Britain getting cleverer

To take up what Pikey said…. I think he’s right that because of the way school’s performances are measured, the teachers adapt a “teach them how to pass exams” approach, rather than teaching subjects in a way that allows pupils to develop their natural abilities. I know a few youngsters who got very good grades for their GCSE and A’levels but if you asked them something specific from the syllabus five years further on, they can’t remember! Knowledge is forced in and then very quickly vanishes because it isn’t applied knowledge. If you learn something “on the job”, it is applied knowledge and the ability for the memory to hang on to skills increases exponentially because people have multi layered memories, not just spoon fed ones. This has always been the case though, nothing has changed.

I don’t think as a race we are any more or less intelligent than we were 100 or 200 years ago. Maybe it is just measured differently now. There will always be people who cannot do simple things and have no common sense, but can recite mathematical equations or complex algorithms. I remember one bloke I worked with once, he had a degree in economics and politics, was a complete brain box with a Teflon coated brain, but he could not EVER work out how the photocopier worked!

Horses for courses, we need lots of talents to make a successful society, and practical skills are as valid as academic ones.

I think he’s right that because of the way school’s performances are measured, the teachers adapt a “teach them how to pass exams” approach, rather than teaching subjects in a way that allows pupils to develop their natural abilities. I know a few youngsters who got very good grades for their GCSE and A’levels but if you asked them something specific from the syllabus five years further on, they can’t remember!

LOL Even the teachers have notes they refer to! I know, I used to be one!
Not many people can remember the ins and outs of everything especially 5 years on!

Yes you teach pupils exam skills such as RTFQ, underlining key words and planning their answers but they need to have the knowledge in the first place to be able to answer the exam questions.

And an exam only tests certain areas from two years of learning – no one knows what those areas are so in order to pass the exam at A Grade, you need in depth knowledge of the whole subject area.

Now unless you then go on to use that knowledge everyday, you soon become rusty and need a refresher.

Even as a teacher, I had to refresh myself on certain areas in order to teach it. My doctor even looks up things when I visit, my lawyer will look up a point of law!

The human memory, does not recall everything verbatim.

I’m not a huge fan of kids but credit where credit is due – stop decrying their achievements.

Do you and poli and QM have kids? If so, do you mock their exam achievements?

Just to clarify myself once again… i have not mocked any achievements anyone has made, infact i have quite clearly stated that kids are just as clever as ever probably more so in alot of ways, as they have alot more access to knowledge at their fingertips via the internet, and to a degree that probably makes their acaedemic knowledge more in depth rather than just what a teacher teaches us or whats from a text book. Which in turn possibly helps towards the up trend of results, but i do feel teaching is now as mims said is alot more directed at exam result achievements, i dont know i am not a teacher, and i agree that what you learn if not revisited regularly will get forgotten even distorted, but i still feel that youngsters of today miss out on the knowledge of life due to many reasons, which brings in the attitudes of kids/ students in the workplace/ street today. Learning hardship and making do sharing text books, teaches very important life skills of coping, making the best of, not expecting but working for things, that is the point i am trying to make.
And gaz everyone are equally valuable, just different. From the cleaner that cleans the lawyers offices, to the farmers that produce the food for the doctors to eat its all important and equally valuable, and you need one for another to work successfully, if a doctor had to farm his own food he wouldnt have the time to dedicate to his patients,same as if said farmer needs medical treatment the doctor is there to give it. If the lawyer had no cleaner he wouldnt have the time to dedicate to his clients, it works hand in hand equally. Only people who thinks one is better than the other are the ones with the problem, anyone who contributes to keeping the world we know ticking over has an equal place in it.

@panda12 wrote:

but i do feel teaching is now as mims said is alot more directed at exam result achievements,

That is the whole idea! :roll:
#-o

if that is in fact the case, why do we waste good money and time teaching kids that will never be able to achieve any exam results at all?

@(f)politics? wrote:

@panda12 wrote:

but i do feel teaching is now as mims said is alot more directed at exam result achievements,

That is the whole idea! :roll:
#-o

if that is in fact the case, why do we waste good money and time teaching kids that will never be able to achieve any exam results at all?

Because the teachers are not psychic and don’t know who is going to pass an exam or not! :roll:

A teacher’s job is to give kids an education with the view to achieving qualifications.

For some kids that will not be the case but with every generation, that will always be the case.

Those with less abilities are entered for exams where they cannot achieve above a certain level. e.g. they can only achieve a C or below.

In some extreme cases a kid might not be entered for a certain exam if they haven’t attained a certain standard throught the course.

Even if exams passes aren’t achieved, kids still get an education and skills they will use and need throughout their life such as being able to read and write!

You’ll have some kids with learning difficulties who may / will never pass an exam – should they be denied the chance of developing thier minds and skills because of this?