I don't often peruse Facebook although I do have an account and I came across post by a relative which went like this, I quote "From what I have learned from the few kids I have spoken to, they have all done pretty well in GCSE/A level exams. As parents we try to encourage and inspire them to do the best they can. We extol the virtues of a good education and how it will benefit them. And then they get to watch Joey Essex being a celebrity with his own show based on the premise that he is as thick as a brick and can, at the age of 25 achieve a D in a GCSE exam. How are you supposed to justify hard work and endeavor when being a nugget will bring you fame and fortune."
It got me thinking, as you maybe aware I am a lecturer at several colleges throughout Hertfordshire & Cambridgeshire, personally I blame the schools, most of my classes are made up of those that have failed A levels, and then they come to college and think that they are on holiday, the only reason they are there is that the government have set the leaving age to 18, a sign of the times, the reason being I believe is that they worked out that the kids today are not as well educated as my generation and the generation before mine.
I have constant battles with them in simple mathematics and english, let me give you an example, last term I asked the class to divide an image into thirds. simple enough, the whole class looked stunned? so I said ok what's the percentage of a third? I got everything from 5% to 60%, but not one said 33.3333333%, when I asked them why they did not know, the answers were almost identical in that they all said that it was too hard for them so they just ignored the teacher and did something else, when I asked what did your teachers say the reply was, 'they didn't care.'
So maybe this Joey guy had the same sort of teacher, one that only concentrates and helps those that want to learn, which means people like me have to pick up the pieces and try to help these kids. The other reason I think that people like Joey do well on TV is because the audience is about 15 - 21 and I would wager that nearly all of them are A level failures, now, sometimes thats not all bad, I was dragged out of school screaming and kicking by my father at 15 to go and work in the film industry, as it turned out I liked the job and stayed of 11 years before moving onto electronics & computing, now at the age of 60 I am not doing too bad apart from my health, I have a good job and I enjoy what I do.
My son left school at 16 without any A levels, and got a job in retail, he is a very talented graphic design artist, when I suggested when he left school that he go to college and get his A levels and maybe move onto uni he said that I had left school early and I did alright, I couldn't say that he was wrong however I did chat with him about the advantages of good qualifications, but he said that he was happy in his job. It took him less than a year to be promoted and at 18 he was a shop manager, he moved on to take a job as a graphic designer based on his drawings and now is doing very well and has his own Graphic Design company, now, he got where he is today by hard bloody work and tenacity, he has also increased his management skills by studying at home, however, he is an exception, what about the rest of these kids watching Big Brother etc?
Do we need to change the way these kids are taught at school, do we need special schools to deal with these individuals? I really don't know the answer, however, I feel that we need to spend more time with these kids, the TV companies must take some responsibility by creating role models out of idiots with 15 minutes of fame, get these kids in the evenings to watch some of the great channels out there one being the National Geographic or NG as t's now known, also Discovery, both channels providing educational TV for all ages.
But back to the Facebook post, he has a valid point, but if you read some of the comments I think they have missed the point, maybe their kids are the ones with no qualifications and they watch Mr Joey Essex, god what is this world coming to?
Rant over, back to watching an interesting YouTube video on how to use a metal lathe, love it.
It got me thinking, as you maybe aware I am a lecturer at several colleges throughout Hertfordshire & Cambridgeshire, personally I blame the schools, most of my classes are made up of those that have failed A levels, and then they come to college and think that they are on holiday, the only reason they are there is that the government have set the leaving age to 18, a sign of the times, the reason being I believe is that they worked out that the kids today are not as well educated as my generation and the generation before mine.
I have constant battles with them in simple mathematics and english, let me give you an example, last term I asked the class to divide an image into thirds. simple enough, the whole class looked stunned? so I said ok what's the percentage of a third? I got everything from 5% to 60%, but not one said 33.3333333%, when I asked them why they did not know, the answers were almost identical in that they all said that it was too hard for them so they just ignored the teacher and did something else, when I asked what did your teachers say the reply was, 'they didn't care.'
So maybe this Joey guy had the same sort of teacher, one that only concentrates and helps those that want to learn, which means people like me have to pick up the pieces and try to help these kids. The other reason I think that people like Joey do well on TV is because the audience is about 15 - 21 and I would wager that nearly all of them are A level failures, now, sometimes thats not all bad, I was dragged out of school screaming and kicking by my father at 15 to go and work in the film industry, as it turned out I liked the job and stayed of 11 years before moving onto electronics & computing, now at the age of 60 I am not doing too bad apart from my health, I have a good job and I enjoy what I do.
My son left school at 16 without any A levels, and got a job in retail, he is a very talented graphic design artist, when I suggested when he left school that he go to college and get his A levels and maybe move onto uni he said that I had left school early and I did alright, I couldn't say that he was wrong however I did chat with him about the advantages of good qualifications, but he said that he was happy in his job. It took him less than a year to be promoted and at 18 he was a shop manager, he moved on to take a job as a graphic designer based on his drawings and now is doing very well and has his own Graphic Design company, now, he got where he is today by hard bloody work and tenacity, he has also increased his management skills by studying at home, however, he is an exception, what about the rest of these kids watching Big Brother etc?
Do we need to change the way these kids are taught at school, do we need special schools to deal with these individuals? I really don't know the answer, however, I feel that we need to spend more time with these kids, the TV companies must take some responsibility by creating role models out of idiots with 15 minutes of fame, get these kids in the evenings to watch some of the great channels out there one being the National Geographic or NG as t's now known, also Discovery, both channels providing educational TV for all ages.
But back to the Facebook post, he has a valid point, but if you read some of the comments I think they have missed the point, maybe their kids are the ones with no qualifications and they watch Mr Joey Essex, god what is this world coming to?
Rant over, back to watching an interesting YouTube video on how to use a metal lathe, love it.
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