Would This Learning Be All That Bad For Our Children?

[anotheoldgit]

Please excuse this rather long copy and paste exercise, but some will not bother to read all the article, but I think this is the more important section.

/// The new curriculum is intended to usher in a back-to-basics approach to education, described by Mr Gove as arming children with the 'fundamental building blocks' needed to learn. ///

/// In maths, children will begin fractions from the age of five and know their 12-times table by nine. ///

/// There will be a greater emphasis on grammar, spelling and punctuation in English, with poems recited in front of classmates from age five. ///

/// One of the most contentious subjects is history, which will cover events chronologically from the Stone Age to the Cold War. Critics have claimed the focus on key dates and characters risks creating a 'monochrome' list of goodies and baddies and will be biased towards white British men. ///

[sandyRoe]

Do children still learn 'times tables'?

[youngmafbog]

Well, on the face of it no.

Bet you get the pinko's(sorry, left leaning right-on liberals) after you though!

[ummmm]

Yes, Sandy.

[douglas9401]

'Critics' is full of it innit. Nuffin wrong wiv wot there taught dese daze

[ummmm]

Why, youngmafbog?

[Canary42]

... and after school they will put in 3 hours work at the local factory, to "arm them" with the necessary skills to contribute to the capitalist society.

[Gromit]

// poems recited in front of classmates from age five //

Yippee. That should put them off poetry for life.

To be honest, I do not know what is taught in the national cirriculum now, so I cannot compare it. I would assume they already do fractions and tables.

As for history, a chronological approach is as good as any. That is how I was taught it. I was taught 'British History' and I know I have gaps in my knowledge because of that. If it could be broaden then that would be better.

[LazyGun]

Who here knows how kids are taught in school at the moment? I don't. My own schooldays are long ago, as are my kids, come to that, so i really have no clue how the modern curriculum is arranged.

History can be a contentious subject. The Days of Empire are over, and any teaching of history should reflect that. And learning names and dates and places by rote was boring when I was at school,when my kids were at school and I am sure would be boring to kids in school now.

I think it is useful for kids to know the fundamentals of mathematics before becoming totally reliant on a calculator or what-have-you.Knowing your 12x table by 9 appears to be setting the bar too low, in my opinion.

A focus on grammar, spelling and punctuation is no bad thing; Poetry is a dying art so could do with some help - We were given Poetry reading as a punishment at my school - And if it were to reduce the amount of estuary english being spoken it would be no bad thing...

What article are these selections from, out of interest?

[sandyRoe]

But will British history cover the struggle for the emancipation of the workers and the struggle of the trade unions to secure decent conditions for their members? Or will it all be monarchs and the spread of empire?

[saxy_jag]

I don't have a problem with the maths and English proposals, but I'm not sure about the history. In the early school years history needs to be interesting and/or fun to learn - it's why 'Horrible Histories' is so popular - and children need to be able to relate it to their own lives. Whilst no-one could expect the average eight- or nine-year-old to understand the political intricacies of, say, WW2, there is much to be said for showing them the very different way of life of their near ancestors during the period. Giving them a taste of a wide span of historical topics at primary level will help to spur their interest when they reach the next stages at secondary.

[jake-the-peg]

Yes because there has been absolutely no advances in teaching and what is worth learning in the last 60 years and the best thing that we can do is give children the same as what we had!

In other news all new cars will now be Austin 7s and diesel and electric trains will be replaced with steam

On the plus side at least this government will not last long enough to actually effect this

(Not that I believe all educational changes have been positive - Whoever decided 'chunking' was the way to teach multiplication was a moron - and if you don't know what that is I don't think you know enough about what is going on in classrooms to be on this thread!)

[LazyGun]

I saw something about "chunking" the other day JtP - I was gobsmacked. How on earth they thought it made it simpler or more intuitive or whatever I do not know.

[LazyGun]

^^ LoL!

[jake-the-peg]

I've heard a rumour LazyGun that Chunking was devised for remedial maths lessons

But that some genius decided it should be rolled out to the whole school population

It would explain much -but we've a generation that have been taught the most brain dead technique for basic maths I've ever seen

[rockyracoon]

Chunking is the bain of my life, it takes too long. If kids were taught times tables properly they wouldn't need to chunk, my daughter is quite good at maths but is not very quick with time tables, and the only learnt up to x10!

[Fitzer]

@Rocky, why would you need more than up to the 10x table, I learnt up to twelve but that was in the pre-decimal, imperial measurment days, anything above 10 is just a matter of doing the seperate multiplications and then addition.

[rockyracoon]

True Fitz, never thought of it like that

[Sharingan]

I'm home educated and my parents initially taught me all of those things in all those ways. As I grew older I grew more autonomous about which direction my education should take and so I tended to concentrate more on arts than sciences or sports because that is my chosen field. I was read to everyday from as long ago as I can remember and expected to be comfortable enough to read or recite things in front of other people and to give speeches and debate topics. History was taught in a social and political context and I am expected to be politically and socially aware. I don't feel educationally deprived because I was taught in a somewhat old fashioned way and encouraged to read good literature and taught tables. If I ever have children I will probably educate them in a similar vein.

[LazyGun]

@sharingan Do you feel you missed out on the whole school/ friendship/community thing through being home schooled, out of curiosity?