New Special Needs School for Nuneaton

[Lex]

Good to see this going ahead; special needs education always seems to be the first to suffer when money's short: http://www.nuneaton-news.co.uk/Masterplan-town-s-new-special-school-revealed/story-26231178-detail/story.html

[rebbonk]

All education needs to be protected IMO.

Without proper education this country will sink pretty fast. We already (allegedly) need to import skilled, educated workers, which in itself is a scandal.

Good on Nuneaton getting this sorted and well done the county council for supporting it.

[Lex]

Education seems to have been going downhill for years. The amount of bad spelling, bad maths and general ignorance I come across is jaw dropping. I even know someone who went through their teenage years in the 1960s (an age where people should at least be vaguely aware of the world around them) who was completely oblivious to the Cuban missile crisis, and someone else who's been working for the same company as me for 15-odd years and still knows next to nothing about it!

[rebbonk]

I agree Lex, it's really been dumbed down and most will simply accept it. But, as long as we've got fags, booze, soaps, X-factor and football, the masses remain happy and ignorant.

I remember once talking to my dad, he said that in reality, those that run this country don't want to educate the masses and I think I tend to agree with his thoughts. Many in this country will see an educated workforce as dangerous. I'd see it as a bl**dy big bonus.

When I worked, if I got the opportunity I'd employ people a lot smarter than me. I wanted the best because that way the department would progress. Other managers would employ those that they thought were less smart so that they wouldn't ever be shown up; they wanted to remain the star of the show. Oddly enough, I never had a staff retention problem, others couldn't see why!

[Lex]

It's partially the fault of teachers, and partly the fault of parents. Most of the teachers at the secondary school I went to just couldn't be a***d doing their jobs; a friend summed it up nicely - 'we didn't learn a thing for 5 years'. Parents should take responsibility for their kids' learning - at least getting them to do their homework, and maybe encourage them to read occasionally.

[rebbonk]

I went to a local 'good' school. Frankly, I thought it was absolute rubbish. The teachers were mainly ex-military (intelligence) but couldn't teach for toffee. I was 'asked' to leave because they didn't see a future for me.

Interestingly, I was there after passing the 11+. Like the rest that passed the 11+ I was in the bottom stream. Now, call me cynical, but those passing the 11+ were supposed to have a natural intelligence, so why were we all at the bottom? Money talks, doesn't it?

So this bum who left school with few qualifications went on to gain a masters degree and start a PhD. (The PhD was not completed, but that's another story about corruption.)

I do agree Lex, parents must take some responsibility. However, I was stuffed, as once I was about 14 I was streets ahead of any education that my parents had. - Apart from the education that real life throws at you that is.