teachers to be thought police, err counter terrorism

[vimothy]

A lot of daft bollocks goes on in education in Britain

Brain Gym!

 

[Mr. Tea]

For some reason, I was thinking specifically of the school-level history textbook featuring Brunel on the front cover, with his cigar airbushed out.

http://www.igreens.org.uk/brunel_bowdlerised.htm

 

[matt b]

For some reason, I was thinking specifically of the school-level history textbook featuring Brunel on the front cover, with his cigar airbushed out.

http://www.igreens.org.uk/brunel_bowdlerised.htm

and the colour of the chains in the background have been modified. how are the kids supposed to learn?????

 

[Mr. Tea]

and the colour of the chains in the background have been modified. how are the kids supposed to learn?????

You have to agree though, it's pretty fucking daft. As if some kid's going to start smoking because of a long-dead Victorian engineer.

 

[matt b]

You have to agree though, it's pretty fucking daft. As if some kid's going to start smoking because of a long-dead Victorian engineer.

maybe some idiot would see brunel as a role model and take to smoking and the wearing of top hats. clarkson likes him and he smokes. FACT!

 

[matt b]

if that's the worst case of daft bollocks, then education is in rude health.
they might even get rid of pointless tests next

 

[Mr. Tea]

OK, so on a scale of daftness, it doesn't rank that high in the grand scheme of things - it just struck me as the sort of thing that has turned political correctness from what was originally a pretty good idea, almost a sort of moral common sense, into the byword for hysterically pedantic doublethink it's become today.

Scrapping the SATs is great, though.

Edit: can't see Clarkson really carrying off the top hat look, fortunately.

 

[matt b]

it just struck me as the sort of thing that has turned political correctness from what was originally a pretty good idea, almost a sort of moral common sense, into the byword for hysterically pedantic doublethink it's become today.

 

[matt b]

I'm now really into the idea of Big Ben British Values and am using it in the title of a talk I am doing.

good man! this is vital to our future!
i've had a quick look around to find out the sort of values that big ben (the british one) likes, according to prof glees.

imprisonment without trial is one:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/e...ernment-should-be-a-policy-option-420602.html

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Brain Gym

On my PGCE we were taken to a school that claimed to have built its entire curriculum around this. A few minutes spent independently questioning the pupils revealed that this was an utter fabrication.

btw brain-gym wise, there has been an interesting recent development, with claims that training working memory leads to more general improvements, both in memory and reasoning - giving us a brain gym that may actually work:

http://www.iapsych.com/articles/jaeggi2008.pdf

I don't think scrapping the SATs was a good idea - Years 7 to 9 felt utterly aimless to me when I was at school (pre-SATs). Better that Year 9 SATs are upgraded to near the status of GCSEs and AS-Levels are scrapped (or that GCSEs are brought forward a year and A-Levels expanded). Teacher assessment is too unreliable - there need to be other measures in place (and these measures need to be public, for the purposes of accountability).

 

[Mr. Tea]

good man! this is vital to our future!
i've had a quick look around to find out the sort of values that big ben (the british one) likes, according to prof glees.

imprisonment without trial is one:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/e...ernment-should-be-a-policy-option-420602.html

Lol, is it coincidence that Glees is at Brunel University?

 

[matt b]

glees also wants some sort of religious fashion police:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/e...ernment-should-be-a-policy-option-420602.html

big ben british values!

 

[IdleRich]

Wow, that's completely nuts. Is he basically saying that we should lock up anyone who is Iraqi or Afghan because we are at war with them? Or in other words, they had the temerity to be from a country the UK happened to attack.

"Forty per cent of British Muslims say they want to live under sharia law. That is unacceptable. They should go to a country with sharia law."

Yeah, it's totally unacceptable to want something to be different from how it is.

 

[vimothy]

crucial moment

Just been on the h/c thread and I have to say, this sounds like a good name for a sXe band.

 

[matt b]

Yeah, it's totally unacceptable to want something to be different from how it is.

Big Ben British Values!