To say primary dc are more clever now

[BrandNewAndImproved]

My dc absolutely amaze me with the math they know, grammar they use and general knowledge.

I can't remember knowing any of this and I was considered bright at primary. End sats results were two 4s and a 5. The schools were aiming for 4s when I was in year 6 but my dd (not a stealth boast) was level 4 in most things and a 5 in English in year 4.

Or maybe the schools are ten times better then what they were.

Maybe all the testing and inspections has made schools be better instead of coasting.

[lljkk]

DC were younger when they were taught stuff I didn't learn until 3-12 yrs later. Their science education especially has been amazing.

Also not taught certain skills at all because better methods taught for same tasks, chunking vs. long division for instance. That is utterly fantastic.

DC learnt to use a sewing machine & a lathe at (high) school, also had basic tuition in cookery. I had no idea that geography was a proper subject to study in its own right. All examples of things not/rarely taught at any school I attended.

[AnthonyBlanche]

I'm not sure that I se the value in primary school children learning lots of facts about eg the Romans. Personally, I think there should be much more emphasis on the three Rs. Once you've given children a good grounding in the basics they can be encouraged to find out about stuff like Mayan history for themselves.

Basic grammar and sentence construction skills are really lacking in many otherwise bright and educated university leavers. Sadly, this is more noticeable in those educated at state schools, which to me indicates that state education has failed many young people.

[LumpySpacedPrincess]

How nice to see something positive for once, although I notice the 'lack of creativity' tribe are in full flow

A lot of that tribe seem to have direct experience, maybe they know what they are talking about.

[ArmchairTraveller]

Interesting to correlate the changes in primary education with the increase in mental illnesses, stress and low self-esteem amongst children too.
news.sky.com/story/1513107/exam-stress-rife-in-primary-schools-report
I'd like to see an independent mass study carried out.

[lljkk]

I reckon DC are as creative as they want to be in school, no end of opportunities.
Anecdotal... as a young child I had a lot of mental health problems because nobody recognised that I was being severely damaged by bullying at school in the 1970s.

[BrandNewAndImproved]

Lijkk agree schools take bullying a lot more serious now. That has to have a positive effect. They also take concerns about dc being unhappy in school with friendship problems seriously now.

Schools now have to show they have something to offer. Imo this means the teachers that went into teaching for an easy life have left and the ones that have a vocation to teach now come up with innovative lessons and have to be a very good standard.

[Bimblywibble]

I went to state school then private school. My DC at their state school probably fall between the extremes of my 2 schools. At the end of Y3 we had exams, and I remember one of the questions being to write an essay about sheep farming containing 13 facts. I don't think my DD could physically write that much at the end of Y3, and I'd hate her to be doing formal exams already.

But I am generally v impressed by their school. The school are genuinely trying to build capable children with high self esteem, not just exam passers. It's weird, growing up I genuinely thought the point of school was to prove that you can get the most A grades and come top in the most exams. Now, with my children, I can finally see that the point is each child acquiring skills and knowledge, not actually who can get the most answers down at a given age (well, duh!).

I agree with PP, both my children get bored of writing stories. My 8 year old would much rather learn some new information. Her ability to get stuff down on paper is light years behind what she can communicate verbally. I honestly don't know if that is just normal for very chatty 8 year olds with scarily good memories, or a problem.

[velourvoyageur]

I think broadly everything's the same as it was, at any level. Anyway, to adapt the saying about people with autism, if you know 30 kids, you do only know 30 kids. Not an impressive sample.

I also think if you find reading and deciphering easy, school is easier for you for several reasons. You're a good blagger, you come across as articulate when you're not yet expected to be, you've come across ideas that your peers might not have. My parents read a lot, I inherited whatever facilitates that tendency and was able to coast through secondary school & sixth form and first two years of uni. It's not a boast, my marks aren't super genius brilliant or anything, but I know if I hadn't read as a kid I'd have had to work harder starting much earlier. Which might have actually been a good thing.

[AnyoneButAndre]

I agree that children are genuinely more intelligent by any standardised measure than they were forty years ago. Possibly this is partly to do with the fact that we're not systematically pumping lead into their central nervous system like they were when I was a child.