The Things You Are HAPPY About Thread.

[SLA]

I always help our daughters when they need it but always try to coax them into finding answers for themselves if possible, now I know that if they do ask for help they're really stuck. It was good that both told me that they learned more than they thought by looking for information themselves, so it's sort of learning plus. Still a few years from the GCSEs and such yet though although both are pretty bright and don't shirk their schoolwork and both seem to handle pressure really well. We'll see when the time comes!

Our school actively discourages parents from helping with the work beyond being supportive. The argument being that teaching methods have changed so much that we'd be more of a hindrance than a help. Having looked at some of the GCSE maths, I am wholeheartedly embracing this non-interventionist concept.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I think they have similar - and on a lot of the university prospectuses we've been looking at they have entry requirements like 2 As and B (*not General Studies) :icon_lol:

Yeah, I don't think Manc accepted it either before I went there :icon_lol:

I got an A in it, I didn't even take the "class" (such as it was) for the first year due to timetable clashes with my German.

 

[Boozad]

Our school actively discourages parents from helping with the work beyond being supportive. The argument being that teaching methods have changed so much that we'd be more of a hindrance than a help. Having looked at some of the GCSE maths, I am wholeheartedly embracing this non-interventionist concept.

Trouble I have there though is that Cass comes home with maths homework that they haven’t covered in school, now I’m pretty good at maths (barring trigonometry) and I have to look up how to do some of it. I don’t see how they can dissuade parents from helping if they’re giving the kids stuff they don’t know how to do.

 

[lemonjelly]

I've got one daughter who'll probably be fine stress-wise but the older one can have an anxiety attack when deciding what to have for breakfast so she'll be fun. Schools don't help by telling them day in, day out that their entire future rests on the results (though I understand the context of why they do this) and the rancid government doesn't help by telling everyone we're going to eaten by the Chinese if our kids don't reach some imaginary international benchmark.

And parents (hello!) probably don't help when they say, "hey, I just cruised through mine, didn't take them seriously at all, and look at me, I'm great!"

I actively spend a lot of time explaining to students the importance of not placing too much emphasis on (for example) dissertations, and also go to great lengths to discuss the numerous other things that will have huge implications in shaping their future, many of which have a bigger impact (imo of course). I actually have a list of 20 things that are likely to be more significant in shaping their future than one individual assignment.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I got an A at General Studies. Piss easy. Fucking helped me out massively when I flunked history. Leicester Poly took it!

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Trouble I have there though is that Cass comes home with maths homework that they haven’t covered in school, now I’m pretty good at maths (barring trigonometry) and I have to look up how to do some of it.

You've answered your own question there.

It's designed to improve their research skills, refining how they research things and filtering all the technical stuff to find the answer. We do the same in training at work. Many of our practical exercises are open book so trainees learn to go and find the answer in the help centre and database.

 

[Tredman]

Research and learning are not the same thing though.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Sound reasoning. Learning how to research yourself is key. Much easier these days of course but then there's also a lot of white noise out there, so picking what is and what isn't useful is a skill in itself.

I got a B in History which is the only blemish on my A-Levels record, these days I'd have got an A because picking up the research would have been so much easier. Back then I didn't have time to make the constant trips to the library required when I knew that languages were my real focus and that's what I'd be studying at uni. So it had to take a place in the background, I knew that worse case scenario, I could blag it with the uni if I'd got two As in French and German (which I got), no matter how History went.

I would also say that my first year at uni was a waste of time from a basic language point of view, they weren't teaching me anything I didn't know. Without wishing to sound arrogant, it's like that was a year for most other people to catch up and then we went from there. The modules on literature and pure linguistics were useful, but as for generally speaking/reading/writing the languages, I could have done all that when I was 16. I got an A* in GCSE French when I was 15. Uni isn't as advanced as they want you to believe it is.

I do think asking kids to pick their degree at 17 is a bit weird. I know now that I should never have taken French any further than school (I haven't used it in any meaningful way since I graduated 15 years ago, I hate the language) but at that age, you just go with what you're good at, don't you. I'd have been much better off doing I dunno, German and Politics or German and Economics. By the end I was hardly turning up to any of my French classes. I couldn't stand it any more.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

My regret is doing a law degree for sure. I would have been a million times better off doing Economics (in all probability getting a better degree - I reckon I could have got a first, but defo a minimum 2:1) and then doing a CPE course had a still wanted to go down the lawyer route. Ah well, you live and learn.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I remember getting a bollocking from one of my German tutors in my first year. His lecture was at 9am on a Friday morning and like a knob, I'd always be out until 2-3am on a Thursday night, so I kept missing it. He said "Dan, I know this stuff isn't difficult for you, but if you don't show any willing then no-one will believe in you". And after that, I gave German 100%, all the time, across every single module. I just could not motivate myself to do that with French. I knew it was a mistake within the first semester and I should have done something about it.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Research and learning are not the same thing though.

True but learning how to research things quickly and efficiently is a skill.

Whether you actually learn anything from what you find is down to will.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

My regret is doing a law degree for sure. I would have been a million times better off doing Economics (in all probability getting a better degree - I reckon I could have got a first, but defo a minimum 2:1) and then doing a CPE course had a still wanted to go down the lawyer route. Ah well, you live and learn.

Why don't you put your law degree to work? I know you worked in contract law before, what's stopping you from getting back into it?

 

[Squeeze]

I got a first in my degree in 2000, I did it in two years. It was hard graft. Compared to the past two years supporting Jamie through these new GCSEs it was nothing. I wouldn’t swap my academic career for his. Regardless of the sensationalist headlines about low grade boundaries and pass marks (not borne out by the actual grade boundaries btw), this years efforts by staff and pupils has been nothing short of heroic. Content added at the 11th hour, syllabuses that couldn’t be completed, exam questions on subject matter not covered. I take my hats off to them all. Anyone who passed a GCSE this year really deserved to do so.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I got a first in my degree in 2000, I did it in two years. It was hard graft. Compared to the past two years supporting Jamie through these new GCSEs it was nothing. I wouldn’t swap my academic career for his. Regardless of the sensationalist headlines about low grade boundaries and pass marks (not borne out by the grade boundaries btw), this years efforts by staff and pupils has been nothing short of heroic. Content added at the 11th hour, syllabuses that couldn’t be completed, exam questions on subject matter not covered. I take my hats off to them all. Anyone who passed a GCSE this year really deserved to do so.

Aye, I've got mates in teaching as you know. The whole thing is a mess.

I don't think anyone knows what they want, whereas surely the only thing we should want is intelligent, rounded people.

You also know how proud I am of Jamie and you as a family but to reiterate - it's a fantastic job. Keep going.

 

[Squeeze]

Thanks Dan. We are immeasurably proud of Jamie. Politics, RE and Geography await at A level. But for now I need a stiff drink!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You know there's a coffee shop with some lush cake a couple of miles down the road any time you like

Politics is intriguing, was never an option as an A Level in my day. I'd actually be interested in what they're teaching.

 

[Paul]

I have the upmost admiration for anyone who went through higher education and then in their mid 30's they use the word 'lush' and I remember I'm not a failure at all

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Don't use me as a barometer for anything :icon_lol:

I don't fit into any category. I'm special, but not in a good way.

 

[Paul]

From someone who couldn't remember Kevin Keens name mid sentence the other day (I'm getting worse with age) I have always held you in the highest of regards, but now I just pity you after that

 

[Johnny75]

True but learning how to research things quickly and efficiently is a skill.

Whether you actually learn anything from what you find is down to will.

I believe this teaching technique is called 'Guided discovery'. Very popular right now. The best engineering students I employ for placement years are on a CDIO based course. It's project based work rather than sit down and pass exams stuff. The quality is much higher in terms of both character and ability.