To despair of the English education system

[LadySlipper]

I just had to explain VJ Day to my son. He was amazed as he had no idea that Japan was in WW2. I am astounded by his ignorance. I suggested he might like to read up on it a bit to bridge that gap in his knowledge. He said ' Nah.'

He is currently at university studying to be a secondary school teacher. Readers, coming to a school near you, (and obviously already there) the educators of your children - can't spell, know nothing, and couldn't care less.

This despair set in, not with DS, but at a parent's evening when he was in year seven and I was voicing my concern that he couldn't spell for toffee and his English teacher declared "It's not my job to teach them how to spell."

Yes....let's trash the whole education system because your son did know what VJ Day was. Your comment is nothing short of spectacular. Well done.

My level of concern would depend on which subject he's planning to teach. Although in a general sense I do find lack of curiosity an irritating trait.

I've been ranting about dd's teacher today. I think some teachers shouldn't be teachers and give the rest a bad name.

That's not been my experience Rose. DS has studied many different periods of history.

Some kids don't listen in school and their parents don't teach them anything at home.

Still the teachers' fault though. Apparently.

I thought the ops post was funny.

Serious but funny.

We all have great holes in our education don't we?

I must say I find most 18-24 yr olds really lack general knowledge/current affairs but I don't know if it's because my generation learnt it since school or not.

I blame the decline of newsround and blue Peter- that's where I learnt about conflicts and orangutans etc.

I also don't see the post as particularly teacher blaming but rather system blaming.

My DH has large gaps in his general knowledge that he has to fill in himself. Largely because his parenting wasn't very good and they didn't discuss anything with him or take him anywhere or encourage him to read anything.

Could this be the case with your son?

I think that YANBU. I'm sure as a parent you must have had input. But this is not what you were saying I think. The way the curriculum was set out when I went to school was bewildering and disjointed. A chunk of this and a pinch of that dies not comprehensive education make. To this day I find out how much history for example I missed out on by watching telly

Erm, it's not the job of teachers to teach your son everything - you are supposed to check that he knows things too, talk to him about what he has been learning and then continue this at home in more informal ways. I think you missed that bit then, never mind.

He won't last two minutes in teaching if he is already complacent and uncaring about it whilst he is training. It's only a job you can succeed in if you love it and with all the changes in conditions and pay it's not a very attractive job any more.

I love how teachers are judged on the worst possible examples.

I got a B for History A Level. Specifically British Social & Economic History (1300-1939) I know loads about the Black Death, the corn laws and Victorian education legislation. Anything that happened in another country though - clueless.

sooty that only works if the parents understand the ins and outs of politics. My own parents don't. They kind of support 1 political party but hardly ever bother to vote . My mum doesn't know or care about things like the UK's relationship with Europe and that we are tied to a lot of EU policies - the only bit she knows about is immigration and its very hard to have a sensible discussion with her about it as her view is very black and white. She also has no opinion on Scottish independence an has admitted she won't bother voting as she doesn't think it will make any difference either way.

(I have very differing opinions to my parents when it comes to politics and I'm glad I figured it out on my own without their influence)

We will of course be talking to DD about such things and try our best to fill in any knowledge gaps as best we can.

I blame the parents. I know about Japan and the war from watching endless bank holiday war films and discussing them with my parents. Never did any modern history in school.

well, we didn't cover any 20th century history at my school 0 it was my parents who informed me about VJ day. Any reason why you haven't? If you think it that important?

I'm a teacher. I'm crap at geography, my brain just simply can't hold a map. I'm terrible at PE and art too.

However, since I teach maths, it hasn't really been an issue.

Um... Education begins at home..?!

Yes. I have met teachers I wouldn't want to entrust my children to at all, never mind to be educated

Same here, its silly to suggest every single teacher is going to be good.

I have several friends who are in teaching who I would not want to teach my children, no way!

If your son is currently studying to be a teacher he won't have time to do background reading on a random subject that is clearly not his own, just to please his mum, as he will be too busy learning to be a teacher and trying to have a bit of sleep occasionally. PGCE year is hell.

Had you also considered the possibility that your son may indeed have learnt about VJ Day and Japan and then forgotten about it? We are all susceptible to that over the years. For example, I am sure you that were taught about apostrophes of possession, probably by a teacher, but you appear to have forgotten the rule when writing your OP as the apostrophe in "parent's evening" is in the wrong place. Multiple parents are expected to attend the evening so the plural version, i.e. apostrophe after the s, is required. See - I do care. I teach Music by the way.

Is year 7 age 12 or 13? (I'm in Scotland so different system)

At high school I wouldn't necessarily expect a subject teacher to teach a child to spell, however I would expect it to be highlighted if it was a persistent issue, and potentially to have work/exams marked down if presentation was really bad (although I'm slightly wary there, for example marking down a dyslexic child would be harsh).

I did know Japan was in WW2 long before university age - I find it surprising that he didn't, although I suppose there are other periods of history I would have been ignorant of (and still some, despite studying history at university - can't know everything, but I would expect people to learn about major global conflicts).

Y7 is 11/12.

I blame the decline of newsround and blue Peter- that's where I learnt about conflicts and orangutans etc

Absolutely, johnfarleys, we also learned all about recycling, using dairylea boxes, a bog-roll centre and straws to make The Magic Roundabout

ilovesooty given those in teacher training work hours similar to teachers...I doubt very much he has time to be swatting up on general knowledge which may not be relevant to his taught subject.
Teachers these days push children metacognitive and interpersonal skills more than facts for facts sake. It makes them more prepared for the world of work.
Drilling facts prepares them for success in pub quizzes and Trivial Pursuit.
The OP sounded like she was being pretty vile twds her son. I do hope it was tongue in cheek and I did misread.

I don't see not knowing Japan fought in WW2 is a gap in general knowledge - does that mean he doesn't know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki?? This stuff is not about general knowledge and pub quiz facts, I'm sorry.

I don't think it's his fault though - perhaps he has never been taught this?

I agree Pumpkinette

You've broadened your knowledge and will be helping your daughter to do the same, but some parents just don't bother.

1FluffyJumper I was a teacher for many years. I'm still involved with education. I still find it profoundly depressing that someone planning to teach doesn't know something so basic, and apparently doesn't care.