Two years ago today, this is me getting all wistful and nostalgic whilst putting on the rose-tinted spectacles. With a gentle dig at our education system thrown in for good measure! Seeing this again has got me thinking – is all change good or bad, and is it possible to judge it on a binary scale anyway? You *may* be seeing a follow up post on this at some point – it’s a subject area I’ve visited more than once, and there’s a lot to be said about it.
For now, if you haven’t seen this before, it’s a chance to catch up on some of my ramblings 😊
A recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked English students aged 16-19 as the worst of 23 developed nations in literacy, and 22nd of the 23 in numeracy. However, those of us who are already retired or approaching retirement were among the highest-ranked in both categories. Whilst this may not come as a surprise to those of us who have for a long time believed that educational standards in this country have been declining, the huge difference between today’s youth and us oldies is, frankly, staggering! Whether or not we are right to do so, we trace the beginnings of this back to the 1960s and 70s, when traditional education methods were deemed to be inappropriate for the modern world, and ‘trendy’ new styles were adopted. This included the removal of most of the grammar schools in England, as these were seen as an outdated…
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Our system is broken too!
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It’s sad when countries get their education system wrong – it’s far too important to be entrusted to politicians!
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Definitely!
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Funnily enough yesterday I scheduled a blog to be published tomorrow entitled ‘What Did You Do at School Today?’ which focuses on the time I spent as a volunteer at my sons’ primary school. I also remember working in the Exams Department of our local college for 16 – 19 year olds back in 1999. One of the questions they had to answer for an exam was… ‘What do you keep in your kitchen cupboards?’. No wonder they all get A*!
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I guess that would just about be ok as part of a domestic science exam! Odd question if not – another piece of evidence in the ‘dumbing down’ argument. Maybe if they’d asked what Shakespeare kept in his kitchen cupboards…..
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A tad easy for 16 – 19 year olds though?
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True, though a good many in that age range probably only look in the fridge, not the cupboards!
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