@Felpercathedral I gave up. Was looking forward to hearing the characters I remember - Tom Forrest, Bob Larkin, Squire Lawson Hope, even Phil. Replaced by a load of invented ones with silly accents. What rubbish
Re: fronted adverbials etc etc. A friend of mine, in his 80s, has not heard of most of these absurd grammatical expressions. He's spent his entire working life teaching English and writing textbooks on the subject.
I’m hearing from ever more parents of primary school aged children that their children really don’t like school. They say that it’s boring, that they have to sit for long hours listening. Parents say that young children are taught things which they, their parents, have never needed to know. Things like ‘fronted adverbials’ and the difference between homophones and homographs.
Which wouldn’t matter if the children were interested and curious, but this isn’t why they are learning those things. They’re learning them because someone has decided that this is the best way for young children to spend their time.
That these – fronted adverbials, for example - are the most important things.
Parents say that their children are stressed about school work before they’ve even turned seven. They say that children wake up at night worrying that they’ll be put in the Red Zone or taken off the Sun and put on the Rain Cloud.
They say that when they tell school that their child doesn’t want to come, school tells them that maybe home is just too nice. They suggest that rather than improving their experience of school, parents should focus on making their experience of home worse so school seems better in comparison.
Huh?
How does that make any sense?
We’re losing a generation of children. They’re learning that they don’t like to learn, at the stage of their lives when they should be bursting with curiosity and excitement. By the time they are nine, some of them are already saying that school is ‘just something to get through’.
Here’s my take. Education shouldn’t be about ‘information in’. The first priority should not be covering content or passing tests.
That is something which can happen later, but first?
We need to inspire children about learning.
When our young children think that they are stupid. When our six-year-olds learn that learning is irrelevant and difficult. When our eight-year-olds believe that they are bad because they can’t sit still and concentrate?
Those things last a lifetime.
This is the foundation of education. If we get it wrong now, we’ll be dealing with the consequences far into the future. Our children need change.
@DrEmmaNash Why on earth is it your fault that your son did not have a locker coin? He must be at least 14 years old and should have thought of it himself. Be consoled by the fact that he won't do it again.
@OnlyRightTrack I hope you bought your platform ticket before you went into the station, now that you know you can. Sorry, but most people DO know you can buy them.
Guto Harri, "The massive increase in largely a bunch of fairly young able-bodied people who have too much anxiety to go into work"
"Who in six minutes with a GP can be signed off and earn more than the average working class person has to work very hard in often stressful jobs"
Trevor Phillips, "I think you just invited a real pile on on social media for you Guto. Good luck with that"
Visited Dawyck a couple of years ago. A grand place that much improved our (limited) knowledge of trees, especially those from the other side of the Pond. So sorry to see all that damage. That IS the result of climate change.
@doctor_dru_ I arrived recently at a National Trust property and asked if I could claim a free cup of coffee (on offer if you come by bike.) The answer was No as I could not show them my helmet (which I'd fixed to my bike). Does he think I go everywhere in high-viz jacket and cycle clips?
There are calls for Lord Eric Pickles to resign from the House of Lords he complained to the Grenfell Inquiry that he was missing important lunches.
Like if he needs to resign.
RT if he needs to be fired.
@fesshole When we cycle and walk in France and Germany we call Bonjour, Gruss Gott, Hallo etc to all we meet and they respond. Sadly, greetings don't seem to happen in the UK. We are a miserable lot. Sorry.