A flawed education system.

[Dark Harbinger]

Hello there fellow escapists, today I've come here from my usual haunts in the gaming board to address something I consider an important matter.

The matter being the education system within the U.K., where I currently reside.

Since being a young boy throughout my education (now currently in Sixth form college,) I have always felt constricted by the system, in my primary school years and secondary school years to an extent and without meaning to boast, I felt held back by the syllabus. I doubt I am alone in this feeling, as I am sure there are many fellow escapists who are highly intelligent and have felt the same thing. For years in primary school I was forced to undergo the grinding experience of sheer dullness. I understand now that schools have to cater for a wide range of pupils and a variety of intelligences, but at the time felt there was a significant lack of focus on individual pupils.

This lack of individual focus followed me all the way through secondary school, however it took a bad turn for myself in the latter years of secondary school, where I was forever being told to simply 'jump through the hoops', which can be translated as: Don't try to stand out, just go through the sheep pens'. I look back on those school years with a mixture of regret and resentment, for I was never particularly good at my examinations, a couple of teachers in secondary school did recognise I had talent, yet they too were forced to spout the same conformist rubbish by the system.

I have a couple of friends in a similar situation, unable to cope with examinations and coursework, but if they had been able to do things in their way, their grades would have been top notch. One of my friends for example, given time and his own space, can weave words on the paper like a master poet, however in his english exams, where he was forced to analyse and drone on about selected texts, he was unable to work in his comfort zone, as a result, his grades showed him in the eyes of the state to not be good enough to get into many colleges.

Now I am sure that the current system works for many whom it suits or are able to adapt to it, to some individuals, it is simply a grey machine churning out the same matter and does not work for them, including myself. The system in my eyes has a huge lack of meritocracy, as a result, I feel many intelligent and talented people are being left out simply because they can't prove it in just one certain manner that befits a conformist, institutionalist system.

Take my younger brother for example, I am proud to say that he has a business streak in him, he was the child in the family who always had money stashed somewhere and would never be without money. At his secondary school, he got into the practice of buying multipacks of different foods and drinks and selling them at a reasonable price to his fellow students, cheaper than the extortionate prices the school charged for refreshments, yet enough to turn over a hefty profit for my brother, however he wasn't the only one doing this, a few other students did too. Now, rather than encouraging this business potential and recognising these students' aptitude for business, the school began suspending students caught selling refreshments, even going so far as to turning out students bags as if they were airport security looking for bags of cocaine. Obviously this was to protect their own profits, something I found disgusting, especially for a school that prided itself as a 'Business and Enterprise College', fortunately my brother managed to avoid getting caught, sold off his last stock quickly and went into a mini-retirement, I suspect he still has some of the proceeds stashed away somewhere.

Of course if he were to take a business studies course, he would be forced to 'jump through the hoops' of pointless essays and exams, which does nothing to cultivate business potential whatsoever as opposed to actually doing it without needing an 'approved course' or 'set syllabus'.

And that is all there is to really say, in short, if you couldn't be bothered reading or feel lost in the myriad of words, I feel that the conformist education system needs to be a meritocracy, instead of forcing talented youths to 'jump through the hoops' and then branding them without actually attempting to look for any intelligence or talents.

Any thoughts fellow escapists?

 

[SckizoBoy]

snip

I agree.

I'd end it there, but I'll add that I sort've wished I was educated in Germany, since they're secondary educational system (at least used to be) is based purely on academic merit.

I think the shit started to hit the fan shortly before the university fees went to hell (from GBPB1000 to 3000) because of the overhaul of the GCSE syllabus to make it more 'appealing' to kids. I never thought education was supposed to be 'appealing', it was supposed to be 'educational' and if it was appealing, then that'd be a nice bonus. Popular science is one of my biggest gripes, since the step from GCSE to A-Level has just grown far too much, to the extent that 1st yr undergraduate chemistry these days, I learnt at A-Level... which I find tremendously depressing.

 

[Dark Harbinger]

snip

I agree.

I'd end it there, but I'll add that I sort've wished I was educated in Germany, since they're secondary educational system (at least used to be) is based purely on academic merit.

I think the shit started to hit the fan shortly before the university fees went to hell (from GBPB1000 to 3000) because of the overhaul of the GCSE syllabus to make it more 'appealing' to kids. I never thought education was supposed to be 'appealing', it was supposed to be 'educational' and if it was appealing, then that'd be a nice bonus. Popular science is one of my biggest gripes, since the step from GCSE to A-Level has just grown far too much, to the extent that 1st yr undergraduate chemistry these days, I learnt at A-Level... which I find tremendously depressing.

I know what you mean, it's like the grading system and UCAS points, which are a nightmare, I read somewhere an A* in GCSE is equivalent to an E in AS/A2, not very accessible is it?

 

[SckizoBoy]

I know what you mean, it's like the grading system and UCAS points, which are a nightmare, I read somewhere an A* in GCSE is equivalent to an E in AS/A2, not very accessible is it?

Really? Wow... in my day an A* at GCSE was roughly a C at A2. What's the UCAS point system like now? In the 'old stone age' it was 100 for an A and 20pt increments down to 20 for an E.

My alma mater replaced their jackass headmaster the year after I left... which annoyed me to no end, and he was succeeded by a level-headed man who keeps the governors at arm's length and more importantly, silent. He took one look at the syllabus and did away with it (now, they do a European Baccalaureate... or something). However, nothing much he could do about the A-Level syllabus. Oh, how I've raged at how they butchered the maths course...

 

[Alexander Cunningham]

(Is it wrong that I expected this to be about the American education system?)
And I agree with OP. (hey that rhymes) on the examinations. I hated the way our education was cut down so the retarded don't get confused and start pissing themselves.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

I know what you mean, it's like the grading system and UCAS points, which are a nightmare, I read somewhere an A* in GCSE is equivalent to an E in AS/A2, not very accessible is it?

When you go from GCSE to A-Level you drop by two grades by the end of your exams, or that's how they say it should be. However it isn't uncommon to get an E when you first start because of the massive jump.

OT: Yeah the entire experience is really just a factory process of churning kids out with grades to get them into university so they can get jobs. What they ought to be doing is encouraging kids to find what they enjoy and follow it. There needs to be a reduction in the number of courses available at university and refine them to purely academics. The rest of it should be done somewhere else with apprenticeships for the job. Once they stop demanding irrelevant grades for every course then the high school education can change.

 

[deathninja]

I think the biggest problem with our Ed system is the Unis. You have to know *exactly* what course you want to do 9 months in advance, once you're there it's little to no choice of modules, and if you want to change then tough shit, try again next year.

There's a fair few Americans on an exchange year on my course (another thing it's near impossible to do from the UK, but a piece of piss for anyone else). And from talking about courses the course system over there seems a lot more individual and well rounded (can even pick up a few credits for sports/voluntary work).

Then again all the work's going abroad while we can't, so not that it really matters what education we get.

 

[Dark Harbinger]

I know what you mean, it's like the grading system and UCAS points, which are a nightmare, I read somewhere an A* in GCSE is equivalent to an E in AS/A2, not very accessible is it?

Really? Wow... in my day an A* at GCSE was roughly a C at A2. What's the UCAS point system like now? In the 'old stone age' it was 100 for an A and 20pt increments down to 20 for an E.

My alma mater replaced their jackass headmaster the year after I left... which annoyed me to no end, and he was succeeded by a level-headed man who keeps the governors at arm's length and more importantly, silent. He took one look at the syllabus and did away with it (now, they do a European Baccalaureate... or something). However, nothing much he could do about the A-Level syllabus. Oh, how I've raged at how they butchered the maths course...

They've taken the points up, which obviously makes it three times harder, I think an A or A* is something like 320 points.

It seems to me more like you simply give yourself too much credit. The school system isn't out to produce mediocre students and the idea that it could be is baseless. I would first question just how apt to scholarly pursuits I and my friends were before casting the blame onto an entire system set up and run to provide education.

I apologise if I came across as too self-assured, I did not mean to. I wasn't implying a system that encouraged mediocrity, but rather one as The Unworthy Gentleman says:

OT: Yeah the entire experience is really just a factory process of churning kids out with grades to get them into university so they can get jobs. What they ought to be doing is encouraging kids to find what they enjoy and follow it. There needs to be a reduction in the number of courses available at university and refine them to purely academics. The rest of it should be done somewhere else with apprenticeships for the job. Once they stop demanding irrelevant grades for every course then the high school education can change.

(Is it wrong that I expected this to be about the American education system?)
And I agree with OP. (hey that rhymes) on the examinations. I hated the way our education was cut down so the retarded don't get confused and start pissing themselves.

Hahaha, I don't blame you for it, a few of my friends living in America aren't too happy about their education either. I like the way you put it on the examinations and 'retarded', perhaps I should stop chuckling. ^^

 

[electric_warrior]

i was just lazy. really lazy. I didn't do any homework between years 8 and 13, and didn't revise for a single exam until my A2 exams last year, when I only started working about a month before my first exam. Ultimately, school is, for those who want to do well, a way of rooting out people like me, i.e. the unmotivated, and discerning which will be best suited to the more academically rigorous world of university. Basically, school should give you the work ethic, university should expand your mind. Most of your life, you'll be asked to jump through hoops, if you don't learn how to at school, when will you? its annoying, but they can't tailor an education system to everyone's individual needs, the only way to improve it is to improve the quality of teaching and make it based more on academic merit.

That said, they failed to root me out, I got three As and am now at a good university.

See, lazy people can succeed too!

 

[Alexander Cunningham]

At least its not as bad as the Chinese education system. Most of the courses are about to make flimsy knock of crap for tourist 101.

(go northern ireland)

 

[Dark Harbinger]

i was just lazy. really lazy. I didn't do any homework between years 8 and 13, and didn't revise for a single exam until my A2 exams last year, when I only started working about a month before my first exam. Ultimately, school is, for those who want to do well, a way of rooting out people like me, i.e. the unmotivated, and discerning which will be best suited to the more academically rigorous world of university. Basically, school should give you the work ethic, university should expand your mind. Most of your life, you'll be asked to jump through hoops, if you don't learn how to at school, when will you? its annoying, but they can't tailor an education system to everyone's individual needs, the only way to improve it is to improve the quality of teaching and make it based more on academic merit.

That said, they failed to root me out, I got three As and am now at a good university.

See, lazy people can succeed too!

That's all I ask truthfully, that they focus on Academic merit rather than simply jumping through the hoops, I don't plan to follow my life like a sheep, it's individual stars that got us where we are now, look at Darwin, he most certainly did not conform at the time or just follow 'the agenda', the good man fought to stand out and think differently, in doing so he brought us the gift of the theory of evolution, without which many of our modern teachings would be severly handicapped.

 

[Jammy2003]

snip

I agree.

I'd end it there, but I'll add that I sort've wished I was educated in Germany, since they're secondary educational system (at least used to be) is based purely on academic merit.

I think the shit started to hit the fan shortly before the university fees went to hell (from GBPB1000 to 3000) because of the overhaul of the GCSE syllabus to make it more 'appealing' to kids. I never thought education was supposed to be 'appealing', it was supposed to be 'educational' and if it was appealing, then that'd be a nice bonus. Popular science is one of my biggest gripes, since the step from GCSE to A-Level has just grown far too much, to the extent that 1st yr undergraduate chemistry these days, I learnt at A-Level... which I find tremendously depressing.

If £1000 to £3000 is going to hell, where does the current £9000 lie?

I agree to a degree. Our school system now heavily focuses on getting the lowest students up to an "Acceptable level" meaning everyone gets C's, but if you are capable of working yourself then you are expect to just get on and sort yourself out. This doesn't really work given, to my understanding, the grades are percentages anyway, with the top 9% getting A's, next 9% getting B's, or something like that. Can't remember actually %ages but the system works in that way... So getting everyone up to a C is literally impossible.

Now I'm not saying teachers should ignore less able students and just have their favorites, I'm just suggesting that aren't we all suppose to get an equal education? Equal rights to access to the teacher?

 

[Lynoxus]

Really, while I would say that our education system isn't in the best state. The problems are overexaggerated. I for one have found no problems like this, I think people need to accept that you can't grade for merits.

 

[SckizoBoy]

If £1000 to £3000 is going to hell, where does the current £9000 lie?

Apologies... when it started going to hell.

I agree to a degree. Our school system now heavily focuses on getting the lowest students up to an "Acceptable level" meaning everyone gets C's, but if you are capable of working yourself then you are expect to just get on and sort yourself out. This doesn't really work given, to my understanding, the grades are percentages anyway, with the top 9% getting A's, next 9% getting B's, or something like that. Can't remember actually %ages but the system works in that way... So getting everyone up to a C is literally impossible.

Now I'm not saying teachers should ignore less able students and just have their favorites, I'm just suggesting that aren't we all suppose to get an equal education? Equal rights to access to the teacher?

The grading by proportion was thrown out quite a long time ago. Now, it's mark based (has been since the 80's IIRC), how else could there have been a continual rise in average grade 27 yrs running? And you really have to question the veracity of A-Level examinations when a lot of the Russell Group universities demand examinations as a part of their interview system (I think you need to spend 2 nights in Oxford to be examined and interviewed for physics), not to mention the applications for medicine. All the London Universities/Oxbridge/a few others require the BMAT.

Is this an idictment of our secondary educational system? *shrug* I'm no longer part of it so I'm in little position to say... other than 'I disapprove'.

 

[Tentickles]

What you must remember is that the world is run by greedy people who do not see past the expected norm.

If you think this way you can succeed and trick said greedy people into giving you what you want.

 

[Doom-Slayer]

The issue is kind of widespread, education as a whole is good but not so good for the top end and bottom end. Being in NZ and in one of the very very few schools that actually DID do something I was pretty pleased with it. Basically in my school there were 3 sections, normal)cant remember the name), mixed abilities(had trouble), developmental(bottom grade) and if you were in the very top class of the normal section that was first stream. I was there for all my 5 years of high school, and basically you do all your work 1 year above. When you get to the final year of high school since you DONE the last year of high school, if you have University entrance, High school payed for you to do up to 4 university papers while in school and being taught be teachers, and all the credits counted, most people just went to uni a year early. Its a nice system and thoroughly enjoyed it and it certainly helped. So there are gems out there, just gotta make the whole world like that.

 

[devotedsniper]

It gets better if you go to college and uni, i was going to do sixth form but then decided on college and my god college is so much better they actually treat you like an adult (where in sixth form the teachers have known you since year 7 and still treat you as a kid), your even on first name terms with the lecturers instead of sir and miss like high school, it's alot better, it's the same with University.

 

[electric_warrior]

That's all I ask truthfully, that they focus on Academic merit rather than simply jumping through the hoops, I don't plan to follow my life like a sheep, it's individual stars that got us where we are now, look at Darwin, he most certainly did not conform at the time or just follow 'the agenda', the good man fought to stand out and think differently, in doing so he brought us the gift of the theory of evolution, without which many of our modern teachings would be severely handicapped.

What better way can you think of measuring academic merits? I mean, that's a bit vague isn't it? If you have standardised mark schemes etc. you will have greater integrity in marking. I mean, without you'd be too open to the whims of the marker. One might love it, the other might hate it and there would be disarray. I'd prefer it be about individual talent and brilliance too, but they are too vague as ideas to really be workable with any sort of integrity. Besides, the academically best students are also the ones best suited to hoop jumping and being able to jump hoops does not demonstrate a lack of originality, just a wider skill set than someone who is original but unable to adapt to the requirements of the system they're in. Ultimately, like I said, if you want an education based around originality and individual merits, then pay your dues in secondary school and go to university.

Besides, I never learned to jump through hoops, not consciously anyway, and I did pretty well. I did essay subjects too, which are usually the most infuriatingly formulaic (you must have so many critics views, so many quotations, you must make this point in this way etc.) If you're smart enough, or hard working enough, you will succeed.

And Darwin went to a private school, then went to Cambridge (and briefly to Edinburgh). He is hardly the greatest example of someone who succeeded outside of the system.

 

[Jammy2003]

If £1000 to £3000 is going to hell, where does the current £9000 lie?

Apologies... when it started going to hell.

I agree to a degree. Our school system now heavily focuses on getting the lowest students up to an "Acceptable level" meaning everyone gets C's, but if you are capable of working yourself then you are expect to just get on and sort yourself out. This doesn't really work given, to my understanding, the grades are percentages anyway, with the top 9% getting A's, next 9% getting B's, or something like that. Can't remember actually %ages but the system works in that way... So getting everyone up to a C is literally impossible.

Now I'm not saying teachers should ignore less able students and just have their favorites, I'm just suggesting that aren't we all suppose to get an equal education? Equal rights to access to the teacher?

The grading by proportion was thrown out quite a long time ago. Now, it's mark based (has been since the 80's IIRC), how else could there have been a continual rise in average grade 27 yrs running? And you really have to question the veracity of A-Level examinations when a lot of the Russell Group universities demand examinations as a part of their interview system (I think you need to spend 2 nights in Oxford to be examined and interviewed for physics), not to mention the applications for medicine. All the London Universities/Oxbridge/a few others require the BMAT.

Is this an idictment of our secondary educational system? *shrug* I'm no longer part of it so I'm in little position to say... other than 'I disapprove'.

Ah, I wondered if they were just steadily shifting the percentages to make people feel happier or some crap like that. The entrance exams, I'm guessing, are there against people who lucked out? But then again, The A*'s were kind of catering towards Oxford and Cambridge really, as what other uni's are realistically going to ask for those kind of marks?

But still, there is a clear biased of teachers being raked over the coals for a kid failing to meet standards, when, sometimes, the kid has no interest in learning. Surely the time is better spend on those who do want to, or that are now being neglected as they are seen as competent? And doesn't this reflect the point raised by the OP that the schools are aiming to churn out mediocrity?