[OT] The three Rs

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There you go then. Scotland had an adequate number of 'grammar' school places so didn't need to fiddle the figures.

But you carried on being disruptive regardless?

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

that is how I got into paisley grammar ........

[harry]

s were not allowed (but Berol rollerballs were).

, not secondary.

I could read simple stuff before I went to school. Beano, Dandy and Topper.

[spuorgelgoog]

I am, and the Home Office AFAIK.

Huh. If the British learners spent less time playing with the pens they'd catch up with the immigrants :-)

Owain

[Max Demian]

So when/how did you learn about inches, feet, miles, stones and pounds, pints &c. that are all in common use now?

[dennis]

Some arrived at infant school with the ability to read!

Some arrived at infant school and had never held a pencil. Some parents shouldn't have kids.

My daughter pretended she couldn't read when she went to infants school.. They were given flash cards but she would always do some of them wrong, different ones at each test. When asked why she wasn't reading them she said it was because they took them off her when she could read them and she wanted to keep them!

[dennis]

That's a lot more than passed in my school, its that privileged upbringing of yours.

I wonder how you would have done in a school where less than 25% could scrape an 11+ pass?

[dennis]

I don't remember the pass rate having anything to do with going to grammar. More people passed the 11+ than there were grammar places around here. I didn't go to grammar by choice. I went to a technical high school. The grammar school pupils were not nice and I wanted nothing to do with them.

[dennis]

My daughter could count in binary when she was four. They did plumbing (taps and sink waste) and bricklaying (just a wall) in junior school.

I learnt Fortran in junior school.

They don't appear to do any of this these days.

[dennis]

But you are supposed to improve at school so you can tell fake news (AGW) from real news.

[bert]

I was the only one in my school - it was a very small rural school But the number of grammar school places WAS limited by the capacity of the only grammar school in the area.

[dennis]

Well yes the places were limited but the pass rate wasn't linked to that limit AFAIK.

[Tim Streater]

Thass because Fortran is obsolete. I last programmed in it in 1978.

[dennis]

That's 10 yaars after I used it. Its still used now.

[bert]

Had to be otherwise where would they go?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No - just that the Scottish education system was once very good.

I've no idea. Not all teachers are equal.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No such thing when I were a lad. So called grammar schools or secondary modern.

Ah. That does explain a lot. Why you pigeon hole everything.

[Steve Walker]

Pretty much the same from my school, class of 42, one teacher, they took the PE lessons too. 30-odd % went to the local grammar school, the rest of the 50-odd % went to other grammar schools or private schools with somewhat harder entrance exams (Manchester Grammar or William Hulme for the boys).

In my case I went to the local grammar, having passed for Manchester grammar but deciding that the much shorter daily journey, the chance for local friends and saving the fees which my parents could ill afford was the best option.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Yes, but it also depended on the school. The children of the family living opposite us went to a different primary school. Instead of using the tried and tested methods of teaching, they used the latest, trendy methods - learning to read with words spelled as they sounded, no rote learning, no phonics, etc. All four of their children came out nigh on illiterate. Not a single child from that school passed the 11+ in the year I took it.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

We still have the 11+ in our borough. There is a pass mark. Getting above that mark only puts you on the list, places are allocated based on score, distance, siblings already at the school, etc. Once all the places are taken, even those above the pass mark must go elsewhere.

SteveW