to seriously question whether these teens actually go to a good school?

[MyNameIsKenAdams]

Great Ofsted rating. Faith school. Aged 13-15. Some examples,
Not knowing which set they are in
Not knowing which sets are higher than others (have some sort of bizarre letter rating system)
Thinking it takes six hours to cook a chicken
Not knowing what I.C.T stands for even though they take classes in it
One of them (15) saying they want to be a Police Person when they grow up
One of them (15) saying the Harry Potter books are too complicated
Being unable to locate eastern Asia on a map

Plus more that I couldnt list

I dont hang around a lot of teens so ive no real idea but I am genuinely baffled at the lack of concrete knowledge between them.

Aibu or just expecting too much?

[ClaudiusGalen]

Kids know which sets they are in - they are sensitive about it, so probably don't want to share.

ICT is Computer Science now.

Most teenagers I encounter wouldn't read Harry Potter - it is a children's book and teenagers do not consider themselves children. I've never read them either, not because they are complicated, the writing is just crap.

Geography isn't about pointing at things on maps. Not being able to locate East Asia is more about a lack of general knowledge than a subject specific issue.

Schools do not educate children in a vacuum. Most of the 'stuff' that kids 'don't know' is general knowledge and common sense that parents should be teaching their kids.

[Ludoole]

My eldest (year 9) is in a school that are in special measures at the moment.... He knows what sets he is in, he can name all the major countries on a globe, he can name all the kings and queens of Britain with dates, (he shames me when Pointless is on Hes bright but not exceptionally so, and he learned the majority of this at the 'special measures' school....

[MyNameIsKenAdams]

Btw for those that are saying they wont have answered correctly on purpose - this is information I have gleaned from conversations that have happened between themselves whilst I have been aroubd.

[WilsonFrickett]

The later Harry Potter books are far too complicated and would have been enormously improved by a good, hard, copy edit.

[TheDoctorsNewKidneys]

I know a lot of adults who couldn't answer the latter questions.

As for sets, who cares? My primary school had sets named after scientists. We all knew which set Darwin was and which set Faraday was, but we just didn't feel the need to boast about it, or to rub it in to other people.

Not necessary.

[nooka]

My children go to a good school (in Canada) it is truly comprehensive and it doesn't use sets at all. The only differentiation is in grade 10 when you math divides into three streams and here it is compulsory to take math until you graduate from school, they have a math stream for scientists, a stream for trade, and a stream for everyone else. If you don't pass the course you have to retake it or fail school. They get very good results.

[trampstamp]

Add message | Report | Message poster ClaudiusGalen Fri 21-Feb-14 22:58:36



Good point my ds studies geography and he mostly couldn't point out many places on the globe but could tell you exactly about fracking why it's needed and what the process is

I was actually very impressed

[trampstamp]

Oh and my sons school set for every subject they are named after black and Asian civil rights leaders but every one knows what sets they are tbh

[lljkk]

I wouldn't have a problem with any of it. I work in ICT and I don't know what I.C.T. stands for.

[FamiliesShareGerms]

A 13-15 school is a bit unusual, no?

[lljkk]

American junior high 7th-9th grade, maybe?

[mrsjay]

why do they need to know what set they are in or which indeed is higher than they are schools maybe dont run those set systems anymore they just run classes, and how to cook a chicken is a common knowledge cooking question not an academic subject if they dont cook in school then how will they know unless a parent has shown them to cook a chicken and even the smartest of teenagers say/do daft things , one of mine mostly top sets couldnt work out what 90 seconds in the microwave was ,

[mrsjay]

why specifically east asia I would just waft my finger over all of asia tbh if somebody asked me that . and wtf is wrong with being a police person

[FraidyCat]

Geography isn't about pointing at things on maps. Not being able to locate East Asia is more about a lack of general knowledge than a subject specific issue.

Yes, I recall we didn't do maps in high-school geography. It was correctly assumed we had memorised all that in primary school. (I didn't go to school in the UK.)

If a ten-year old can't identify a continent on a map of the world, the education system has failed.

Map-related knowledge is far more useful, interesting and important than other stuff I was taught in Geography.

[MorrisZapp]

Come off it OP, these are rubbish examples. Are you just having a pop at a particular kind of school? Kids don't know how long to cook a chicken, why would they? Schools don't teach that.

[Anomaly]

But good school doesn't mean all children at the school know everything. Some children really aren't very clever. Even the clever ones have gaps in their knowledge. I remember at university meeting a dentistry student who didn't know to wash a muddy potato before baking it!

[steppemum]

well, I asked my 11 year old and 8 year old and they knew the map, and the chicken, and the 11 year old has read Harry Potter, but actually I realised that I don't know what ICT actually stands for either

Interactive Communication Technology??
International Computer Technology??

Who knows? They correctly told me that that is the class here they learn about computer technology which was close enough for me!

Police Person probably should be Police Officer or Police Constable, but they were being correct in avoiding Policeman and Policewoman which are no longer used, just as Fireman is no longer used it is correctly firefighter.

[SingMoreWhenYoureWinning]

I just asked my 6 year old how long it takes to cook a chicken and he said

'You always put it in the oven after school at half past 3 and it's ready at 5 o clock when we have tea...so is it an hour and a half?'

Thinking maybe I cook chicken too often for dinner?

[MothratheMighty]

I'm often astounded by the lack of general knowledge amongst adults as well, but that's often what happens when education becomes narrowed down to what you need to jump through the hoops to get the GCSEs to get the A levels to get the degree.
I reckon every single person on this thread could give half a dozen examples of things they were surprised other people didn't know; from geography to DIY to how to cook and beyond.

DD and I had a discussion about memory only yesterday, and whether people store less factual information in their heads now because it is so easily available on the net.
Whereas back in the day, pre-google and the rest, you either had to retain information in your brain and access it, or own a large and comprehensive library.

[mrsjay]

I am a trivia general knowledge junkie so I am always telling my dds and anybody who will listen random facts but I do know a lot of children and parents are not that interested, although some of the examples given is general knowledge and if they never come across it then they wont know

[NigellasDealer]

the examples you have listed are really odd.
why on earth would a school teach children how long to cook a chicken for?
what does ICT stand for anyway?
and some kid saying HP books are 'too complicated' might just have meant loose, baggy , plotless, hard to follow mightn't he/she? in which they might have had a point.
YABU very

[Nanny0gg]

I wouldn't have a problem with any of it. I work in ICT and I don't know what I.C.T. stands for.

Really?

And you haven't felt the need to find out?

[MothratheMighty]

There are a startling number of people in the world who lack curiosity about things.
I'm not meaning gossip and the like, but those who are content to stay on the surface of knowledge and don't feel the need to know more than they have to.

[Anniegetyourgun]

Fort it was Information and Communications Technology?

I didn't learn that at school, because they hadn't invented IT when I was at school. They'd barely invented telephones...

[Anniegetyourgun]

ps Doesn't it depend on the size of the chicken?