This is a reply to the comments in the previous post. I agree with María in the interestingness-ness of the topic, and I am happy to waste my whole morning blabbing about it 
María,
Maybe I was a bit biased when I spoke of “indoctrination”. I was merely meaning “aborregamiento”. What the coalition is trying to push is that parents think that the local school is shitte and doesn’t match expectations and goals, they can set-up their own school. That would be, as a matter of fact, an academy, which are publicly funded (hooray!) but can decide their own curriculums (stuff they teach and ways they teach it).
At the moment the funding of schools has gone shit, because of the goverment cut to reduce the deficit. As an example, Ella’s school (an academy) has run out of funds (broke in the headmaster’s words) and the kids are rising money by selling a voucher’s book. That will give you an idea how things are going shit. Is not that they didn’t get any money. They just didn’t get as much as they were expecting. But they are still funded by us.
AS for the constant improvement in the exam results, I believe that the questions are becoming easier every year, with nasty examples like the famous “Where does solar energy come from?” question in last years Science A-levels.
There is a lot of debate in the (serious) radio stations re the fact that only 30ish schools have gone into academies (a great failure of the measure, shouts Labour). And they are explaining a lot of things, silly things. Apparently it is <em>vox populi</em> that some schools are better than others and some are really shitte, and they have been like that year after year after… Those schools are usually linked to lower classes and low-income neighbourghoods. And every year “they” devise new methods to random allocate pupils, so kids from those areas get to go to good schools in other areas (by making some kids in good schools/aras go to shitte schools). Why the fuck don’t they concentrate in improving those crap schools methods/goals/performances?
I believe the ones to blame (booomb) are not the schools, nor the teachers, nor the rich middle-class famililes that send kids to good schools. I blame (hear me you) the benefits system. It is amazing how nobody has linked bad schools to benefit dependants ridden areas. Or if they have linked it, they quickly hid the facts. I think (it’s my opinion) that having families that have been living on benefits for generations is not the consequence but the problem. Usually those schools show the same problems: bad attendance records, misbehaving during classes (from shouting to bullying, usage of mobile phones, …). Now, how the fuck do you expect a kid to behave when he knows that he can live without ever need to study/pass exams/work?
Kids in those environments are shown day after day after day that you can just go claim benefits and live their life exactly as their parents do. Of course they go to school until they are 16, because they are forced to, but they do not have any motivation to even listen to the teachers who, I guess, lose the little motivation they may have and just try to survive one more day… I want to believe that not all the people is like that, but I do think that is where the problem lies, and not in rich schools and poor schools.
Solutions are propossed every day: mixing pupils, giving money according to performance, giving money if you admit more kids in “free meals programmes”, etc… I do not think the solution, the ultimate solution lies in the school system. I think we have to broaden our sights and realise that a big percentage of the population of this country do not have any ambition in life. They are just happy being cattle, living, breeding, getting the weekly cheque from the DWP (Department for Welfare and Pensions), wasting it, … I think I just found the right word: cattle!
God, I think I got a warning for deviation! Or maybe not. I was blabbing about the exams getting easier each year, but I do not think that is because kids are gettign dumber, which they may , but because they are losing their ingenuity. I was talking about how Ella has no hobbies, interests, except Facebooking and watching “Some Country’s Next Top Model” show. That’s it. End of the list. We have a XBox and a Wiiiiii at home, which she doesn’t play because they are too difficult. I would have expected some will to improve. Nah, I just saw a shift to other easier activities, watching TV.
I am amazed that they do not have books in school. Ella has not written down any single theorem or property in her Maths notebook in two years and whenever she get an exercise wrong, she usually says: “But I just changed the sign because that is what the teacher did in the example”, meaning that she has not understand the method or, which is even worse, she has NOT been explain the method. That, I think, is sad and worrying to an extent. And she is not a dumb girl (cors I would not say it if she was, but…) she gets things easily when I teach her and she comes with some brilliant ideas sometimes, but I feel she is not taught in a good way, which is even worrying being in the second best school in Dundee (?).
Of course, Maria, the Transitive Property is “when, you know, it is like , you have two numbers and then is like, when you do, that thing with them, ….” 
P:
I think you are showing my point quite nicely. Thanks, lass! Motivation is the key to any succesful enterprise in life. And I do not see Ella motivated at school. She just had problems with a History essay and she told me she was going to ask her teacher to move her to a lower grade. I will skip the details of my shouting…
I think I am so concerned because I am lost trying to get Ella to do well at school. Problem is that she has actually done very well, without memorising anythng from last year or remembering a single thing. And I know that because they are being taught the same things in some subjects. I think that, if asked, I would like to set up my own school… a nice old fashioned school where kids have to memorise things! Sounds so 20th century…
Anyway… Been writing this the whole morning. Going to have some lunch!
Very interesting what you say about the failure in school being connected to the benefits system. I would agree, if we’re talking about schools where all the pupils come from that background. But what happens with schools where you have mixed pupils? (aka, middle class and low class). There is government law (not sure how long it’s been in place) that says that in all new build neighbourhood areas, constructors have to allow for a 30% of “affordable housing”. That’s ex-council people, low class, people on benefits that have been given a brand new house as big (or bigger) than mine that cost more than £200k. Now, these kids will go to the same school as the other kids in the area. The local school will have a mixture of pupils. What will happen then? Will the low-class ones fail miserably compared to the middle-class ones, or will the middle-class ones “dumb” themselves copying the behaviour and standards of the low-class ones?
My neighbourhood has got quite a big number of these ex-council, almost chav-like, people. And still the local school has got a very positive Ofsted report. Is the Ofsted biased too? Do they make concessions? I want to believe that if the school is good, it doesn’t matter what your social background is. But it is just a believe, a hope…
You say that you would like to set up your own school… What are your opinions about home-schooling? My husband’s sister in law is a bit “special”. Let’s say that she’s a bit overprotective and she won’t allow her now-two-and-a-half-year-old girl to go to school and she intends to home-school her. Now, I am pretty sure that this is somehow illegal in Spain, isn’t it? Don’t you have to have a very important reason not to take your children to school? My in-laws (the grandparents of the girl) are horrified and can’t understand why she would want to do something like that. Not only won’t the little girl learn the same things, but at the same time she will be missing on the other basic skills that you learn when you are surrounded by other kids: Communication, standing up for yourself, social skills, etc.
I was listening to the radio the other day when they were talking about the A-level results. The general opinion of the public was that the exams are getting easier (your question about the solar energy summarises it all) but other people were arguing that kids don’t get the same amount of support any more in schools and will be let into the following course without having learnt the basic skills like maths, grammar, etc. Some lady called and said that her daughter had learnt to write and read at home before going to school and rather than getting praise from the teachers, she got “penalised” by being left in a corner unattended. Sounds horrible to me…
I trained to become a teacher. I did my “CAP” course, then did another course in teaching Spanish as a foreign language and I even worked as a teacher for a short while. I hated it. I was no good at it and after thinking about it for a while I decided to give it up and try to find something new from scratch. I decided that it wouldn’t be fair on my pupils because I was not able to motivate them (it all lies on motivation, you’re quite right) and I didn’t want to become that horrible teacher that nobody liked and everybody ended up hating.
Dios mio como me enrollo…. Well, in summary, I agree with you in most points. Other points I think I still have to experience by myself at some point in order to have a better opinion. I need a child going to school. Then we will resume the conversation
I also think that results at school is kinda linked to benefits…basically because children copy what their parents do (usually)…and also because parents are not going to “force” children to study (they are busy in the pub getting drunk). However, there are exceptions to the rule…Lauren’s mom is a single mom, and therefore, she is/has been in benefits. But that doesnt mean for her that she sits at home waiting for her cheque to come…she has, most of times, temporary part time jobs, etc etc She doesnt want Lauren to have “easy money” so she is worried about her studies. She made sure Lauren doesnt lose her spanish..etc. However, the daughter of her exboyfriend is 17, moved alone to London, and is living in a hostel waiting for the council to accept her benefits request. And she will get them…and otherwise she will not have trouble in getting pregnant to get them.
Lauren started high school this year…and she is still telling me that she is bored…that she doesnt learn anything new….she is a very clever girl and the system is going to waste her. Is that clever that she arrived in spain being 7, with so little knowledge of spanish (just a summer intensive course) and she managed to get the level she needed to pass all exams in the first term in spain…
Anyway, when you speak about O levels and A levels eduardo, do you mean Standard courses and Higher courses? Scotland doesnt have O levels and A levels…they have standard and highers…which are a bit different…
María,
Very [...] area.
Maybe those schools are not failing or are failing less? I am afraid I can not give you more details, but I recall most of the people in the radio linking low-income families, local schools and “free-meals programme” to bad performance and failing schools.
The [...] ones?
Those two are the main options, but then you have to take into account other factors. (Mind that I am not taking about everybody, just generalising). I would reckon that thos pupils from middle-class families have a more encouraging environment at home. Of course world is not ideal, but how many times have you (we) heard (said) that those families in benefits, teenager moms, etc,… should even have a parenting permission? Of course any kid can go haywaire, but there is a bigger chance than a middle class mom and dad will, at least put the TV off when the kid is doing homework or even ask him/her about the day at school. If not, at the very least, those kids may learn that the life they are having is because of the effort of their parents, not the taxpayer.
However, there is the danger of those kids being influenced for the easy life of the benefits people, which some will be lazy as cows and some other will be relaly trying to improve and, whilst the first ones will certainly not benefit from either a better school or having a personal tutor 24/7 with them, the others may find encouraging to be in a mixed-whatever school/class.
My neighbourhood [...] a hope…
That should be the theory, but apparently in this country is not. When I worked for the Department of Education (under Mr. Ed Balls) I saw all the recommendations and guidelines for schools in England and Wales and I found out that they Goverment trully don’t know what to do. I believe it is a mixture of bad counseling, good manners and fear of loosing elections. I am referring to some apendixes or extra documents that will accompany the guidelines and objectives with titles such as “Ways to raise standards among black and caribbean pupils” and similar. That means that, even in this so fair and non-discriminatory country, there are discriminations and by putting everybody in the same sack (Spanish, I know) yo don’t do a favour to anybody. It is known that black people under perform in academic anvironments, in opposition to let’s say asian students, which over perform or even black athletes which excell in their fields of expertise. But, here is the catch, you can say a black guy is a good runner because he’s black but you can not say is a bad student because he is black. Sweet. Still, what I was saying is that here, in UK, the performance of the pupils doesn’t depend on their effort or their teachers’ but on the social background. And they are just trying to mix all backgrounds. And I think that is very wrong.
I think they should focus on improve the schools (all of them for God’s sake!) instead of trying to dilute them. More effort should be made in encouraging parents and students to attend classes and make an effort (maybe penalties in benefits if a certain grade is not achieved?); more effort should be made in teaching kids how to think by themselves: I belive all of us has learnt how to Google on our own, never taught in school, but still, we had our essays, our exams, our presentations, our curiosity. Now pupils just Google something and copy (or print!) it and thats an essay finished! How can we expect our kids to grow up and take decisions if we do not teach them how to infere C from A and C and measure the conseuences of their decissions?
You say [...] skills, etc.
I do not think home-schooling is appropiate. Kids need to interact with others to get ready for the adult life. If she’s concern she should tell her whats good and whats bad and maybe support her in her studies, but missing out all the other kids, parents, activities got to really mark that girl. And I am writing this thinking that I will be very stressed when Sofia goes to school…
I was [...] to me…
My sister leant very soon how to count (she’s 21 now and she got all the LOGSE good bits) and she came one day crying from school because she was not allowed to count further than five that semester (or whatever) and the teacher had told her off. It really sounds horrible…. She was so proud of what she knew and then… the cold water splash! I could have hurt that woman…
Pelocha,
Aye, I mean standard and highs. I usually listen to Radio 4, which is England-centered. Besides (my shame) I do not really understand how standard and high grades work. Maybe you could gimme a tutorial sumday?
Oh My God!! Am I the only one that has been working today??
I didn’t have time to read this one or your previous post but I’ll do…seems very interesting!
I dont really know much Ed, I didnt have many of them in my hands, although I was in Scotland…but most of people had uni documents aswell…but well, as far as I know, standard are like O levels, Highers are like A levels…I cant remember the gradings or how many of them you need to access to uni…but I could look it up!