Is there a limit to stupidity?

[farzooks]

news.sky.com/story/1179265/confusing-scratchcard-withdrawn-by-camelot

[Smokeybebe]

[newdawn]

Oooops

[Deleted]

Sadly it can only get worse after the education international league table was published last week based on countries performance.

[Perpetua]

O dear . . . . not good is it.

[Deleted]

[Blownupdolly]

Dec 8, 2013 1:32:11 GMT stamina said:

Sadly it can only get worse after the education international league table was published last week based on countries performance.

Funny you mention this stamina. I have thought the education standards have dropped immeasurably in recent years, BUT, I have discovered it must be in the older pupil groups. A couple of months back I started helping my 6yr old grand daughter with her homework. Whilst I was considered pretty good academically at school. I got an O level pass Mark of 87% in maths. I am embarrassed to say that some of the questions and puzzles she gets for homework were unbelievable! I didn't know the answer to some of them! How embarrassing!!
Yet, when you see how dumbed down a lot of teenagers are, it makes me think there must be some inherrant problem further down the line in education. I suspect it is a lot of teachers inability to control a classroom full of them, therefore making teaching a lower priority than containment. I might be wrong, but seems very odd to me.

[Deleted]

I honestly believe that our generation (mid 1950s - mid 1960s) learned more in 10 years of school, leaving at 15, than this generation learns in anything up to 18 years of school/college/university ... you only have to watch TV programs like The Weakest Link or Pointless to be astounded by how little they know.

[Blownupdolly]

Dec 8, 2013 10:03:59 GMT @freefromsmoking said:

I honestly believe that our generation (mid 1950s - mid 1960s) learned more in 10 years of school, leaving at 15, than this generation learns in anything up to 18 years of school/college/university ... you only have to watch TV programs like The Weakest Link or Pointless to be astounded by how little they know.

All not helped by the likes of Joey Essex et al, being held up as someone to aspire to! The dumb bimbo is not just alive and kicking in Essex but countrywide now. As long as you look good it matters not that your head is filled with hot air.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2013 10:35:12 GMT Blownupdolly said:

Dec 8, 2013 10:03:59 GMT @freefromsmoking said:

I honestly believe that our generation (mid 1950s - mid 1960s) learned more in 10 years of school, leaving at 15, than this generation learns in anything up to 18 years of school/college/university ... you only have to watch TV programs like The Weakest Link or Pointless to be astounded by how little they know.

All not helped by the likes of Joey Essex et al, being held up as someone to aspire to! The dumb bimbo is not just alive and kicking in Essex but countrywide now. As long as you look good it matters not that your head is filled with hot air.

Oh don't get me started on the celebrity icons Dolly   ...  every quiz show that they appear on is deliberately dumbed down and they still can't get the right answers ...  the late Jade Goody, bless her, who thought that Africa was a country and had never heard of the term "Continent" 

[tmg]

I think the complexity of some of the work given to kids when they're little puts them off, it should be a time for building their confidence, instead some of them are overwhelmed at an early age, especially if there's no one able to help at home, so the downward spiral begins...

[Blownupdolly]

Dec 8, 2013 13:47:51 GMT tmg said:

I think the complexity of some of the work given to kids when they're little puts them off, it should be a time for building their confidence, instead some of them are overwhelmed at an early age, especially if there's no one able to help at home, so the downward spiral begins...

Absolutely agree with you. I admit I was really shocked when I saw the work sheet she had. She did lose a bit of confidence in herself when she started the new term in September. Now I know why.

[Deleted]

You could have something there ... when I was at school (back in the black and white days) all we did at primary school were the 3 Rs, but we knew our spellings, punctuation, times tables, mental arithmetic etc backwards. When we then moved on to secondary school and were introduced to history, geography, languages, science, craftwork etc it was a whole new exciting phase in our education which we eagerly embraced. Perhaps modern children are being overloaded with too many different subjects at primary school and becoming jaded by the time they move on to secondary.

[sammy13]

Dec 8, 2013 7:01:54 GMT Blownupdolly said:

Dec 8, 2013 1:32:11 GMT stamina said:

Sadly it can only get worse after the education international league table was published last week based on countries performance.

Funny you mention this stamina. I have thought the education standards have dropped immeasurably in recent years, BUT, I have discovered it must be in the older pupil groups. A couple of months back I started helping my 6yr old grand daughter with her homework. Whilst I was considered pretty good academically at school. I got an O level pass Mark of 87% in maths. I am embarrassed to say that some of the questions and puzzles she gets for homework were unbelievable! I didn't know the answer to some of them! How embarrassing!!
Yet, when you see how dumbed down a lot of teenagers are, it makes me think there must be some inherrant problem further down the line in education. I suspect it is a lot of teachers inability to control a classroom full of them, therefore making teaching a lower priority than containment. I might be wrong, but seems very odd to me.

Don't feel bad Dolly, I got A level maths ( do A levels even exist now? )

Before that at school I got grade A - O level ( not the gcse or whatever it is now )

In total I got 12 O levels grade A-B and 3 A levels, and after that quite a few other qualifications.

I recently tried to help an 8 year old with homework, and I didn't have a clue.

After googling I was fine, but it is all worded differently with regards as to what they want you to do.

At first I thought god I've lost my mind, then I realised it is the new way of wording things and doing things.

[lazydog]

Answering the questions is easy-------------------------its understanding the question that is the hard bit they seem worded to confuse IMHO