic type but lets be honest not everybody is. Wanting to be a mechanic is not having low asperations. Yet kids are made to feel that these jobs are two bob jobs and makes them worth nothing. At the same time this usually degrades the childs parent who he looks up to who is probably also a mechanic. A child that wants to be a taxi driver should be encouraged as much as the child that wants to be a doctor. We are all good at something. Teaching a child to have the courage to try and acheive his own goals whatever that may be, is the most valuable lesson they can learn.

 

 

You are right in what you say but to be a joiner, plumber etc you still need to have a firm grasp of basic mathematics and writing skills. You need to be able to communicate with customers and fellow workers effectively. Even if you don't have any job at all you still need to be literate to be part of society. You need to be able to read a recipe, a bus timetable, read whats on tv etc etc.

[md25 10]

They also found that kids who were worse at reading and writing at a very young age were those most likely to flunk out at GCSE level. Young kids can be bad at reading and writing for two reasons:

• They're of below average intelligence
• Their parents never reinforced those skills.

The first isn't really a problem; you'd expect someone with a dozen GCSEs to be smarter than someone with five, after all. The real problem is the attitude amongst parents that causes the second thing to happen, as those parents are artificially limiting their child's potential, by teaching them that learning anything isn't worth the ****ing bother. Is it any surprise that those kids do badly?

[Ghozer 112]

the 'system' failed me, i was said to have ADHD, Mild Dyslexia and behavioural problems (Hyperactive, Autistic, etc) when I was a kid.. I ended up in school 2 and 1/2 days per week, WITH a 'social worker' there, I was bulled and singled out due to this, I was then shunted to a school for people like me, where i got bullied and beat more, as (and im not bragging here) I was more intelligent than anyone else in the school, and I was often what you'd call teachers pet... the school did not do GCSE's or anything similar, and eventually got closed down.. I was then dumped into college (early) where I ended up getting kicked out of that, i was doing my work, i was getting bored, my mind was wondering and I got set up by the IT techs once, called one of them a "Turnip Pusher" via a chat program on the college network (which I shouldnt have had in the first place lol) and got kicked out for that... the colleges reason "We dont have the facilities to offer him the support he needs"

 

so what about these kids like me?? ADD, ADHD, Autistic, etc.... is the government going to fail all them too ?

[Stormy 10]

Whats to be expected when only a small percent of skills are encouraged at school. Yes great if your the acdemic type but lets be honest not everybody is. Wanting to be a mechanic is not having low asperations. Yet kids are made to feel that these jobs are two bob jobs and makes them worth nothing. At the same time this usually degrades the childs parent who he looks up to who is probably also a mechanic. A child that wants to be a taxi driver should be encouraged as much as the child that wants to be a doctor. We are all good at something. Teaching a child to have the courage to try and acheive his own goals whatever that may be, is the most valuable lesson they can learn.

Execellent post. My school (king Teds) had the attitude where they teach you that you must do well in your GCSEs because then you will do A-Levels, then you will go to Uni and get a degree, then you will get a job and earn millions whilst the rest of the peasants who chose not to go to uni will suffer. They fail to teach you that you can do other things in life, such as the armed forces, police, plumbing, leccy etc etc. Instead you get a situation where people feel pressured into going to uni even though its not best for them, so they get bad results in the end. But the school dont care because it makes the school look good because they sent yet another kid to uni

[Tricky 10]

Mcdonalds require a recruitment pool to draw staff from .......... Start manning those grills and tills boys

 

Not such a flippant reply as it may seem. In the past the 'working classes' had no need of education and in some quarters appeared to actively despise it. That culture is still with us today even though the number of skilled/semi skilled jobs have disappeared along with our manufacturing industry.

 

There was an interesting link to a story on the performance of black boys too but that's a different story.