Toowundred!

TandemJeremy – Member
Well said trailmonkey.

In response to an earlier post I bet I can guess wh went to state school and wh went to feepaying schools with a high degree of accuracy – Dead easy to do from attitudes. Really really simple.

Put up or shut up TJ, your opinionated & vocal, so show us your worth please.

your opinionated & vocal, so show us your worth please.

Your opinionated and vocal what? Uncle? Best mate? Pet frog?

I prefer TJ’s vocal opinions to some others on here…

I went to a dreadfull state school and hated it. We had all the chavs and a girl who ended up ‘Well preggerz’ at the grand age of 14, because she didn’t want to do her GCSEs. Don’t forget the few children that ended up on house arrest at the age of 16.

It was full of useless kids that just disrupted the education of others, the education itself was pretty shoddy probably because the teachers spent all their time sorting out the troubled children.

If I have kids and have the money they they will be straight to private school with good education and proper people. Don’t worry I will get my own back when it comes to picking nursing homes.

proper people

Oh dear…

What’s the opinion on state Grammar schools that feed from local comps at age 14, and if you do well at 15 or at your GCSE’S at 16 you can come join the streamed fun for A-levels or whatever alternatives are offered these days? Do they have them in Britain?

Your opinionated and vocal what? Uncle? Best mate? Pet frog?

I prefer TJ’s vocal opinions to some others on here…

Fred, from someone who used to pretend to be black, just to get a reaction, I find that quite amusing.

If TJ says he can tell who has been to which type of school, then let him prove it. I’m sure he doesn’t need gobshites to speak for him.

TJ’s responses have been fine, he always argues his points IMO.

grumm – Member

Imagine how good state schools could be if all the money ppl pay in fees to private schools went into state education, and all the parents who apparently care so much about their children’s education got involved with PTA etc at state schools.

Don’t get me started on religious schools btw – not sure how come public money can be used to fund a school which blatantly discriminates on religious grounds.

People who send their kids to private school are also paying taxes so pay for other peoples kids to go to state schools. They are in effect paying twice for their childs education.

Does money make a good school? It obviously helps but will throwing money at a child raise their IQ or change their attitude to learning?

Can TJ also tell how much someone earns or who is gay or who prefers to ride a singlespeed?

Fred, from someone who used to pretend to be black, just to get a reaction, I find that quite amusing.

I find that statement utterly hilarious!

How long d’it take you to think that one up? Well done!

‘Pretend to be Black’! LOL! 😆

Got any more like that?

2 unfit to ride – how can I show this on the forum? I am fairly sure I can do this in real life. It needs rather more than forum posts. All those little subliminal signals that you get in real conversation
Jon / rudeboy – thanks.

I thought Fred was brown? we have seen pics of him. Not black nor whirte but a sort of midbrown colour ( I’m pinkish)

“but will throwing money at a child raise their IQ..? “

Why do better off parents need to spend more on their children then?

…

“or change their attitude to learning?”

What was your attitude to learning at 10 years old? Were you aware of such a concept?

TJ is very vocal on a small amount of subjects, I would say I agree on some, disagree on others. I would never normally challenge someone on here, but such a bold statement just reeks of self worth.

And besides, I can’t tell, so I’m interested in how he can.

Can TJ also tell how much someone earns or who is gay or who prefers to ride a singlespeed?

Are you suggesting there is some kind of correlation between these things? 😛

People who send their kids to private school are also paying taxes so pay for other peoples kids to go to state schools. They are in effect paying twice for their childs education.

Good – they can obviously afford it, which means they clearly aren’t paying enough tax! 😉

Does money make a good school? It obviously helps but will throwing money at a child raise their IQ or change their attitude to learning?

Isn’t that one of the main benefits that people have been suggesting public schools give you?

Fred, you know, I just pull them out of the hat sometimes 😉 Your posts have always had me enthralled, its been fun watching you change over the years.
You used to have a bag of spuds on your shoulder, now your down to a potato or two, not long before it becomes a mere chip.

I’ll rephrase the question,

What does the extra money provide? In many cases private schools offer a selection procedure based on “academic ability” the money covers the fact that this excludes them from government funding (or that they opt out). What would giving more money to a comprehensive change that would make it a better school?

At ten years old I loved learning, I liked maths and science, quite enjoyed school. Didn’t like English or French but worked hard at it because I wanted to be good/better. I’d read books on things I liked, had things like mocroscopes and chemistry sets to play with. Learning was just fun/interesting for me.

Your posts have always had me enthralled

That’s funny; ‘cos yours haven’t!

TandemJeremy – Member
2 unfit to ride – how can I show this on the forum? I am fairly sure I can do this in real life. It needs rather more than forum posts. All those little subliminal signals that you get in real conversation

I’m sorry, I thought you were posting on a forum, boasting about being able to tell which type of school people went to. I didn’t realise you meant you could only tell if you had actually met the person, & asked them where they went to school 😉

grumm – Member

Can TJ also tell how much someone earns or who is gay or who prefers to ride a singlespeed?

Are you suggesting there is some kind of correlation between these things?

I was more trying to think of things that there are sterotypes for but are all irrelevant when you look at the person rather than the label. Does it really matter if someone has been to public school? I know people who have and haven’t and some are good, some are bad – I don’t know what the point was that TJ was trying to get across.

Hadn’t thought of any correlations – but let me think… 😆

What would giving more money to a comprehensive change that would make it a better school?

Smaller class sizes? More learning support? Better equipment/more books etc? More activities/trips on offer? More/better training for teachers? Er…

RudeBoy – Member
That’s funny; ‘cos yours haven’t!

I bet you come up with something, I know you won’t let it lie.

More/better training for teachers? Er…

This gets better. So now the teachers are rubbish at state schools too ?

2 unfit – sory for the confusion – yes it needs more than a forum post. I dunno what point I was trying to make now either.
Gays – you can tell by the shirts, the way they walk and the aftershave

( thats a joke btw)

This gets better. So now the teachers are rubbish at state schools too ?

Er…. where are you getting that from? I went to a state school and the teachers were generally pretty good.

Just saying that if you had a bigger budget, you can afford more training for your staff, which is probably a good thing. Which part of that do you fail to understand?

I was just arguing that there would be clear benefits to more money for state schools – not just schools that only benefit the already priveleged and exacerbate divisions in society.

Can someone remind me what the OP was??

Which part of that do you fail to understand?

OK, don’t have a cow. My mistake, thought you were having a pop at an already undervalued proffesion.

Sorry just had a cow. Literally.

jonb – not gonna respond to how more money might benefit comprehensives eh? 😉

I don’t think private schools exacerbate divisions in society – historically we have had a seriously crazy class society and I think a lot of that will always be ingrained. I don’t agree with it but at the same time it is hard not to see it in society.

I also don’t think that putting more money in state schools will work – as many posters have said there are disruptive influences in schools which stop teachers teaching. What you need is a method of dividing up children into people who want to learn and people who don’t…

“What does the extra money provide? In many cases private schools offer a selection procedure based on “academic ability”

I had that in a state school in N.Ireland. Debate the merits of selection.

“What would giving more money to a comprehensive change that would make it a better school?”

Well here’s a suggestion…

“(I) had things like mocroscopes (sic) and chemistry sets to play with. Learning was just fun/interesting for me. “

One between thirty students in my state comp.

Are you any closer to an understanding now?

I was really wondering if it is purely money that makes the difference?

My parents bought me the microscope. It was a while ago and it was no means a top of the range affair, they’re about £20 in argos now link
so not going to break the bank of anyone on this forum I assume. I do appreciate that proper research ones can cost a little bit more than that!

there are disruptive influences in schools which stop teachers teaching.

What if those disruptive influences could all be given appropriate 1-2-1 support if/when they needed it?

What you need is a method of dividing up children into people who want to learn and people who don’t…

I don’t agree with that at all – what is really needed is finding the right things/approaches that will stimulate different people. We are starting to get much better at this I think but there is a long way to go.

Does anyone have a reliable source as to what the government spends on education per child? The current fees for where I went are (a lot more than they used to be) £8000 per year assuming you don’t get any sort of help.

“I was really wondering if it is purely money that makes the difference?”

Well, please share your opinion on whether it may help, in a school environment.

Did you read the whab waving post a few weeks back regarding incomes? If you did you would know that the income of many that post on this forum is not very representative of the median income in the uk.

And regardless of that fact, wouldn’t you say that all children should be given an equal chance in life, to succeed or fail, regardless of their parental income?

I agree on the 1-2-1 – but the point I was trying to make was that it isn’t just down to money – it is about the community and until you get the support of the pupils and their parents – teaching is going to be a tough job and results will not be as good as they could – Its a team effort and everyone needs to push in the right direction but a lot of places people aren’t focused on education and achieving the results.

My other comment was slightly taking the michael as currently the way of dividing them up is to either leave the people who are disruptive in low ability classes and penalise them academically or take the people who want to learn out of states schools and put them in to private schools.

However I agree – you need to find things to stimulate them into learning but its not that easy. I personally was not a great student and only left school with 5 GCSEs at A-C. That was nothing to do with the teachers or the type of school I went to or how much money any of my schools had but my focus on education at the time.

Being a slack bugger there were many points during my school days when I didn’t want to learn, especially in my “bad” subjects. It wouldn’t have done me any good at all if I had been separated off from the pro learners.

Just to throw my hat into this decidedly British debate; I went to a decent comprehensive, with it’s fair share of dodgy kids and large class sizes, but the teaching staff were great and the policies far sighted enough to give priority to activities that encouraged social integration and fun like music, drama etc. This did come at the expense of sport though; I don’t think I played more than a couple of games of team sports whilst I was there.

Those children at fee paying schools who I knew at the time (family friends etc) seemed like they thought rather more of themselves than my mates, although in retrospect it was more likely due to them having more in common with the other kids at these gatherings (lame summer parties etc) as they were also from independent schools, than them being toffs.

It was amusing at uni, where there really were some poshos, to confuse those who had never met anyone from a comp who was not serving them in some way. The stories I heard from many of my friends at that time convinced me that a comprehensive education was the way forward.

For my own children we recently moved to an area where the local school has a decent rep but I don’t think my principles on the matter would stand up if I didn’t have that option. Lord knows how we would afford it though! One of my friends in particular is changing, with regard to his views on schooling, from being a rabid socialist through pragmatism to a pro fee paying school, sad really as he did so well from his own comprehensive education (and that was at a much rougher school than mine).

What they need to deal with the disruptive students is a different kind of syllabus, clearly they do not get on the current sit on the chair and write stuff syllabus.

If they had a more parctical or vocaltional type of subject with English, Maths and a bit Science built in then you would find a lot of the trouble goes away. Where they get to build and learn other skills. But the education department have yet to realise this and instead they think every child has to sit on a chair and learn dates. A little more diversity in education wouldn’t go a miss and you can do this while including a bit of the subjets above.

Yes money would help, although I think the childs ability has something to do with it. E.g. No matter how much money you spend on me I will never make it as a good musician. The thing that would be needed to be done would be to find the childs talents and interests and nuture it. Still money cannot cure all problems, a large part of a childs education is (should be) done at home, schools can’t be there all the time. I know from experience that even at my private school there were issues, not with violence to the level of knife crime but things weren’t always rosy.

All children should be given a equal start in life, but they’re not and as some people have said above, no one want to sacrifice their child to fight to get this so will do the best they can. Even those sending their children/or wanting to send their children to comprehensives were doing it because they thought it would give a better rounded education not through some political ideal. Or at least that was my understanding.

“historically we have had a seriously crazy class society and I think a lot of that will always be ingrained. I don’t agree with it but at the same time it is hard not to see it in society.”

Christ, reading that is depressing. Are all Brits who recognise this equally exhausted and willing to “accept” the inequalities of the “class society”?

probably on the wrong forum for that question though, eh? 😀

None of the proponents of public schools seem to be mentioning the other apparent benefit of them – the ‘old boys network’. Is that not another consideration when deciding where to send your kids? Or does that not exist any more?

“I was really wondering if it is purely money that makes the difference?”

(29mins pass…)

“Yes money would help,”

You answered your own question in the space of 30 mins. You don’t have a clue about the state school versus privately funded issue, do you?

“All children should be given a equal start in life, but they’re not “

Ever wondered why?