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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.
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?
😀
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 - MemberScouts 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.