[Closed] Who need the scouts, when you've got the hoodies?

Yeah well, that was the old days - these days life on the street is tough. Kids ain't got time to **** about singing poncey songs round a bleeding camp-fire - they've got business to attend to.

In scouts I got to carry a knife and burn sh!t up, nothing's changed 'cept hoodies don't have badges all down their arm to show how pimp they are...

Apparently, more girls joined the Scouts last year than boys.

Boys - get yourselves down there quick!!

Rachel

Which just goes to prove that scouts is for girls.

And softies.

I was in the beavers, never got into all that rows of tents cub scout malarkey though.

Scout leader: Can you watch my toast for me on the BBQ

'spoon many years ago : OK

30 minutes pass

Scout leader : I thought you were watching my toast?#

me: I was

SL: You've burnt it

me: Yea, you told me to watch it, you didn't say anything about taking it off when it was done!

My son and daughter both in scouts. Best thing they do all week, loads and loads of activities, camps, caving, climbing, chess, cooking, orienteering the lot. They both love it and brush aside all of the piss taking from their mobile hugging facebook addicted pasty faced friends. Last weekend they even met Bear Grylls who is the chief scout...oh...there is a downside.

Scouts was ace, everyone took the mick but we did so much more fun stuff than everyone else and many occasions we had cracking evenings around a fire with a beer or two and didn't feel the need to become a bunch of drunken idiots wrecking the place. Everyone I know tha attended scouts has grown up to be a productive member of the local society, same can't be said of the retards who took the mick!

Tell you - growing up in Glasgow in the 70s was much tougher than it is now

No mean city still had some truth to it

i like beavers,,, oops, said that out loud.

scout/cub troop near opposite my house seem to have a great time ( i live in a northern town with typical drug/crime/youth problems,,,, same as every where else if you are honest) and i have just missed out on a volunteer position which im pretty gutted about. i believe that the cubs/scouts made me the man i am today and gave me inspiration and valuable knowledge that i could adapt to other walks of life (MTBing ?)

since the tories have cut funding for youth clubs etc in my local area and 'the chavs have hit the streets' it seems that the scouts should be taking up the banner and hopefully will provide the youth of today with something other than this mass produced, american influenced way of life that people call normal. not every kid wants to be trisher trash,,,,,, some of them need to be shown that the country side can be just as exciting as MTV, how do we do that ?.
best alternative i can think of is to get somebody like bear grils in charge of the scouting movement. i realy cant see what the problem is with BG haters, i think he is a great influence on the 'possibly interested' youth of today, ex-SAS, the programs he has done on TV (OK some of that stuff was a bit manufactured) the mans a moderned day hero compared to M and M (that rapper,,, what ever frikin his name is)
scouts, bear grils,,,, OK by me,, more of the same please

We have fools for leaders and this is all too evident by where they have led us.

The TV has a massive influence on our culture, used sensibly it can be a good influence, however when so many kids are abandoned by their parents to the streets and then have to fend for themsleves.

It's no wonder the streets in many places are so dangerous, they are all trying to better each other in the idiocy of retardation competition, that the youth of today see as a right of passage!

These individuals have no one who is teaching them how to set goals and go about achieving them, they are not conditioned mentally at all, our greatest resource is beaing squandered, just like all of our other resources.

Basically the youth of today are thick as pig shit from a constipated pig!

I reckon kaesae's hit the nail on the head.

Well actually I don't reckon kaesae has hit the nail on the head at all - he completely failed to give any sort of explanation why things are different now compared to when he was a child. I'm presuming that he's not that old and TVs existed when he was a child.

We had TV when I was a child, but we had Fingerbobs.

What you didn't learn from FingerMouse wasn't worth knowing!

{mods can you change my name to FingerMouse please?}

My son has aspergers tried Beavers a number of years ago but didnt work out for him. Started scouts last year and he has really taken to it overnight camps etc.
Tonight its axes and saws in the woods!! hope they ask me to stay, like revisiting my own childhood.

TandemJeremy - Member

Tell you - growing up in Glasgow in the 70s was much tougher than it is now

No mean city still had some truth to it

ernie_lynch - Member
Well actually I don't reckon kaesae has hit the nail on the head at all - he completely failed to give any sort of explanation why things are different now compared to when he was a child. I'm presuming that he's not that old and TVs existed when he was a child.

Perhaps you are right ernie_lynch, perhaps I need to explain it, as the rising crime rate and child pregnancy statistics are not enough, simply put each generation has less mental capacity for logic and reason. They live only for the moment and cannot grasp that what they do today shapes the future for us all.

They are more and more delusional and less and less able to function in a civilized society, partly because of the circumstances they find themselves born into and thus conditioned by, combined with an inherent survival instinct and also because they have no guidance in life and they are slaves to their emotions and other factors.

As I said poor quality leadership with no grasp of the issues most people face or how to go about rectifying situations in an efficient direct manner.

What most people would call leaders, I would call modern day court jesters, yes the bells and tassles are gone and the outfits have improved if only slightly, but they are still able to do nothing except take the piss and get paid!

Tonight's programme involves:
- saws & axes
- setting fire to things
- burning some food (if we have time)

being a Scout leader is fun! 😀

Does it still have strong religious undertones?

When I was a kid there were kids hanging around causing trouble on the streets. They just weren't wearing hoodies.

People have always been the same kaesae, take those rose tinted memory specs off! 🙂

What most people would call leaders, I would call modern day court jesters

You are living in fantasy land if you think the leaders of yesteryear were any better than today!

TSY, it does indeed, another Scout Leader here - the misses said it would be good for me.

Can't say I do religion and if asked I just give a softened down version of my views. Just come back from a weekend camp with out lot, still using canvas tents and collecting firewood so we can do all meals cooked on open fires etc.

I do have issues though, the stuff we do is all stuff I should enjoy, we start cycling badge this week, use axes, knives, saws, learn to tie knots and build stuff.... if only it wasn't for the kids, little sods appear to have no respect or desire to learn. I just have to hope some of what we try to tell them stays with them.

I was a scout and an army cadet.

Scouts was more fun and the activities were more varied.
Cadets was more about discipline, weapons and learning how to kill a man with nothing but a ballpoint pen. 😀

My little girl will be sent to the Scout hut across the road as soon as she is old enough.

Gee-Jay.. that was the main reason that I never made it out of beavers. That and the patronising bint that ran our local group.

Other than that I think it's a good thing for kids to be involved with.

best alternative i can think of is to get somebody like bear grils in charge of the scouting movement.

is that a joke??

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8054699.stm

[i]"failed to give any sort of explanation why things are different now compared to when he was a child"[/i]

[b]Perhaps you are right ernie_lynch, perhaps I need to explain it[/b],

Well you have certainly explained how things are different, but you still haven't explained why things are different.

Why the rising crime rate and child pregnancy ?

Why less mental capacity for logic and reason ?

Why more delusional and inability to function in a civilized society ?

Why no guidance in life and slaves to their emotions ?

Why poor quality leadership ?

Why the modern day court jesters ?

Does it matter, TSY?
The parents of today are more concerned with "easy, comfy, convenient" than "challenging, interesting, curiosity-inducing", the effects are clearly visible on the streets. Thanks to that the life expectations are roughly those: get laid at 13, be pregnant at 14, get a council house and all the benefits ASAP for a girl; get a BJ at 11, father the girl at 13, steal at 14, get an ASBO at 16, drive a BMW316 with a massive spoiler at 17 for a boy.
If more parents paid attention to their kids it'd be different. Scouts, martial arts, pottery, ballet, whatever rocks their boat, but why? It's so much easier to watch BGT, BB, ICGMOOH, DOI and all the rubbish available.
I'm so pleased there're some 30k people here, it means I'm not alone wanting my kid to be well-educated, well-spoken, healthy and interested in things. Long may STW continue!

growing up in 1980s newcastle was, I imagine just as bad as today. The times I got 'taxed' of my belongings are too numerous too mention, a couple of times by knife, you just shrugged it off, as probably many of the kids do today. the issue is that the media these days makes such a big deal out of it. I can remember kids being stabbed in and around school, kids being set upon with bats, all sorts. nowadays its front page news, those days it wasn't!

In the loft somewhere I have a bronze statuette that I inherited from a great uncle: it is a boy scout standing with his hands (camply) on his hips and the plaque says it was presented to him by Baden-Powell 😀

(Personally I think it was a come-on)

be pregnant at 14

What a load of bollox.

Girls today "typically" want to get pregnant at 14 ?

What's the point of coming out with rubbish like that ?

There's a waiting list round here for cubs. So it must popular. And no, we're talking Lichfield, not somewhere posh.

I spent 10 years working with kids/teens in West London/Middlesex (Feltham ad the likes). Many, way too many were saying they wanted it. Their examples were coming from their mums.
Besides, I did say "roughly", didn't I?

Religion?

In the west of scotland the Scouts were Catholics and if you were a prod you joined the BB's, combined with segregated schools what a wonderful place to grow up if you are a religious bigot.
Coming from a mixed marriage I wasnt allowed in the scouts,I had to go to the BB's, it always seemed to me the Scouts did the fun stuff while the BB's were a quasi religious/military organisation. I eventually got kicked out the BB's for not going to church enough, the club run with Ayr Roads was much more fun on a sunday morning than sitting listening to some fire and doom minister for a couple of hours.

Hairychested... I can only speak from personal experience, I don't have children so I go from memory.

As a 6 year old I was taken along to beavers. I found the religious content and the patronising style of the leader (what do they call them?) too much. So I quit, it wasn't for me... I was taken to other things where this wasn't an issue. I'll allow any children I have to choose in the same way.

As an aside... a good number of the lads I knocked around with all got kicked out of the scouts/cubs for setting fire to things. They're all well spoken >£30k people now, just a little bit too curious for the cub/scout movement it seemed 🙂

I'm just of to the newsagents to get my Daily Mail.

Or rather I would go outside, but the likelihood is I'll get mugged by a hoodie.

It wouldn't have happened in my day, I can tell you.

Besides, I did say "roughly", didn't I?

Yes you did, you said "Thanks to that the life expectations are roughly those:"

It isn't even roughly true.

What percentage of girls do you think today want to get pregnant at 14 ?

How does coming out with hysterical nonsense like that help understand any problems which might
exist ?

In the west of scotland the Scouts were Catholics and if you were a prod you joined the BB's

Not in Milngavie they weren't (Or maybe we just cared less).

I was a proddy (by birth at least) and went to Scouts with quite a lot of my proddy schoolmates.

Religion was never really mentioned - we were too busy building bridges across the river, playing Chalk Rugby and burning our hands with meths.

What a load of bollox.

Girls today "typically" want to get pregnant at 14 ?

What's the point of coming out with rubbish like that ?

Perhaps he's going for a job at the Mail and is practising? He forgot to mention "feral youth", though.

GrahamS - Time to out myself. I am the scout leader across the road ... look forward to seeing her in the Beavers.

TSY - There still is a religious policy. But as it is a multi-faith organisation it should never be dogmatic and is meant to be about 10% of the programme. Many leaders pay it scant attention, though there will always be the odd zealot.

50% of the programme is the good old outdoors, and it is what the young people like most. Most areas are struggling for leaders (the Guides in our village have just folded because of the lack of adult leaders), so STWers get out there!

@TSY, I got kicked out too, setting fire to a field was the factor (or was it telling the chief scout he knew nothing?). I asked out of curiosity, thanks.
@ernie, clearly you live in a better place than I did for many years. Enjoy!
@GG, why don't you ask the Police to deliver? If the Fire Brigade can take a cat off a tree, surely a PC should be able to help you with this.
@mogrim, that's the one!

It's no wonder the streets in many places are so dangerous

Are they? I walk through some of the rougher part of Manchester after a few pints and don't really feel threatened (although maybe I look like I'm not worth mugging!). I think the main prob is the media demonising kids. I used to hang around the streets when I was young, sometimes we caused a bit of trouble - getting into derelict buildings, trying to kill each other with fireworks, riding our bmx's in pedestrianised areas etc etc - my parents never really knew about what we got up to but it's what young kids do when there is sod all else. I think my folks would rather I was out riding my bike or meesing around on the promenade than sat at home on the Megadrive.

We may have looked menacing to some folks at the time but that wasn't intentional and we would never have thought about being violent or threatening. I don't think anything has changed that much apart from kids seem much more conscious about their image nowadays which I suppose in the wrong circumstances can lead to them being led astray.

I was also in the Cubs, Scouts and Ventures by the way.

On another unrelated note, as the cub leader said to the priest;

'Pass me another cub, this one's split..'

Well you have certainly explained how things are different, but you still haven't explained why things are different.

I wish I could answer that, I'd be prime minister in a flash.

I'd go along the lines of education and expectation.Since I was at school the content of the GCSE has massively dropped, since my parents were at school even mine looked like watered down kiddies work. During my A levels my parents were discussing calculus with me, they left school at 16. I re-visited my old college after 8 years and asked the physics teacher how things were, he just shook his head and said they'd watered down the course so much it wasn't even fun to teach anymore and he had no idea how anyone was getting through uni courses. At primary school there appears to be issues too, seen from afar - things are somewhat more fluffy than they used to be and the kids seem to grow up being told that they're amazing when they're not and only not being given things when they're bad, rather than only being given things when they're good. Too much carrot and not enough stick I think.

I think society in general expects more for less these days, meaning less effort is put in all round to get those things.

There's always exceptions though, and I know dozens of late teens/early twenties who put shedloads of effort in and do really well, it just seems the average are getting lost somewhere.

GrahamS - Time to out myself. I am the scout leader across the road ... look forward to seeing her in the Beavers.

No way! In Wylam? Blimey - that's a small world. We can hear the beavers/scouts from our house and it sounds like they have great fun! Our little girl is only one - so she's got a while to go yet (it's six for Beavers isn't it?)

TSY, as LabWormy says its probably down to the pack. Our troop leader is (very) religious, a couple of prayers at the end of each meeting and Scouts Own (like a mini church service)on Sunday am at camp.

I don't do religion, went to a Methodist Boarding School and it convinced me that leading a good/moral life is very important but there is not a god other than human spirit generally (but that's another discussion) - I figure that I do more for the general community by keeping quiet about that belief (or lack of) and helping the kids learn some stuff than getting on my high horse and doing nothing for anybody. So I ignore the religious bits.

If that makes me sound pious or as though I am preaching then sorry, I am neither but would rather do something than nothing.

@ernie, clearly you live in a better place than I did for many years. Enjoy!

Yep, life outside the "shocking" fantasy world of the Daily Mail is indeed better.

Unfortunately though, it requires being aware of real and pressing problems. Such as the fact that youth unemployment in Britain has reached an unprecedented 1 million......... a "shocking statistic" which the likes of the Daily Mail seem hugely unbothered by.

Gee Jay... chapeau.

Sounds like the organisation needs more people like you. Maybe it needs someone like me... however I've fought authority, organisation and control from an early age so maybe not... if it's mult-faith I wouldn't be able to abide prayers for a second.

I should do something like this again though. Used to be a voluntary kayak instructor and it was a hell of a lot of fun and very rewarding.

The only survey I know on the religious policy (on escouts, STW for leaders) show that most leaders want it removed even though they want to keep making YP people think about the world and how it works – explore faiths, rather than preach them.

Though the SA won’t admit it, there are loads of leaders ignoring the “atheists can’t be leaders” line, as they would prefer to keep a group running rather than getting all Dawkins about it.

"Reflections" rather than "prayers" are the order of the day when jumping through policy hoops when the top brass is about.

@GrahamS

As from your posts I guess you live at the bottom of AT somewhere, then I'll walk past your house most days of the week (some one needs to keep the beer stock fresh in the Spar).

Beavers start at age 6. Meet Thursday 5:15 til 6:15 term time.

We used to do Church Parade once a months and were sort of volunteered for it by the leaders. No one wanted to do it, especially the leaders, but as we used the church hall sometimes I suppose there was a bit of returning the favour going on. We also used to do a carol concert for the local old folks home which we found hilarious for some reason - so did the old folks 😀

I'm an atheist and have never really believed in anything even as a kid. The religious part of the Scouts never really bothered me compared to the fun we had playing bulldog and going on adventures in the highlands.

Since I was at school the content of the GCSE has massively dropped

Examples? I suspect the focus of the courses have changed in fact. As I understand it kids have to (and do) work harder now than they did when I was at school.

@GrahamS: As from your posts I guess you live at the bottom of AT somewhere..

Yep, spot on. (I'm a bit scared now 🙂 )
We'll be signing her up in a few years then.

Examples? I suspect the focus of the courses have changed in fact. As I understand it kids have to (and do) work harder now than they did when I was at school.

I don't have the syllabi with me, but having discussed it with my old teachers they were telling me that there's several key areas that were removed over the last decade or so and with the switch to more coursework so the darlings don't get overly stressed in exams 😆 it opens up more room for sharing of work and internet hunting for answers and outline plans to coursework. I'm just the messenger, don't shoot me, I'm just returning the view of some long term teaching staff. Again, at A levels some key areas were dropped, at least in the exam board we took, nuclear physics was watered down until it was pretty much off the menu in comparison with when we did it (again, I didn't see the course, I'm going off what a time-served teacher was telling me in response to my turning up from a uni as a recruiting run and finding most of the course contents were somewhat lacking, from a college that used to be in the top 5 in the UK). There are some rumblings from a previous institution I worked at about them having to transfer the content of the 1st year into the 2nd and bring the "foundation year" (used for people without the right grades) into the first year. Seems a bit of a poor reflection of earlier teaching (and not the teachers faults I might add), be it different content or easier. It's not my place to judge as I can't possibly remember what it was like back then and compare it to now as I now know far more than the content of those courses, and to anyone who's not continued education they'll have forgotten half of what they did at GCSE/O level and so current ones will look difficult even if they're easier. I trust what the teachers themselves had to say. I'm not sure if the same applies for non-tech subjects to be fair.

@Ernie_[s]the one man[/s] Lynch [s]mob[/s] 😯

I think I mentioned poor quality leadership and a lack of mental conditioning.

Time in front of the TV means time not spent socializing or supervising children, you savve ❓

It means less time invested in humanity and less spent with kids so therefore we have less influence over them, in short TV promotes idiocy and neglect. It also promotes delusionment and a lack of touch with the truth.

The rise in polularity of the TV is in my opinion the cause of the demise of the family unit and the continued mental and physical degeneration of our society and culture.

In short if you prmote and develop activities that cultivate intellect, talent and ability, you will end up with intellectualy talented able individuals.

However if the activities are senseless, idiotic and irrational, what will you end up with ❓

People who re-pack bearings?

🙂 Sorry, had to, that was mean and uncalled for 🙂 I'm only yanking your crank, so to speak.

On the positive side it's producing students who're good at going hunting for pre-made answers to solutions, which is great for lots of industry such as engineering purchasing solutions. It's not so great for the core disciplines though, who're now finding people simply don't want or can't sit down and go through things from scratch themselves.

and with the switch to more coursework so the darlings don't get overly stressed in exams

Hmm, there's a strong argument in favour of coursework though. I'd have thought it more accurately represents the way we work in every day lives. After all an awful lot of people complained that it was a waste of time being drilled on 'facts' that almost everyone wouldn't need to know in real life simply to pass an exam, then promptly forget it all.

From talking to the 3 teachers in my immediate family it seems that they are trying to teach you how to work and figure things out than simply drilling facts.

Of course, for those wishing to head into a technical area this has its drawbacks. University science departments need kids to know some stuff. And this is why I am in favour of greater differentiation being AVAILABLE but not compulsory. I am a geek, I've always been a geek, I need facts. This is not true of most people of course 🙂

Time in front of the TV means time not spent socializing or supervising children

I disagree. A very narrow minded view of things you have.

The rise in polularity of the TV is in my opinion the cause of the demise of the family unit

What about when families watch TV together and discuss it?

Coffee king, if you want to yank my crank you will need both hands and I would think just to make sure your lips as well 😉

kaesae - Member

@Ernie_the one man Lynch mob

What's that suppose to mean ?.........because I don't subscribe to the Daily Mail's "shock, horror, it's an outrage, all kids today are criminals" attitude, I somehow represent a one man lynch mob ?

Well pardon me for not towing the line.

.......I'll let you get on with it whilst I find something better to do other than waste my time talking to halfwits.

EDIT : To be fair, I needed an excuse and you've just given it to me.....thanks.

Ahh molgrips, do try to stay on topic old chap, we are discussing hoodies remember 😉

I would be willing to bet that you are not from a rough area, if you are then by all means let us hear about it!

Even if you are then simply having encouraged your kids to debate and to apply intellect means you are encouraging the behaviour I already mentioned.

How many families in poorer area's do you think debate or discuss what they watch on TV ❓

Did ye ****ing sea dat car on topdageer, aye it was ****ing menital

Hmm, there's a strong argument in favour of coursework though. I'd have thought it more accurately represents the way we work in every day lives. After all an awful lot of people complained that it was a waste of time being drilled on 'facts' that almost everyone wouldn't need to know in real life simply to pass an exam, then promptly forget it all.

I don't think that's true, as a kid I distinctly remember being required to not only remember stuff (yes), but also use that to work stuff out later and you got the top marks for using that remembered stuff to figure things out. This figuring out was the bit that got you an A or a B, the core facts got you to a D or a C. It wasn't just a giant fact orgy with tick boxes. We were required to remember equations, then presented with a problem that may or may not use that equation and others and you had to put two and two together and use X to find Y. Course work was used to encourage problem solving, but the core content was to know stuff to use in problem solving and the students who cared learned to problem solve through curiosity, not teaching. Having the focus the other way round is a mistake IMO, it's part of the earlier comment about expectations. It's remarkable how some students find that as they dont know the basics they can't problem solve at all, because they don't even know where to look for answers.

I'm not against coursework as it is where the majority of the "core" knowledge comes together and gets put into context. Our project students claim to learn more from projects than lectures, but they don't, they just learn to apply what they already know from the lectures. If it were all projects they'd be screwed with no base to work from.

I don't have the syllabi with me.... I didn't see the course....

So, you don't actually have any real evidence to back up your claims then? How very scientific...

the switch to more coursework so the darlings don't get overly stressed in exams

Bin proven that many people suffer with the pressure that exams places them under, and consequently don't do as well as expected. Constantly assessed coursework is a far better way of monitoring progress than end of term/year/course exams. Exams can be fluked or cheated, and don't necessarily provide such a good indication of an individual's real abilities.

it opens up more room for sharing of work and internet hunting for answers and outline plans to coursework

So, co-operation, teamwork and using one's own initiative to investigate stuff is no good then? 😕

You din't do very well at GCSE Internet Arguing, did you? 😉

OOHH earnie I haven't offended you have I ❓

Where exactly do you live and what is your experience of hoodies?

Apart from reading about them in the papers! and disagreeing with what is written based on ❓ what exactly care to enlighten us!

OOHH earnie I haven't offended you have I

Well would you be bothered if you had ?

No mate. It's just that whilst taunting and winding-up ill-informed and gullible middle-class halfwits has its obvious entertainment value, occasionally it just requires a particularly moronic comment to remind me that I should probably be applying myself to something a tad more productive.

No offence like 🙂

I don't think that's true, as a kid I distinctly remember being required to not only remember stuff (yes), but also use that to work stuff out later and you got the top marks for using that remembered stuff to figure things out.

That's why they still do have a lot of exams as well as the coursework where the subject suits it.

I think things are quite different to when you were a kid.

Re using the internet, I believe in many subjects you are required to look stuff up on the internet. Of course you don't get any marks for copying Wikipedia down.. Sounds like a good opportunity to teach critical thinking.

@ernie_lynch middle class 8O, I'm more like stig of the dump meets kane from kung fu! 😀

Bin proven that many people suffer with the pressure that exams places them under, and consequently don't do as well as expected.

On the other hand, life is sometimes stressful - you have job interviews, problematic clients, deadlines, etc. Might be a good idea to get kids used to stressful situations.

Might be a good idea to get kids used to stressful situations.

Waterboard 'em I say.

Might be a good idea to get kids used to stressful situations

Yes but perhaps not stake their future on it eh? 🙂

Yes but perhaps not stake their future on it eh?

Why not? They get years and years and years to practise doing exams, it's not like exams are something that is suddenly sprung on them at the last moment... If after all that practice they still can't handle the stress, perhaps that's a good sign as to what kind of future they should aim for?

vaguely wandering back on topic for a moment, I was in cubs, scouts and then ventures (why did they choose a friday night for ventures, that's why I left) and the subject of religion never once reared it's ugly head. I had to stand and look smart for St Georges day parade, but not one element of religion was discussed in all the time I was attending. Which was good as it may have interupted my attempts at accidental self immolation.

I'd assume this was due to the personal beliefs of the leaders as it doesn't seem to be the case for everyone. Obviously I was lucky, though there was a local leader (not mine) who got done for being a perv.

If after all that practice they still can't handle the stress, perhaps that's a good sign as to what kind of future they should aim for?

Oh, so now we're into labelling and pigeon holing kids at age 16. That's lovely that is.

I was going to type more sarcasm here but hells bells that's a really repellent attitude right there.

So you f up one exam... that's it then? Game over? At 16? Bloody hell.

why did they choose a friday night for ventures

so you could go and get pissed afterwards, obviously?

whether they planned it like that or not, it was indeed the technique I employed. Fortunately ventures was non uniform. A bit like CID I 'spose...

coffeeking - Member

Scouts was ace, everyone took the mick but we did so much more fun stuff than everyone else and many occasions we had cracking evenings around a fire with a beer or two and didn't feel the need to become a bunch of drunken idiots wrecking the place. Everyone I know tha attended scouts has grown up to be a productive member of the local society, same can't be said of the retards who took the mick!

+ Lots

I would say much of my self reliance came from being in the Scouts, being a patrol leader taught me many lessons about managing people in a good way.

Perhaps you are right ernie_lynch, perhaps I need to explain it, as the rising crime rate and child pregnancy statistics are not enough, simply put each generation has less mental capacity for logic and reason. They live only for the moment and cannot grasp that what they do today shapes the future for

Perhaps before spouting a load of rubbish about the causes of 'rising crime statistics', it would be worth checking the crime statistics, what with them currently being at a record low since 1981 when they first did the British Crime Survey, and not rising at all.

I think the main prob is the media demonising kids.

Ding! We have a winner.

I've suspected this for a while now. We've always had a percentage of bad kids just as we've always had a percentage of good kids. I'm not convinced that it's wildly different now to when it was in my day or, I suspect, my folks' day.

The difference between then and now though is, firstly we're so much better at reporting it. Secondly, we're so much better at [i]telling them.[/i] Whereas I might've got told "c'mon, pull your socks up," all the current generation get told is what a set of no-hoper bastards they all are.

So you f up one exam... that's it then? Game over? At 16? Bloody hell.

One exam? Unless things have changed massively since I went through British education at 16 you do 8-12 exams... And if you f up all of them, I'd say it's a pretty good sign that you shouldn't be aiming for a university education - in an ideal world you'd be moved on to an apprenticeship or similar in a trade. (Ideal world, obviously!)

Who mentioned university?

I just did 🙂

I'm assuming that if you f up your exams at 16 you might not be able to head onto white-collar work, but are perfectly capable of non-academic trades.

Mind you, perhaps waterboarding would be more appropriate for today's youth.

I dunno, you can't do much without A-C at Maths and English IIRC.