[Politics] The Mail Woke List…..

[Mental Lental]

I come here for football and maybe drop a few political posts.

You know we can just click on your name and look at your post history right? I’d say after just a quick gander that your ratio of troll shitposting compared to football related posts is about 10 shitposts to 1 normal football fan post.

Try not to demonstrably lie on the internet and then expect to be taken seriously.

It’s not a good look.

 

[Crawley Dingo]

You know we can just click on your name and look at your post history right? I’d say after just a quick gander that your ratio of troll shitposting compared to football related posts is about 10 shitposts to 1 normal football fan post.

Try not to demonstrably lie on the internet and then expect to be taken seriously.

It’s not a good look.

Go on then check them, its only in this thread that I've posted much in a recent burst. As for lying maybe you should give it a rest?...."troll shitposting" lol try harder.

Well I did a check,

70 political posts of which 21 in this thread, 62 football posts of which 39 Albion. So Just over 20% political and the same football, the rest OT.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

Comprehensive schools were progressive as pupils could be streamed within the schools, ie good at maths & science, A stream, not so good at languages D stream, but all in the same school. At least that’s how it was for my kids.

I teach in a comprehensive school - and they are the most progressive type of school within the current education framework.

However, streaming is the worst part of any education system and it is based on the 'meritocratic' nature of capitalist society (which actually is far more about how much money your parents have than anything else - if you have a spare diamond mine you can end up buying twitter). Countless studies have shown that mixed ability classes that do not engage in any streaming, across all subjects, significantly benefit both students who have difficulty in a subject and those with academic ability in that subject.

My main teaching subject is (shock) history - and I teach the equivalent of A-Levels in the UK (Irish students do a minimum of 7 subjects for their Leaving Certificate). But I do not teach history in the classroom - the learning of the history on the syllabus is a by-product of being in the room. I try to teach critical thinking skills and use the history course to demonstrate how to think critically and then how to apply what you have learned. I never emphasise results - I don't grade any work that the students do over the two years (except for the summer test at the end of first year because I have to under school rules) - and I am never concerned at what grade they achieve in the state exam. Irrespective of what grade they get, if the student leaves my classroom at the end of the two years with an ability to think for themselves and an understanding of why it is important for them to be able to think for themselves - then I consider that I have done my job.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I teach in a comprehensive school - and they are the most progressive type of school within the current education framework.

However, streaming is the worst part of any education system and it is based on the 'meritocratic' nature of capitalist society (which actually is far more about how much money your parents have than anything else - if you have a spare diamond mine you can end up buying twitter). Countless studies have shown that mixed ability classes that do not engage in any streaming, across all subjects, significantly benefit both students who have difficulty in a subject and those with academic ability in that subject.

My main teaching subject is (shock) history - and I teach the equivalent of A-Levels in the UK (Irish students do a minimum of 7 subjects for their Leaving Certificate). But I do not teach history in the classroom - the learning of the history on the syllabus is a by-product of being in the room. I try to teach critical thinking skills and use the history course to demonstrate how to think critically and then how to apply what you have learned. I never emphasise results - I don't grade any work that the students do over the two years (except for the summer test at the end of first year because I have to under school rules) - and I am never concerned at what grade they achieve in the state exam. Irrespective of what grade they get, if the student leaves my classroom at the end of the two years with an ability to think for themselves and an understanding of why it is important for them to be able to think for themselves - then I consider that I have done my job.

I imagine the summer test goes something like:
Jolly Red Giant: Who will you vote for when you're old enough?
Student: The communists sir!
Jolly Red Giant: Well done. A*.

I am, for the avoidance of doubt, joking.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

I imagine the summer test goes something like:
Jolly Red Giant: Who will you vote for when you're old enough?
Student: The communists sir!
Jolly Red Giant: Well done. A*.

I am, for the avoidance of doubt, joking.

Even though it may not seem so on here - I do have a little bit of a sense of humour.

The question in the classroom is usually - 'Sir, who do you vote for?' - my reply is 'have you not figured it out yet? clearly I have a little more work to do before ye are finished here'.

 

[Cornwallboy]

I must be in the minority on here i that I vote Conservative and read the Daily Mail. Then again isn't the DM the most read paper in the country and Labour haven't won an election since mid 200's so maybe I'm not.

 

[Machiavelli]

I must be in the minority on here i that I vote Conservative and read the Daily Mail. Then again isn't the DM the most read paper in the country and Labour haven't won an election since mid 200's so maybe I'm not.

I think Labour has won a fair few elections over the past century. Has the Daily Mail convinced you that they haven't?

 

[Live by the sea]

I teach in a comprehensive school - and they are the most progressive type of school within the current education framework.

However, streaming is the worst part of any education system and it is based on the 'meritocratic' nature of capitalist society (which actually is far more about how much money your parents have than anything else - if you have a spare diamond mine you can end up buying twitter). Countless studies have shown that mixed ability classes that do not engage in any streaming, across all subjects, significantly benefit both students who have difficulty in a subject and those with academic ability in that subject.

My main teaching subject is (shock) history - and I teach the equivalent of A-Levels in the UK (Irish students do a minimum of 7 subjects for their Leaving Certificate). But I do not teach history in the classroom - the learning of the history on the syllabus is a by-product of being in the room. I try to teach critical thinking skills and use the history course to demonstrate how to think critically and then how to apply what you have learned. I never emphasise results - I don't grade any work that the students do over the two years (except for the summer test at the end of first year because I have to under school rules) - and I am never concerned at what grade they achieve in the state exam. Irrespective of what grade they get, if the student leaves my classroom at the end of the two years with an ability to think for themselves and an understanding of why it is important for them to be able to think for themselves - then I consider that I have done my job.

I teach in a comprehensive school - and they are the most progressive type of school within the current education framework.

However, streaming is the worst part of any education system and it is based on the 'meritocratic' nature of capitalist society (which actually is far more about how much money your parents have than anything else - if you have a spare diamond mine you can end up buying twitter). Countless studies have shown that mixed ability classes that do not engage in any streaming, across all subjects, significantly benefit both students who have difficulty in a subject and those with academic ability in that subject.

My main teaching subject is (shock) history - and I teach the equivalent of A-Levels in the UK (Irish students do a minimum of 7 subjects for their Leaving Certificate). But I do not teach history in the classroom - the learning of the history on the syllabus is a by-product of being in the room. I try to teach critical thinking skills and use the history course to demonstrate how to think critically and then how to apply what you have learned. I never emphasise results - I don't grade any work that the students do over the two years (except for the summer test at the end of first year because I have to under school rules) - and I am never concerned at what grade they achieve in the state exam. Irrespective of what grade they get, if the student leaves my classroom at the end of the two years with an ability to think for themselves and an understanding of why it is important for them to be able to think for themselves - then I consider that I have done my job.

As a child’s potential career in later life is often defined by what A level grades and degrees they get , surely you should be more concerned at what results they are likely to get . I would be very concerned if I had a child who came home and told me my teacher had told me it’s important to think for myself but isn’t bothered what grades I get .

I hope that’s not common practice in comprehensives or teachers that are against streaming because it’s capitalist !

Life is all about results …

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

As a child’s potential career in later life is often defined by what A level grades and degrees they get , surely you should be more concerned at what results they are likely to get . I would be very concerned if I had a child who came home and told me my teacher had told me it’s important to think for myself but isn’t bothered what grades I get .

I hope that’s not common practice in comprehensives or teachers that are against streaming because it’s capitalist !

Life is all about results …

I have sat in countless parent teacher meetings with parents who have illusions about what their child was capable of getting as a grade or not - and I have demonstrated to those parents that focusing exclusively on grades does the child a disservice and can actually be detrimental. Some understand where I am coming from and others don't. Very often those students crack under the stress of having to achieve a particular grade/s and some never recover.

Over the past 20 years I have seen students choose subjects because they 'need' particular grades in particular subjects to do particular courses - and invariably they end up dropping out of college within months. Those students who choose subjects they enjoy - and who focus on learning how to become an adult, rather than focus on grades, invariably end up doing something they enjoy and are capable of, irrespective of the grades they get.

There are numerous pathways to get to an end goal - the problem is that you have to know what the goal is in the first place and then you have to want to get there. These are kids - immature, flooded with hormones and bombarded with all kinds of electronic communication that has their heads spinning. Most haven't a clue what they want to do - and aren't mature enough to make that decision when they are forced down particular pathways.

I have four kids - three of them teachers and one a doctor. The doctor wanted to be a doctor from when she was a child - but didn't have the ability to organise herself to do the washing up, never mind get the grades to do medicine. We gave her space - supported her when she needed it - let her figure things out for herself who she was and what she wanted to do and eventually she succeeded and is now a damned good doctor in the NHS (and will be out on the picket lines next week). My son hated school - would never do any work in school - was always getting into trouble - and wanted out by the time he was 15. The only subject he liked was art - and we worked to persuade him to stay in school just so he could do art (his art teacher was/is fantastic and a good friend). When he finished his grades were crap - he had no idea what he wanted to do - but he had an art portfolio. We gave him space, told him to take his time and eventually he would figure things out. In the meantime he signed up for an art course - which then led him to an art degree. By the time he got his degree he had a kid on the way and he had to decide what to do with his art and his degree - he went and did a teacher training course and now teaches art to students in a school attached to a residential unit for troubled teenagers. My eldest daughter spent more than 10 years after she finished school doing different courses, doing different jobs until finally figuring out she wanted to be a primary school teacher two years ago. And my youngest wanted to be a teacher all through her school years - graduated - and then hated it when she started teaching. She spent three years bouncing from school to school and was determined to walk away from teaching as a career. Then a new school, a different environment and she fell in love with teaching again - she need the time to mature and realise that it was a job she actually wanted to do.

My advice to parents is and always has been (and I don't say it in these words) - support your child as best you can - don't project your own desires or failings on them - give them time and space to grow and mature - let them make their own mistakes and then help them pick up the pieces when they do - help them figure out who they really are and what they really want to do with their lives - and don't ever put any pressure on them about exams or grades, they have enough crap as teenagers to deal with without you doing that. My job is to help give those students the skills they need to figure this stuff out.

And then, after all that, you just hope that capitalism doesn't f*ck up their ability to live their lives as they want to and to be able to make the world a better place for everyone.

 

[Live by the sea]

I have sat in countless parent teacher meetings with parents who have illusions about what their child was capable of getting as a grade or not - and I have demonstrated to those parents that focusing exclusively on grades does the child a disservice and can actually be detrimental. Some understand where I am coming from and others don't. Very often those students crack under the stress of having to achieve a particular grade/s and some never recover.

Over the past 20 years I have seen students choose subjects because they 'need' particular grades in particular subjects to do particular courses - and invariably they end up dropping out of college within months. Those students who choose subjects they enjoy - and who focus on learning how to become an adult, rather than focus on grades, invariably end up doing something they enjoy and are capable of, irrespective of the grades they get.

There are numerous pathways to get to an end goal - the problem is that you have to know what the goal is in the first place and then you have to want to get there. These are kids - immature, flooded with hormones and bombarded with all kinds of electronic communication that has their heads spinning. Most haven't a clue what they want to do - and aren't mature enough to make that decision when they are forced down particular pathways.

I have four kids - three of them teachers and one a doctor. The doctor wanted to be a doctor from when she was a child - but didn't have the ability to organise herself to do the washing up, never mind get the grades to do medicine. We gave her space - supported her when she needed it - let her figure things out for herself who she was and what she wanted to do and eventually she succeeded and is now a damned good doctor in the NHS (and will be out on the picket lines next week). My son hated school - would never do any work in school - was always getting into trouble - and wanted out by the time he was 15. The only subject he liked was art - and we worked to persuade him to stay in school just so he could do art (his art teacher was/is fantastic and a good friend). When he finished his grades were crap - he had no idea what he wanted to do - but he had an art portfolio. We gave him space, told him to take his time and eventually he would figure things out. In the meantime he signed up for an art course - which then led him to an art degree. By the time he got his degree he had a kid on the way and he had to decide what to do with his art and his degree - he went and did a teacher training course and now teaches art to students in a school attached to a residential unit for troubled teenagers. My eldest daughter spent more than 10 years after she finished school doing different courses, doing different jobs until finally figuring out she wanted to be a primary school teacher two years ago. And my youngest wanted to be a teacher all through her school years - graduated - and then hated it when she started teaching. She spent three years bouncing from school to school and was determined to walk away from teaching as a career. Then a new school, a different environment and she fell in love with teaching again - she need the time to mature and realise that it was a job she actually wanted to do.

My advice to parents is and always has been (and I don't say it in these words) - support your child as best you can - don't project your own desires or failings on them - give them time and space to grow and mature - let them make their own mistakes and then help them pick up the pieces when they do - help them figure out who they really are and what they really want to do with their lives - and don't ever put any pressure on them about exams or grades, they have enough crap as teenagers to deal with without you doing that. My job is to help give those students the skills they need to figure this stuff out.

And then, after all that, you just hope that capitalism doesn't f*ck up their ability to live their lives as they want to and to be able to make the world a better place for everyone.

Thanks for your reply . I do understand all of it except the last paragraph. Like it or not we live in a capitalist society so I think we need to be aware that making the world a better place is a noble aim but earning sufficient money to live your life the way you want and support your family if you have one is most important.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

Thanks for your reply . I do understand all of it except the last paragraph. Like it or not we live in a capitalist society so I think we need to be aware that making the world a better place is a noble aim but earning sufficient money to live your life the way you want and support your family if you have one is most important.

Yes we do live in a capitalist society - one that is starting to come apart at the seams (think inter-war period coming apart). We have to live, eat, have a roof over our heads - we have to try and earn the money to do that.

But we should just accept that doing a 40 hour week on a minimum wage or just above, going to the pub, having kids, and repeating it over and over every day - is all that we can aspire to - just so Elon Musk can squander $44billion on X and build spaceships to take rich f*ckers to space. I have been very fortunate in my 60 years on this planet - I have a job I love, I get well paid, I have a beautiful wife of 38 years, four fantastic kids who, fortunately, each have a great partner, three grandkids and another on the way, a nice house in a nice neighbourhood, and good friends that I know I can rely on. But in different circumstances with a twist of fate somewhere along the line I know my life could have turned out very different. And despite the fact that I have been so fortunate - I still live in a society that is mired in poverty, in deprivation, in war, in discrimination - and I have spent 40 years of my life working individually and collectively with others, trying to change it and make the world a better place. I take pride in the fact that I know as an individual that I have had a positive impact on the lives of others, but I take greater pride in knowing that acting collectively with others I have defended and helped those who have suffered from the barbarity of capitalism - and I will continue to do so until I end up as a lump of ash scattered to the four winds.

Human society is not static - it is constantly changing. Capitalism hasn't always existed - in fact it is only about 300 years old (think Glorious Revolution) - and it is long past its sell-by date. Furthermore, capitalism is the first form of human society that has the capacity to, and is in the process of, destroying the planet - either through climate change or nuclear war. Capitalism can be and needs to be overthrown - and replaced with a society that is based on providing for the needs of humanity as a whole, not the obscene wealth of a few. The key to overthrowing capitalism is the working class - the majority of society - who have the collective ability to determine the future and create a society that can eliminate war, eliminate oppression, eliminate poverty, eliminate discrimination.

Since I first came across this quote I have tried to use it as a guiding principal in my life -

'Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full'

 

[Guinness Boy]

Go on then check them, its only in this thread that I've posted much in a recent burst. As for lying maybe you should give it a rest?...."troll shitposting" lol try harder.

Well I did a check,

70 political posts of which 21 in this thread, 62 football posts of which 39 Albion. So Just over 20% political and the same football, the rest OT.

Of your most recent 30 posts three are about football.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Of your most recent 30 posts three are about football.

To be fair, I'm pretty sure that of my 30 most recent posts, all but 3 are moans about England not picking Foakes to keep wicket.

 

[Crawley Dingo]

Of your most recent 30 posts three are about football.

So what?
As Ive stated when I post I am likely to get 5 or more responses, a lot of this has to do with the ratio of left/right posting I think. i am now 21 posts in this thread, of the 61 posts 41 have been in 3 threads. Ive blocked a few trolls as this is sapping to much of my time but again so what?

 

[The Clamp]

So what?
As Ive stated when I post I am likely to get 5 or more responses, a lot of this has to do with the ratio of left/right posting I think. i am now 21 posts in this thread, of the 61 posts 41 have been in 3 threads. Ive blocked a few trolls as this is sapping to much of my time but again so what?

You’re lucky that as of yet, one can’t get banned from NSC for being a boring bastard.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Go on then check them, its only in this thread that I've posted much in a recent burst. As for lying maybe you should give it a rest?...."troll shitposting" lol try harder.

Well I did a check,

70 political posts of which 21 in this thread, 62 football posts of which 39 Albion. So Just over 20% political and the same football, the rest OT.

70/298 x 100 =

I teach in a comprehensive school - and they are the most progressive type of school within the current education framework.

However, streaming is the worst part of any education system and it is based on the 'meritocratic' nature of capitalist society (which actually is far more about how much money your parents have than anything else - if you have a spare diamond mine you can end up buying twitter). Countless studies have shown that mixed ability classes that do not engage in any streaming, across all subjects, significantly benefit both students who have difficulty in a subject and those with academic ability in that subject.

My main teaching subject is (shock) history - and I teach the equivalent of A-Levels in the UK (Irish students do a minimum of 7 subjects for their Leaving Certificate). But I do not teach history in the classroom - the learning of the history on the syllabus is a by-product of being in the room. I try to teach critical thinking skills and use the history course to demonstrate how to think critically and then how to apply what you have learned. I never emphasise results - I don't grade any work that the students do over the two years (except for the summer test at the end of first year because I have to under school rules) - and I am never concerned at what grade they achieve in the state exam. Irrespective of what grade they get, if the student leaves my classroom at the end of the two years with an ability to think for themselves and an understanding of why it is important for them to be able to think for themselves - then I consider that I have done my job.

I teach too. At a British university. If I did not train as many of the class to pass the coursework and exams as possible, I would be out on my arse.

My Latin teacher (Mr Ross, HGSB) used to tell us that he was their to teach us how to think. I liked that. But on reflection (I passed my Latin O level 51 years ago) I think this is arrogance. And in any case he trained us to rote learn de Bello Gallico, and how to decline and conjugate. Amo*, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant.

I think it may be possible to encourage students to try to think. But my final year BSc students tell me that almost everything that have done, even in final year, has been rote learning. Sadly, now we have four times as many students as a few years ago, this the the best we can expect from most of them. They aren't bothered about thinking. Just passing.

*I don't actually, although I quite like you

 

[Goldstone1976]

70/298 x 100 =

I teach too. At a British university. If I did not train as many of the class to pass the coursework and exams as possible, I would be out on my arse.

My Latin teacher (Mr Ross, HGSB) used to tell us that he was their to teach us how to think. I liked that. But on reflection (I passed my Latin O level 51 years ago) I think this is arrogance. And in any case he trained us to rote learn de Bello Gallico, and how to decline and conjugate. Amo*, amas, amant, amamus, amatis, amant.

I think it may be possible to encourage students to try to think. But my final year BSc students tell me that almost everything that have done, even in final year, has been rote learning. Sadly, now we have four times as many students as a few years ago, this the the best we can expect from most of them. They aren't bothered about thinking. Just passing.

*I don't actually, although I quite like you

*cough* amat

 

[Bakero]

*cough* amat

And he didn't even bother listing the subjunctive conjugations. Bottom of the class, Harry.

 

[Guinness Boy]

So what?
As Ive stated when I post I am likely to get 5 or more responses, a lot of this has to do with the ratio of left/right posting I think. i am now 21 posts in this thread, of the 61 posts 41 have been in 3 threads. Ive blocked a few trolls as this is sapping to much of my time but again so what?

And yet here you are again. Go for a walk or something? You don’t have to be here. You don’t have to reply.

 

[Bakero]

And yet here you are again. Go for a walk or something? You don’t have to be here. You don’t have to reply.

We don't have to reply?! I started replying 13 years ago and have been stuck here ever since.