Educational standards really have dropped

[John Rumm]

In this day and age, there does not necessarily need to be one.

Although when I was in junior school in the 70s there seemed to be a general understanding in education that if you could not write it down well enough to be read, then you could not pass an exam.

Hence my academic options felt very limited at that age. I started senior school with handwriting that was illegible and produced at a rate not adequate of be of much use, and with the spelling capability of a 6 year old. Alas while my junior school was relatively enlightened for the age (having got as far as "He is bright, but dyslexic - we can work out how to have him fit in and not cause us too much trouble"), the senior school was more of the traditional opinion "Dyslexia, never heard of it, a few detentions and canings will soon sort that out!" Needless to say we did not see eye to eye on these points, and soon parted company!

Skip forward a couple of years, and eventually at a school that actually understood how to teach people like me, it was a world of difference. They were content to make sure you learnt and understood but realised the "writing it down" problem could be addressed separately as you went along, rather than treating it as a show stopping road block to all progress and learning. So within a couple of years I could, given enough time, write just about legibly enough that being entered for an exam became a possibility (and the school would routinely make full use of the available exam assistance mitigations that were available (extra time, having a scribe, have a paper read to you etc) as appropriate for the needs of the candidate.

[Adrian]

In message <sl144q$l5o$ [e-mail], GB [e-mail] writes

The ability to communicate is useful though, and (irrespective of the hand writing quality), without knowing the context of the log (e.g. depth of information required), it is hard to say whether or not that skill has been learnt.

Adrian

[Andrew]

The maths teacher at the grammar school that I attended had the nickname 'Biffo' for a good reason.

[Pancho]

I remember a maths teacher with the nickname 'bummer', always used in conjunction with his surname.

He was a crap teacher, but I don't think the name was due to his relationships with boys.

[JNugent]

Your recent positive experience, though, is of improvements in grammar schools.

[gareth evans]

The careful measured approach of doing a good job?

[gareth evans]

ITYM, "owing to disabilities"?

ITYM, "practising"?

If you are, or were, a teacher recently perhaps you contributed to the lamentable state of affairs suggested by the title of this thread?

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

1940/50s school.........you are thick and not going anywhere

contemporary school..........you can be anything you want to be, all you need is the desire and passion to make it happen.........there is nothing stopping you (like no ferkin brain)

[williamwright]

Very interesting.

Bill

[ARW]

OK, so the weekly time sheet (that is what you have seen) is nothing more that the hours you have worked with a brief description of the jobs you have done. The weekly time sheet is accompanied by job sheets that

1st years do not fill in.

That is why on Monday and Tuesday he said who he was working with - any guesses on that name of who he was working with? He was working with same person on both days - just different hieroglyphics on both days.

Job sheets have travel time and mileage inc van registration and proper start and finish times on them with a decent description of the job and a list of all parts used (including where they were from).

So Joal or Jack (no idea what he is called as I cannot read his name) will simply have one of the office girls cross reference his weekly time sheet with the job sheets.

Would you like to see one of the second years writing? It's very neat and his spelling is very good but he is f****ng useless with an alarm clock.

[nightjar]

That is a lot more legible than most 17th century parish records.

[Graham Harrison]

"Recent"? As I said, it was the 90s so at least 20 years ago, actually more.

In any case, talking with others who have children "in the system" today, and at comprehensives, they seem to be reporting positive results.

What our schools seem to be less good at is providing support for the children who need it. Although, in the end, that failure can be put down to almost every government in my lifetime.

[Scribbles]

- any guesses on that name of who he was working with? He was working with same person on both days - just different hieroglyphics on both days.

I'd guess he was working with someone called Theo?

[GB]

Look on the bright side. Tomorrow's Sunday. No apprentices tomorrow.

[John Rumm]

You seem to be making the common mistake of assuming that poor handwriting is just a result of a lack of care and attention. Alas it is not always that easy.

[John Rumm]

Partly also the conflicting requirements - a much higher staff to pupil ratio, and much smaller class sizes are often required for successfully teaching the kids with more specific needs, and that does not work with your typical 30 something class sizes.

[John Rumm]

Personally I have never found that my inability to write has crossed over to many other activities requiring fine motor skills. I can hand rework a surface mount PCB for example, even if I could not write up the report of what I did by hand afterwards!

[Tim Lamb]

Nor me! My primary school headmaster was a strong advocate of a very looped handwriting style best done with a flat tipped ink dip pen! I can still do it but it is slow and does not work well with ball points.

Technical education as an engineer required legibility best found with printed letters. Eventually I developed a fairly rapid print style which minimised problems for the office typist.

Now, I always use the desk top and printer, relying on *the boss* for any personal communications:-)

[Tim Lamb]

What decorative art work was he doing on Wednesday?

>

[gareth evans]

It is NOT a mistake. Deliberate action to write clearly is the solution.