The usual furore over GCSE and A level exam results got me thinking about my own children's experiences with exams. Elder daughter always wanted to be a doctor but had to redo one of her A levels due to poor teaching, so she had a gap year doing chemistry A level and working in a local bar. Elder son always wanted to go into the army and so he did, but as his was a summer birthday and the army wouldn't take him until he was 16 and a half, he spent a term helping me in school, which he thoroughly enjoyed and he proved himself to be really good with the children. He had done his GCSE's and could easily have done A levels and gone to Sandhurst but that was not what he wanted.
Younger son got his GCSE's and was given a place in the 6th form but left within weeks, complaining that he wasn't being treated like an adult (Yes, I know!). He has always had an entrepreneurial side to his character and had a few different jobs, including working in large pet shops before eventually settling to the job he has now, concerned with the sale of mobile phone accessories. Along the way he has picked up a lot of expertise on computers and I.T., supporting the theory that, in the world of learning, boys tend to devote their time and effort to what interests them rather than what the system dictates.
Younger daughter worked hard at GCSE's and A levels and won a place at university to study drama and english, but within weeks, realised that she wasn't happy either with the course or the university and came home before Christmas. To her credit, she picked herself up, got a job for the rest of the year and pestered her current university to give her a place. which they duly did.
I'm not intending to get into the argument about exam standards here. I have my own views but I feel some sympathy for pupils who are caught up in the discussion year after year. They have worked hard within the system as it is and that is all that can be expected. Meanwhile, politicians will always use statistics to support their own views.
But I am proud of my children's achievements, whether they've benefited from the exam system or not. They have all shown, in their own ways, that if you have strength of character and belief in yourself and your abilities, you can make it - not always in the way you expect, but you can get there in the end!
It might as well rain until September
Those of you of more mature years may remember that song by Carole King. I was reminded of it this evening when I realised that today is the last day of August which means that tomorrow September begins - the first month of autumn.....and we haven't had summer yet! Or did I blink and miss it! Ah well, down in Sete, southern France, where we are headed in just a few days, the temperature is around 26 degrees.....bliss!!!!
Email link
Well, I have just spent most of the evening messing about with my blog trying to enable email post links like this. You know, the little white envelope next to the comments which is coming soon to a blog near you. All my blog can manage is a little white line. So then I decided to try it on my photoblog. It worked like magic - no problem at all! So WHY didn't it work on this blog?????
Why God never received a PhD
Received this last night from a friend who IS doing a PhD! I thought it was very good.
Why God never received a PhD
1. He had only one major publication.
2. It was in Hebrew.
3. It had no references.
4. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.
6. It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
7. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
8. The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
9. He never applied to the ethics board for permission to use human subjects.
10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it by drowning his subjects.
11. When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample.
12. He rarely came to class, just told students to read the book.
13. Some say he had his son teach the class.
14. He expelled his first two students for learning.
15. Although there were only 10 requirements, most of his students failed his tests.
16. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.
17. No record of working well with colleagues.
Why God never received a PhD
1. He had only one major publication.
2. It was in Hebrew.
3. It had no references.
4. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.
6. It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
7. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
8. The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
9. He never applied to the ethics board for permission to use human subjects.
10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it by drowning his subjects.
11. When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample.
12. He rarely came to class, just told students to read the book.
13. Some say he had his son teach the class.
14. He expelled his first two students for learning.
15. Although there were only 10 requirements, most of his students failed his tests.
16. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.
17. No record of working well with colleagues.
Lessons from Dilbert
I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is not looking good either.
I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing him again.
I don't have an attitude problem, you have a perception problem.
Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling.
My reality check bounced.
On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
Just thought I'd brighten your day with these little Dilbert gems of wisdom from
this site. Well, the weather is no good so we need a lift - right?
I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing him again.
I don't have an attitude problem, you have a perception problem.
Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling.
My reality check bounced.
On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
Just thought I'd brighten your day with these little Dilbert gems of wisdom from
this site. Well, the weather is no good so we need a lift - right?
Advance holiday preparations
Lazy day today - no rambles around Wales, no, today we have started remote preparations for our trip to France next weekend. I managed to persuade Keith that 2 polo shirts and a pair of chinos was not really an adequate wardrobe for a fortnight away, so off we went to Matalan. We hit a problem straight away as he insists that he needs a pocket in any shirt he wears so that he has somewhere to put his glasses. Well we did manage to find some polo shirts with pockets - straight out of the 70's! (You can't win'em all!)
Back home, the air has been punctuated by the sounds of bluetooth connections being made and broken as Keith works at setting up the GPS on his PDA to include the map of France. Technical afficionados please click here. In the meantime, I have been making mental lists of things to do, things to take and things not to forget. Keith thinks this passion for list-making is hilarious. I'm sure he's never made a list in his life. Also, I have been musing on the fact that my knowledge of colloquial French will now be 35 years out of date. I spent many months in France during my teens and was quite fluent in French but the language will have changed enormously since the late 60's, just as English has. (Who goes around saying things are 'fab' any more!) That led to thoughts of all the technological changes in the world since my visits in those days. (O.K. just get the sniggers and ageist comments out of the way right now!) The last time I was in France, there were no calculators, no mobile phones and no PC's; therefore no internet or emailing AND ....and here it gets REALLY serious....no blogging!!! Not only that, but there were no CD's, no videos, certainly no DVD's and no digital cameras or camcorders. My early photos taken in France were black and white. We didn't even have cassettes - all my music was on LP's, EP's or singles.
Younger readers look here to see what an LP looked like.
Still as long as the wine is still as good and the weather is better than here, I think we'll survive. (But we're taking my laptop, the PDA, the mobile phones, the GPS, the digital camera and the camcorder!)
Back home, the air has been punctuated by the sounds of bluetooth connections being made and broken as Keith works at setting up the GPS on his PDA to include the map of France. Technical afficionados please click here. In the meantime, I have been making mental lists of things to do, things to take and things not to forget. Keith thinks this passion for list-making is hilarious. I'm sure he's never made a list in his life. Also, I have been musing on the fact that my knowledge of colloquial French will now be 35 years out of date. I spent many months in France during my teens and was quite fluent in French but the language will have changed enormously since the late 60's, just as English has. (Who goes around saying things are 'fab' any more!) That led to thoughts of all the technological changes in the world since my visits in those days. (O.K. just get the sniggers and ageist comments out of the way right now!) The last time I was in France, there were no calculators, no mobile phones and no PC's; therefore no internet or emailing AND ....and here it gets REALLY serious....no blogging!!! Not only that, but there were no CD's, no videos, certainly no DVD's and no digital cameras or camcorders. My early photos taken in France were black and white. We didn't even have cassettes - all my music was on LP's, EP's or singles.
Younger readers look here to see what an LP looked like.
Still as long as the wine is still as good and the weather is better than here, I think we'll survive. (But we're taking my laptop, the PDA, the mobile phones, the GPS, the digital camera and the camcorder!)
Chester
My younger daughter has just been for a visit. We picked her up last night in Chester to save her coming through to Wrexham and having to change trains. This afternoon, we went back into Chester as I had an appointment at 2 o'clock and we also hoped to fit in some retail therapy. As it happened, it took so long to get into Chester and locate the car park I needed to park in to be within walking distance of my appointment that we didn't actually get out of the car until 1.20p.m. So, not really any time for retail therapy or lunch because we were surrounded by shops with price tags far out of range of a student and a recently redundant teacher and couldn't find any eating places that were not either full to bursting or charging £1.90 for a bottle of water - which, although rapidly dying of thirst, I adamantly refused to pay! Finally I bought a bottle of water from a little newsagents and we sat down on a bench for a few minutes. Within a few seconds we were accosted by one of the local nutcases who was trying to interest us in a stack of dubious postcards, so we had to move on to get out of his way.
On to the appointment, which took an hour instead of the half hour I had anticipated, and a quick bite to eat and it was time to head off to the train station. It took 10 minutes to find the car park entrance, which had apparently been designated as a completely hidden aperture and then a further 5 minutes to discover that our level, blue level, could not be reached by entering white level, although that's precisely what we had done in the car! (Confused? You will be!)
So, out of the car park, at last, into the Friday afternoon going-home traffic and many road works and detours until, more by good luck than good judgement, we arrived at the station.
Daughter decanted, good-byes said and off I set, once more into the breach, the hills of Wales in my sights and determined not to venture into Chester again in the near future!.
On to the appointment, which took an hour instead of the half hour I had anticipated, and a quick bite to eat and it was time to head off to the train station. It took 10 minutes to find the car park entrance, which had apparently been designated as a completely hidden aperture and then a further 5 minutes to discover that our level, blue level, could not be reached by entering white level, although that's precisely what we had done in the car! (Confused? You will be!)
So, out of the car park, at last, into the Friday afternoon going-home traffic and many road works and detours until, more by good luck than good judgement, we arrived at the station.
Daughter decanted, good-byes said and off I set, once more into the breach, the hills of Wales in my sights and determined not to venture into Chester again in the near future!.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Plaster board and dust
So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...
-
So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them... -
This is the beach at Burbo Bank, Crosby, home of Antony Gormley's cast iron statues, collectively known as 'Another Place'. We... -
Well, we came to an amicable arrangement, quite unplanned as it happened, because Keith got to navigate the car through people's back y...