Jump to content

UK Politics: Rwanda Rehash


Maltaran
 Share

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Do no US states still stream students? We had streaming here in Canada when I was a teen. By grade 8 your life was taken over - you went into the university stream if you attended certain schools, or there was the “commerce” stream where you were sent to become a secretary or other office worker, and if you were deemed too stupid to handle the course loads, they sent you to a technical school to learn to be a mechanic or a woodworker or something. Lots of parents put their kids into the Catholic high school system because they were pissed off at what the school boards decided for their kids.

Iirc, Germany did that, though I think they also wanted smart kids in the technical schools, and I think a number of Asian countries do it, particularly Japan. Which is why terrified parents push their kids hard to get them in a good school. I think there’s an element of what school district you live in as well, everyone wants to live where the good schools are.

No. The US educational system has many flaws, but one thing it does well compared to other systems I've heard of is it allows you to fail when you're younger and that doesn't control what you can do. Lot's of people have to take the long road, but you can go from community college to a state school do a decent grad program. HS dropouts can work their way to getting a PhD if they try and it's viewed as a good thing if you can show growth over time. 

Edited by Mr. Chatywin et al.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

No. The US educational system has many flaws, but one thing it does well compared to other systems I've heard of is it allows you to fail when you're younger and that doesn't control what you can do. Lot's of people have to take the long road, but you can go from community college to a state school do a decent grad program. HS dropouts can work their way to getting a PhD if they try and it's viewed as a good thing if you can show growth over time. 

That’s the situation here now, the streaming concept we once had was terrible. Teachers knew best, eh. The VP at my grade school told my mother that I could do anything I wanted, my oldest brother would be lucky if he graduated from high school, and my younger brother would be lucky to get to grade 8. 

My older brother went to university in the US where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in his business degree, and then went to law school. He had to work hard. Everything came easy to me, so once I got to law school I was pretty lazy. My younger brother was dyslexic, which no one fucking recognized, so he got labeled as stupid. My mother saw he had trouble with his letters and attributed his improved abilities as a teen due to his desire to read comic books. Comic books, she always said, taught him to read where schools failed him.

Ontario officially recognized that streaming was disadvantageous for students in lower economic classes by 1999, but have they cleared out all forms of streaming yet? Hell no. I think math streaming still goes on, and the provincial government still swears it will end all streaming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

My younger brother was dyslexic, which no one fucking recognized, so he got labeled as stupid. My mother saw he had trouble with his letters and attributed his improved abilities as a teen due to his desire to read comic books. Comic books, she always said, taught him to read where schools failed him.

First off, not all teachers are good people. Like with any field you find some great people and some real pieces of shit. A French teacher of mine once told one of my step-brothers that he was a waste of air in front of the entire class. No wonder he checked out on basically all his classes for a few years.

That aside, I do find it interesting how comics have been shown to help kids with dyslexia and a few other learning conditions as well. They were never my thing growing up (I got a dozen or so during the pandemic though), but I've consistently heard the right ones for a kid can change their life. You just need a teacher who can see it and wants to help. Any good teacher is patient, kind and willing to try and figure out why their student is struggling. The cruel ones can fuck off entirely. 

Quote

Ontario officially recognized that streaming was disadvantageous for students in lower economic classes by 1999, but have they cleared out all forms of streaming yet? Hell no. I think math streaming still goes on, and the provincial government still swears it will end all streaming.

They do disadvantage poorer kids much like legacy enrollments, which I'm sure are prevalent in the UK too, are total bullshit. I think the number I saw (not Googling it) was like 30-40% of kids, or maybe just white kids, parents went to the Ivy League school they were accepted to. Wouldn't be surprised if the UK was the same, maybe even worse. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

I know you want to explain things but I have to say I’m getting annoyed (not with you) because you don’t have to justify your family’s actions. My brother wanted to go to university in the US, not a fancy Ivy league university, but we weren’t rich either and the Canadian dollar was low, so we all made sacrifices for him. I didn’t want to burden my parents with debt so I went to university in the city instead of going out of town and having the away-from-home experience teens want and enjoy. And paid my way with student loans, which my brother was not burdened with. Family.

I totally get that. I was the eldest and I went to a decent uni in Pakistan (decent for Pakistan anyway), whereas my younger sister of 2 (not the one with the kids) went to the UK because by that time, my mum could afford to send her. She worked day and night to get a job after college (McDonald's for quite some time), and is now, 20 years later, working at a great position in a bank. My brother, who is the youngest, went to Canada for college and worked as a security guard for nearly a year (night shifts) until he got an entry level job at LobLaws.  

They both ended up with more opportunities than I did because, let's face it, a Pakistani degree ain't all that in other countries. I did an additional UK qualification (remotely) on my own when I could, and that helped with the career stuff. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

 

@Crixus I didn't intend to be judgemental of you or your family, my intention was to rail against the multiple injustices of the system that winds up with families who will struggle and make sacrifices to get their kids an overpriced education because of the benefits of being at those schools, which have nothing at all to do with educational achievements, i.e. it should not matter where you get your A-levels from. Sadly in many ways it does matter where you get your A-levels from. So I do not judge or criticise people for doing what they think is necessary to get their children the best opportunities. I only criticise the social order that makes such things almost necessary.

And some people still think they can argue that we have equality of opportunity. My arse!

I totally agree, the system is shit, and rigged, and completely unfair. Equal opportunity does not exist, as you say. 

I chose not to have kids and I'm so grateful in many ways for that decision. When I look at the pressure my sis takes on simply because she wants to do what she believes is the best possible for her kids, I feel for her. I can't imagine doing all that myself, and I suppose that is one excellent reason I'm not a mum. 

@BigFatCoward yes, it is morally repugnant. But I can make that judgment more easily because I do not have kids - perhaps if I did, I would rather give them that opportunity and privilege even if I thought it was repugnant, and I suspect it is that way for some parents. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Has the kind of cancer been leaked yet? All I’ve heard is that it’s not prostate cancer.

Nope. No word has been leaked. Having been the subject of a few prostate exams (and one of the reasons for me having a female MD is that if anyone pokes their finger up there I would rather have someone with small hands), I suspect that the colon being right there next to the prostate, cancer of the colon is a good guess along with bladder cancer because that is right next door too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see the media has dialled down the whole 'get yourself checked for cancer' angle they jumped on in the immediate aftermath of the king's diagnosis. 

Obviously not a good look when Chaz's subjects can't get themselves checked because HM's Government has dragged the NHS down onto its knees and there is currently an 18-month waiting list for the elective procedure that revealed Charles' cancer in the first place. 

 

Edited by Spockydog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s been over a year and it’s still weird when they call Camilla that. 
 

I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about the Prince of Wales, and it took me a good 30 seconds to realise they meant William not Charles

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

I see the media has dialled down the whole 'get yourself checked for cancer' angle they jumped on in the immediate aftermath of the king's diagnosis. 

Obviously not a good look when Chaz's subjects can't get themselves checked because HM's Government has dragged the NHS down onto its knees and there is currently an 18-month waiting list for the elective procedure that revealed Charles' cancer in the first place. 

 

The finger up the bum?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Brianna Ghey’s father not holding baxck

https://news.sky.com/story/brianna-gheys-father-demands-apology-from-pm-after-trans-jibe-in-commons-13066231

What a fucking turd Sunak is

He is, he is a vile, disgusting, maggot infested turd. And he absolutely should apologise. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazingly (not amazingly), Kemi Badenoch has decided the one being disrespectful to Brianna’s family here is… Keir Starmer. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, mormont said:

Amazingly (not amazingly), Kemi Badenoch has decided the one being disrespectful to Brianna’s family here is… Keir Starmer. 

 

Sorry, what? Did she elaborate at all? :bang:

I wish I could say “unbelievable”, but it’s all too believable, sadly. 

Edited by kissdbyfire
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Deeply unlucky for Sunak to have made those comments on the one day that the UK's political and media establishment decided that transphobia is bad actually. I'm sure normal programming will resume shortly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, kissdbyfire said:

Sorry, what? Did she elaborate at all? :bang:

I wish I could say “unbelievable”, but it’s all too believable, sadly. 

He’s ‘weaponising’ Brianna’s murder for political ‘point scoring’, apparently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...