(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2005 10:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hathycolAs the entire British Isles may have picked up, it is Cold at the moment. I was just about to type that it wasn't snowing, but it just started up again. Yesterday saw blizzards, brilliant sunshine, melting, and then more snow - this morning has now seen frost and yes, snow, or at least it does now. However, this morning the bus decided it was going to be 25 minutes late so I quietly froze to death whilst waiting for the bus this morning. It's really beginning to get uncomfortable now.
*
My usual journal style is to ramble incoherantly about what I have been doing at the moment, but right now I'm feeling reflective. I want to talk about the news. Did we all see 'The News At Ten?' last night, with George Bush and Tony Blair? Did you see the look on Tony Blair's face? Oddness.
Also, I'd like to take this moment to direct your attention to the fact that Camilla and Charles are getting married. LE GASP WHO KNEW. You certainly wouldn't be able to guess from the lack of news coverage, would you?
Actually, look at this. Particularly have a gander if you have ever sat an AS or A Level exam. Or hell, GCSEs. What isn't included in this report is her earlier comments. She is going to make A-Levels harder, apparently.
Harder?
Now, firstly, let's look at the figures. A-Level results have got better. Most people pass them now! And people say that this is terrible. That it somehow proves that they're easier, and that this is a Bad Thing. OMGWTFBBQ??!!!1? Somehow, it's being implied that people passing A-Levels is a bad thing.
Firstly, allow me to explain the definition of 'pass'. I myself have never failed an exam under this definition. A pass is any grade from A-E. However, you're pretty much not going to get into university with an E grade. Nor are you going to get a decent job with it. Sure, you've passed an A-Level, but you can't do anything with it, really.
But wait! cry the opponents of the A-Level. That system has been in place for years! Why do pass rates go up if they're not getting easier?
Because the teaching is better, biznatch! How do I know this? Because I have lived in state education since I was 4. I had to deal with Thatcher's legacy, the mess made by Major and I have seen the reforms brought about by a LAbour government. There are those that disagree with the current Labour government, and hell, I'm one of them and I'm doing it right now, but education has improved. You cannot deny that however much you'd like to. Better resources. Better teachers. Computers. Powerpoints. LEarning support. Teaching assistants. You're damned right that it all makes it a bit easier to 'pass'.
Okay, so people got A grades quite happily a while ago, even if it was in much small numbers. They were fiendishly intelligent people. Are those people not being challenged enough? A fair point. We have Advanced Extension Awards now, and by god they are challenging. I haven't even looked at taking one, because there's no point for me. I'm simply not intelligent enough for it. But I am intelligent, and I do deserve my A grades. I work very, very hard for them. 50 years ago, I wouldn't have been allowed to sit the exams, let alone get a grade in them.
I will accept that possibly the A-Levels are more manageable. But before anyone goes and bashes them, I invite them to live the life of an A-Level student. Consider yourself. A A-Level by itelf it somewhat exhausting. You have so many hours a week in lessons and perhaps an hour with Independent Learning, which you can't skive on and actually need to do, because no ones going to teach it to you. Then you have assorted bits of homework to do. You don't get a Christmas, because you're preparing for a modular exam, you don't get Easter because you're doing coursework, you don't enjoy April, May or June because you're preparing for exams in June. But just one A-Level? Easy enough to manage.
Multiply the above workload by, say, three or four, and od it for two years. Now it's getting interesting. You're in college 5 days a week, 9-4. Well, that's a normal enough time to be working. Except, of course, no ones calculating the fact that you spend two or three hours a night on homework. I'm n ot including reading here, because it's not official, but for most subjects you simply have to read back on your note and read ahead, through books related to the subject for that all important synoptic paper which all subjects much suffer.
Okay. Possibly if you just did the above, it wouldn't be too scary and unmanageable. But wait a minute... we've not included work in this total!
A part-time job is a schizophrenic issue to the education authorities. They don't like us taking them, really. Takes time away from studies, don't you know. So they've introduced the EMA, which is a real godsend to some people I know, where you get a bursary to study if your parents earn under a certain amount. However, for those of us not eligible but parents don't give us handouts, we need a job. So, that's a Saturday gone and a few weeknights gone as well.
Don't do the job, then! Erm, no, government. You need workers like us. We need the money - the economy needs people willing to work in what is generally menial labour for an absolute pittance. Also, students are a fairly large portion of consumers. They need money to spend on the goods which generally we helped to sell, because otherwise, the econmoy will start to go belly-up. So don't go whining and trying to get students to give up their jobs - we can't and you can't afford to let us do so.
Feeling the pressure yet? Think you could handle all of that? Okay then, throw in, say, 5 hours of extra-curricular things as well. Five hours? you cry. But yes. Enrichment is more or less needed for your UCAS form.
UCAS! There's something else. You try and write a half decent personal statement when you're skint, tired, and trying to do some coursework as well.
And finally, finally, throw in something resmsebling a social life. Which, according to research, is needed. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES COLLEEN GO CRAZY.
It's possible to do, but I have to work for all of this. I work hard for my grades, and I'm coming out a better person for it. So don't go saying that our education is easy, Ms Kelly - it most certainly isn't.
*
I feel better for this rant, actually. Tonight, I'm off to see Dr Faustaus with Clare, Emily and Sara. All I know is that it has Jamie Bamber from Battlestar Galactica in it. How sad are we? However, Helen from English went the other night. She says that its very good, which is heartening.
And off I toddle to media...
~Hathy_Col~
*
My usual journal style is to ramble incoherantly about what I have been doing at the moment, but right now I'm feeling reflective. I want to talk about the news. Did we all see 'The News At Ten?' last night, with George Bush and Tony Blair? Did you see the look on Tony Blair's face? Oddness.
Also, I'd like to take this moment to direct your attention to the fact that Camilla and Charles are getting married. LE GASP WHO KNEW. You certainly wouldn't be able to guess from the lack of news coverage, would you?
Actually, look at this. Particularly have a gander if you have ever sat an AS or A Level exam. Or hell, GCSEs. What isn't included in this report is her earlier comments. She is going to make A-Levels harder, apparently.
Harder?
Now, firstly, let's look at the figures. A-Level results have got better. Most people pass them now! And people say that this is terrible. That it somehow proves that they're easier, and that this is a Bad Thing. OMGWTFBBQ??!!!1? Somehow, it's being implied that people passing A-Levels is a bad thing.
Firstly, allow me to explain the definition of 'pass'. I myself have never failed an exam under this definition. A pass is any grade from A-E. However, you're pretty much not going to get into university with an E grade. Nor are you going to get a decent job with it. Sure, you've passed an A-Level, but you can't do anything with it, really.
But wait! cry the opponents of the A-Level. That system has been in place for years! Why do pass rates go up if they're not getting easier?
Because the teaching is better, biznatch! How do I know this? Because I have lived in state education since I was 4. I had to deal with Thatcher's legacy, the mess made by Major and I have seen the reforms brought about by a LAbour government. There are those that disagree with the current Labour government, and hell, I'm one of them and I'm doing it right now, but education has improved. You cannot deny that however much you'd like to. Better resources. Better teachers. Computers. Powerpoints. LEarning support. Teaching assistants. You're damned right that it all makes it a bit easier to 'pass'.
Okay, so people got A grades quite happily a while ago, even if it was in much small numbers. They were fiendishly intelligent people. Are those people not being challenged enough? A fair point. We have Advanced Extension Awards now, and by god they are challenging. I haven't even looked at taking one, because there's no point for me. I'm simply not intelligent enough for it. But I am intelligent, and I do deserve my A grades. I work very, very hard for them. 50 years ago, I wouldn't have been allowed to sit the exams, let alone get a grade in them.
I will accept that possibly the A-Levels are more manageable. But before anyone goes and bashes them, I invite them to live the life of an A-Level student. Consider yourself. A A-Level by itelf it somewhat exhausting. You have so many hours a week in lessons and perhaps an hour with Independent Learning, which you can't skive on and actually need to do, because no ones going to teach it to you. Then you have assorted bits of homework to do. You don't get a Christmas, because you're preparing for a modular exam, you don't get Easter because you're doing coursework, you don't enjoy April, May or June because you're preparing for exams in June. But just one A-Level? Easy enough to manage.
Multiply the above workload by, say, three or four, and od it for two years. Now it's getting interesting. You're in college 5 days a week, 9-4. Well, that's a normal enough time to be working. Except, of course, no ones calculating the fact that you spend two or three hours a night on homework. I'm n ot including reading here, because it's not official, but for most subjects you simply have to read back on your note and read ahead, through books related to the subject for that all important synoptic paper which all subjects much suffer.
Okay. Possibly if you just did the above, it wouldn't be too scary and unmanageable. But wait a minute... we've not included work in this total!
A part-time job is a schizophrenic issue to the education authorities. They don't like us taking them, really. Takes time away from studies, don't you know. So they've introduced the EMA, which is a real godsend to some people I know, where you get a bursary to study if your parents earn under a certain amount. However, for those of us not eligible but parents don't give us handouts, we need a job. So, that's a Saturday gone and a few weeknights gone as well.
Don't do the job, then! Erm, no, government. You need workers like us. We need the money - the economy needs people willing to work in what is generally menial labour for an absolute pittance. Also, students are a fairly large portion of consumers. They need money to spend on the goods which generally we helped to sell, because otherwise, the econmoy will start to go belly-up. So don't go whining and trying to get students to give up their jobs - we can't and you can't afford to let us do so.
Feeling the pressure yet? Think you could handle all of that? Okay then, throw in, say, 5 hours of extra-curricular things as well. Five hours? you cry. But yes. Enrichment is more or less needed for your UCAS form.
UCAS! There's something else. You try and write a half decent personal statement when you're skint, tired, and trying to do some coursework as well.
And finally, finally, throw in something resmsebling a social life. Which, according to research, is needed. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES COLLEEN GO CRAZY.
It's possible to do, but I have to work for all of this. I work hard for my grades, and I'm coming out a better person for it. So don't go saying that our education is easy, Ms Kelly - it most certainly isn't.
*
I feel better for this rant, actually. Tonight, I'm off to see Dr Faustaus with Clare, Emily and Sara. All I know is that it has Jamie Bamber from Battlestar Galactica in it. How sad are we? However, Helen from English went the other night. She says that its very good, which is heartening.
And off I toddle to media...
~Hathy_Col~
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 03:05 pm (UTC)Going further back, the Labour government disapproves of selective education and also the former Grant-Maintained schools because they were out of their control. So they pushed through legislation to change the way these schools were funded and to bring them back under local authority rule. These schools suffered huge budget cuts which drastically affected teaching and development work. My personal experience was that Chemistry lesson practicals were stopped because they could not afford the chemicals for us all, no new text books were bought for 2 years so we spent a lot of the time sharing which is totally unacceptable, and the poor Geography department has their budget slashed to less than what they spent on photocopying the year before. It also meant that important building work in a rapidly expanding school was put on hold until they could wrangle enough money out of the LEA to pay for it.
And yes, then there are the joys of university top-up fees which I won't get started on because they are plainly wrong or the undervaluing of post-graduates. And as I have clearly written a lot already, I won't even start on the extra paperwork or hours that teachers are meant to do without extra pay or the fact that they, who have degrees and other qualifications, get paid less than London Undergroud drivers.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 03:42 pm (UTC)And as for the SNOW.... Like, WTF mate? What is going ON???
(it's happening here too, in case I'm still incoherent)
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 06:45 pm (UTC)ema
Date: 2005-02-23 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 12:57 am (UTC)Jamieit was so good!no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 10:23 am (UTC)some
mostall issues. What my basic point is goes along the following lines: change is education is not meant to be quick. Stop trying to make it quick, stop trying to grab election votes. AS Levels are crap. I agree. IT results in three years of exams, and what kind of fucked-up system puts you through that strain?My thing about grant-maintained schools is not an argument you want to get into with me, I'm afraid. I have been known to get nasty about it, but I think that's because I've been happily grinding along in state school education my entire life under a family of socialists. I entirely accept that my opinions do not come out, they are simply the opinions of years of conditioning, screaming basically that, well, that's how it is state education. I had a year of maths with one textbook between three. How do I know it's improving? My sister is in a similiar size class and has a textbook all of her own. Also, the LEA is a very much local argument, so...
Top-up fees are very much teh evil. I agree with you there.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 10:24 am (UTC)I do agree that the whole AS/A Level thing is nasty, and a crap change. Then, I disagree with David Blunkett on some most all issues. What my basic point is goes along the following lines: change is education is not meant to be quick. Stop trying to make it quick, stop trying to grab election votes. AS Levels are crap. I agree. IT results in three years of exams, and what kind of fucked-up system puts you through that strain?
My thing about grant-maintained schools is not an argument you want to get into with me, I'm afraid. I have been known to get nasty about it, but I think that's because I've been happily grinding along in state school education my entire life under a family of socialists. I entirely accept that my opinions do not come out, they are simply the opinions of years of conditioning, screaming basically that, well, that's how it is state education. I had a year of maths with one textbook between three. How do I know it's improving? My sister is in a similiar size class and has a textbook all of her own. Also, the LEA is a very much local argument, so...
Top-up fees are very much teh evil. I agree with you there.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-24 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-27 08:15 pm (UTC)could someone explain to me who the top up fees actually affect? because ive been being told (by people i trust, not the government) that it is the middle class who will pay more, to help the lower class pay less. why is that so bad?
xx