House or education

silvercar

bendix wrote: »

Neither.

It is a parent's obligation only to provide an environment which enables the kids to sink or swim on their own merits.

Does a poor education do that? Does sending them to the local sink school where a grade C in GCSE maths is considered beyond expectations provide such an environment?

bendix

silvercar wrote: »

Does a poor education do that? Does sending them to the local sink school where a grade C in GCSE maths is considered beyond expectations provide such an environment?

A grade C in GCSE maths may be 'beyond expectations' in that sink school, but it is does not stop the individual pupil rising above those expectations.

Encourage a child to be inquisitive and you could put them in Bash Street School, and they will still succeed.

It's all about the individual. Always has been.

I went to the local comp and grew up on the council house estate in a single parent family. I could have taken the easy option and failed. I chose not to.

Am I so freaking special? No I'm not.

Really2

bendix wrote: »

A grade C in GCSE maths may be 'beyond expectations' in that sink school, but it is does not stop the individual pupil rising above those expectations.

Encourage a child to be inquisitive and you could put them in Bash Street School, and they will still succeed.

It's all about the individual. Always has been.

I went to the local comp and grew up on the council house estate in a single parent family. I could have taken the easy option and failed. I chose not to.

Am I so freaking special? No I'm not.

Same here, I think to add to that point if you go to a better school but live in a poorer area the other problem you have is the teachers then look down on you.

At school I got accused of cheating in science because I did similarly well as the rich kid that I sat next too. This was in 3rd year to decide sets for GCSE, they put me in bottom grade I argued hey put me in second from last set. Ended up one of only 5 children in the whole school to get a double (BB) grade in GCSE. No one got double AA

I got put in mid range maths set that was not with the top grade "rich kids" so could never get a grade higher than C. Even though I got 98% in my mocks they would still not let me enter for the higher grades.
Many similar stories in all lessons to be honest.

From my experience not being from a good area of a better area can hold back a good education anyway.
I just never rolled over, thank god it was not the teachers from my school doing the GCSE marking.

PasturesNew

What is the right environment? I had a 6'x7' bedroom at home, with no heating. Nowhere to do homework - so I never ever did any.

PasturesNew

Really2 wrote: »

I got put in mid range maths set that was not with the top grade "rich kids" so could never get a grade higher than C. Even though I got 98% in my mocks they would still not let me enter for the higher grades.
Many similar stories in all lessons to be honest.

I had that - a lot of teachers refused to teach me, so I was put in with the layabouts and troublemakers, even though all the work I was doing was 95-100% all of the time without any effort - but once in that class your ceiling was set. In my school some classes were for CSE and some for O level. And some subjects weren't available at O level for anybody, it was 'one size fits all'.

I was 'thrown out' of one class I picked at O level (needlework) because everybody else had done 3 years of it and I'd never done one lesson before.

For some it can be the schools that remove opportunity.

abaxas

silvercar wrote: »

and a thick one who has benefited from a good education will have qualifications that can open doors in later life.

Education does not open doors later in life unless it's recent.

As you get older experience is more important to what you did at school.

Loughton_Monkey

bendix wrote: »

I went to the local comp and grew up on the council house estate in a single parent family. I could have taken the easy option and failed. I chose not to.

Am I so freaking special? No I'm not.

Quite agree. Life is much more a matter of choices than most people think.

Sadly, this fact is largely ignored by governments and the media, thus creating a 'Nanny State' in which an individual can never be 'responsible' for their own life. If they are not too bright, it's the school's fault. If they don't understand pensions, it's the school carriculum at fault. If they mess about at school, it's 'Attention Deficit Syndrome' at fault. If they don't get a job, it's the recession and government cuts at fault. If they are not paid much, it's the minimum wage at fault......

Against this background, we have to wonder why 'emerging markets' are growing double-digit and becoming massively richer and more powerful every year. Trouble is, I can't work it out. Wasn't on the carriculum at my school....

SingleSue

Eldest was put in with the low achievers in English (he was originally predicted an F/G)......3 months before the GCSE's, they realised he was talented in creative writing (despite being dyslexic), and put him in for both English Language and Literature instead of the one combined English GCSE.

Lots of extra tuition later to catch up, he passed both and is now taking Lit and Lan at AS level..although dropping Language at A2 because it is just a bridge too far for him (and he is bored with it). He was at the poorer achieving high school...although it hadn't been when he started there!

I personally would go for a good education over anything else, especially in this day and age where good grades open doors to good jobs and possibly better pay.

It gives you a chance.

bendix

PasturesNew wrote: »

What is the right environment? I had a 6'x7' bedroom at home, with no heating. Nowhere to do homework - so I never ever did any.

Couldn't disagree more. You're using your environment as an excuse.

I too was in an unheated 6X7 bedroom at home, but i shared mine. I had nowhere to do homework, but I still did it. You just cope. You just get it done. It comes from you, not the size of your bedroom.

Britain used to be a place that 'coped' with adversity. Now it uses every conceivable excuse it can find to justify mediocrity.

silvercar

An average ability kid with parental support and a good supporting school will do better than an average ability kid in a sink school with uncaring parents.

It may even be, though all the self motivated posters on here will disagree, that an average ability kid with with parental support and a good supporting school will do better than a bright kid in a sink school with uncaring parents.