newjez Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I have to say all those things are 'taught' at my kids' school and it started very early - Joint project work, community work/volunteering, mentoring younger students, Dof E, sport or language leader qualifications etc etc, but you're right, the only time they get to put their skills into practice is in work experience or weekend jobs, and really, it's only in schools where the basics in literacy and numeracy are grasped early where there's time for all the 'extras'. I think the extras are just as important, if not more important. But they are probably harder to measure - and that may be the kernel of the problem. The one girl on educating Yorkshire stood out because she could express herself. But it would be harder to measure this. She excelled at testable subjects as well, but there isn't always a correlation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I completely agree with you. If you're going to educate the person for life it has to be about so much more than the three Rs. Teach them to think, reason, argue, work collaboratively/independently, to be resilient. Education has to be robust, but rounded and relevant. (Another three Rs!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 A good uni degree is important only for your first job after graduating over here. After that no one asks or is interested in what grade you obtained- or,come to that, which uni you attended. Only that you got the degree. So is it really worth working your guts out to get a first? If you can fake it til you make it- you're fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 A good uni degree is important only for your first job after graduating over here. After that no one asks or is interested in what grade you obtained- or,come to that, which uni you attended. Only that you got the degree. So is it really worth working your guts out to get a first? If you can fake it til you make it- you're fine. :laugh: You sound like my oh. If the pass mark is 50% and you get 51% there's 1% wasted effort! That said, he had an amazing education, so probably easy for him to say. I guess it depends on whether you view your education as simply a way of getting your next job or as a life enhancing experience. I suppose it's easy to take for granted if you've had it. When I listen to my husband and his knowledge on so many subjects I wish I'd had the opportunity to have an education like his (although I'm not nearly clever enough), not for employment, but to know how and why the world works and how we got to where we are now. Mind you, I wouldn't let him loose with a hammer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slean Wolfhead Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 :laugh: You sound like my oh. If the pass mark is 50% and you get 51% there's 1% wasted effort! I remember a bloke at school ended up with an impossible minus 2% in his French vocabulary exam. He didn't fill out a single answer and they knocked off 2% because he didn't write his name on the paper. Another got just over 20% in the multiple choice exam with three possible answers for each question. Even a chimpanzee would expect to get 33% by picking randomly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1977 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 :laugh: You sound like my oh. If the pass mark is 50% and you get 51% there's 1% wasted effort! That said, he had an amazing education, so probably easy for him to say. I guess it depends on whether you view your education as simply a way of getting your next job or as a life enhancing experience. I suppose it's easy to take for granted if you've had it.When I listen to my husband and his knowledge on so many subjects I wish I'd had the opportunity to have an education like his (although I'm not nearly clever enough), not for employment, but to know how and why the world works and how we got to where we are now. Mind you, I wouldn't let him loose with a hammer! You did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcorners Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 A good uni degree is important only for your first job after graduating over here. After that no one asks or is interested in what grade you obtained- or,come to that, which uni you attended. Only that you got the degree. So is it really worth working your guts out to get a first? If you can fake it til you make it- you're fine. I would tend to disagree with this. I didn't see excelling as working my guts out, I saw it as doing myself justice. I got a first for my undergraduate and a distinction for my Masters and was top of my year. I would have been very disappointed with anything less. It comes down to having pride in personal achievement which is something that doesn't seem to be encouraged these days. I now work with a couple of graduates from New Zealand and I have to say I don't think their degrees are worth the paper they're written on unfortunately. Or at least, they were given too much choice about which modules to take and ended up taking really quite irrelevant subjects, especially when you consider what job they were most likely to get. I can't believe I am having to teach them basic report writing skills and Microsoft Word/Excel skills. I also work with another Senior who is totally useless, can't quite believe my boss hasn't sacked him yet. He has faked it but he hasn't made it, if he got made redundant tomorrow he would really struggle to find another job. My Mum always taught me growing up that I was capable of doing anything I set my mind to, and that the world was my oyster. She was spot on. I only hope I can be as good a parent as she is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 When I was a new graduate I would have disagreed with what I said, too. I worked reasonably hard and got a good degree- but no one, not one person, ever asked me about it- the fact that I had the degree was all they cared about. When I was working I used to have undergraduates on placement quite often ( thought it was kind of my bit for the community or something). The funny thing was, the kids at the lower grade universities kept turning out to be better at their work and more responsible than the 'brainboxes' from Melbourne uni. Many times over. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 When I was a new graduate I would have disagreed with what I said, too. I worked reasonably hard and got a good degree- but no one, not one person, ever asked me about it- the fact that I had the degree was all they cared about. When I was working I used to have undergraduates on placement quite often ( thought it was kind of my bit for the community or something). The funny thing was, the kids at the lower grade universities kept turning out to be better at their work and more responsible than the 'brainboxes' from Melbourne uni. Many times over. Go figure. My husband was talking to one of our daughter's friends who has gone off to do medicine. She was asking him if he looked at which uni people had gone to when he's short listing. He said definitely not, what they have achieved post grad is more important than where they'd got their degree. Just as long as they're actually a dr! One time he discovered the bloke wasn't what he said he was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 My 2 friends who are traders in London.. Not a C grade gcse between them. One a paper millionair the other one a millionair.. Why and how...? Dad knew a trader who started them in the back office .. No uni degree needed.. Who you know That might go a long way to explaining why we had the GFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1977 Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 That might go a long way to explaining why we had the GFC. Just show me how much you really know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcorners Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 When I was a new graduate I would have disagreed with what I said, too. I worked reasonably hard and got a good degree- but no one, not one person, ever asked me about it- the fact that I had the degree was all they cared about. When I was working I used to have undergraduates on placement quite often ( thought it was kind of my bit for the community or something). The funny thing was, the kids at the lower grade universities kept turning out to be better at their work and more responsible than the 'brainboxes' from Melbourne uni. Many times over. Go figure. Well I've just had to send off all my certified degree certificates and transcripts to my professional body as I'm applying to become chartered. I have always put what class degree I got on my CV so interviewers haven't needed to ask me. It probably all depends on what field we're talking about. In mine, Geology, degrees are incredibly varied and I've been reminded time and time again that my university was truly great and unlike so many it does have a very highly respected reputation for turning out really good geologists and engineers. The difference is, my degree set us up for work in the mining industry, we have modules which taught many practical skills which are sadly lacking at many other universities. It makes a big difference when your uni owns it's own mine and you can actually DO the things that you're likely to do upon graduation. The graduates I work with now have degrees which were very pure in their approach to geology and they have very few practical skills unfortunately (but they both got 1:1!). It makes a difference when you're hiring someone to work underground if they have actually been underground before! So many people freak out and then just don't do what they're paid to do, actively avoiding it in some cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambethlad Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I came across a British TV show the other night called "Geordie Shore". The young people featured could hardly speak, let alone spell. If they are representative of young Britain, god help us. It's about a group of spray-tanned, breast-enhanced vacuous bimbos and steroid-munching meatheads who seem to do nothing except drink, vomit and have sex. Half their luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1977 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I came across a British TV show the other night called "Geordie Shore". The young people featured could hardly speak, let alone spell. If they are representative of young Britain, god help us. It's about a group of spray-tanned, breast-enhanced vacuous bimbos and steroid-munching meatheads who seem to do nothing except drink, vomit and have sex. Half their luck. Sounds good to me.. Straight to Newcastle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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