Isn't it staggering that 1 in five school kids can't find Britain on the map, Jesus Christ what's going on?

Question

This is British schoolkids i'm talking about. It is front page headlines.

Answer 1

They can recite word for word and move for move an Eminem or 50 cent tune. They know precisely how much and when the latest Nike trainer will be out in the shops. They can recognise a CID car in traffic. If you attempt to tell them off, expletives that would make a sailor blush will come out of the most angelic and young looking of kids. The slatternly mothers will wobble down to the police station on a regular basis to loudly insist that their innocent devil's spawn didn't really knife another kid other a phone, the opposite sex or a 'dirty look'. They will kill you for coming out of your house to tell them to keep the noise down and move away from outside your own home (this happened recently to an off-duty female Asian police officer and an African father and I believe a young white father of one) It would be a relief to see the government get their own house in order before committing vast amounts of money, blood and tears to fight an increasingly pointless war. I never feel safe to venture out after dark. I'm afraid that I will become involved in something with the roaming gangs that converge in our streets at night - I am afraid I would end up having to kill or seriously maim some kid just to defend myself. I never want to be in that situation. I hope parents and teachers alike will get their acts together and start teaching the rabble whats really important otherwise this country will go to hell.

Answer 2

Ask any Teacher and they'll give you a list so long you'd fall asleep before they got to the end! I could have done that at the age of 8 and most of my classmates could too! It was the first thing taught in Junior School in the fifties!
Nowadays we are told we are Multi-Cultural and CAN'T do this or Teach that because God Forbid We might UPSET one of the minority groups.
We cant teach our kids their own culture or religion or history without upsetting some-one so the Goverment's answer instead of being accept it - It's OUR LAWS Amend the law to suit who-ever complains. If enough British People lived in an Arab Country (and lots do) would they change (for example) their Alcohol Laws for us.

And any-one who thinks the parents should be the ones doing it then why have schools in that case.The goverment would be happy though, Ignorant people are easier to control.
That way leads Backwards not Forwards!

Answer 3

No it's not staggering if you are talking about pupils in the British education system.

In 1979 I wrote to Mrs Thatcher when she won the election to tell her that 95% of the 16 year old school leavers in my training establishment could not write One Million in numbers, could not file in alphabetical order, or do simple arithmetic - they could use a calculator but didn't know what it was doing to come up with the answer. Spelling and English grammar was dreadful!

They thought Grimsby was inland [once the largest fishing port in the UK] and that Harrogate was south of London. That was 27 years ago and now they are the parents of today's school leavers. Their level of awareness was non existent in most cases so if they don't know where they live now - that was entirely predictable.

Now perhaps someone will believe me when I say you would be forgiven for thinking there was a campaign to under educate? After all it's much easier to manage the uneducated masses than give them knowledge and make them think for themselves.

Answer 4

Oprah did a show on un-educated American children. She had Lisa Lee in China asking kid questions about US History and world events.

I'm sure you can anticipate the results. Sad

On a good note more American kids knew Vermont for the Ben and Jerry's. But the Chinese kids knew the Capital was Montpelier. One is the product of consuming the other from study.

Go big Red Go

Answer 5

When I first immigrated to the USA from Britain about 25 years ago , I had been living in the USA for about a year and I mentioned to someone that I am an immigrant from Britain and the reply was: "Oh did you come over on a train?", I do not think this person was joking.

Answer 6

No...I'm not Jesus Christ - but join you in concern. Geography was up there with English, maths and French in the mid-late sixties. It's more staggering that students would rather read up on 'media' studies and sociology nowadays.
Ah...the 11 plus!

Guineapig...that was 1979?! Tell you what, the year I left school was seven years earlier, and most of my class ended up in universities around the country. In the early seventies it would be criminal to leave out geography. Did Mrs. Thatcher reply?

What, Dukalink...a French hotel composes tunes? Nah!

Answer 7

Self esteem is more important than skills these days. Of course, you and I know that the harder you work and the better you do increases your self-esteem, but those who make policy in the schools believe in telling kids they can do anything without thinking giving them the power to do it is necessary. As a result, I've had kids who were 12, in the 5th grade (instead of 7th), reading on a first grade level telling me that she was going to get a track scholarship to college because she was a good runner and that's what her family was telling her. This is the kind of environment that exists in most inner city public schools. I had another boy with his mother behind him asking me to tell his mother that Alaska IS part of the United States because she wouldn't believe him!

These kids are not stupid, but administrations have lowered the standards to such a degree that they insist on passing kids on who can't read or who were absent most of the year.

Answer 8

I have a few young people work for me that following is the honest truth.
One asked me if I believed in the abdominal snowman
Another with a degree in English spelt wheat ---weat
I asked two of my staff what is the capital of Africa and South America They said Kenya and Mexico.
No one knew the where abouts of Vienna.
I jokingly asked for a cup of coffee 2/3 full not 3/4. only to be told they are both the same
Most of these people are waiting to go to "uni" A terminology I hate.
I could go on and on, I dispair

Answer 9

I think they missed the part about the question being about British kids,lol..

Do your maps over there have Britain written on them? That may help them a bit..

Answer 10

Simple: the government prioritise literacy and numeracy to the point where things like geography and history are squashed to the margins of time-allocation. What the government says, goes, in modern education. This is because if you don't meet their lit and num standards, you get zapped. Kids are not more stupid or bad. The ed system is. Blame it, not them.