To think other cultures are far more invested in their DCs education than UK parents?

[Commentqueen]

Just an observation from our area... We live in a really diverse area & it's amazing. My dc go to state school with children with Eastern European, Chinese, German, Scandinavian, Bangladeshi, Nigerian & Japanese parents... The work ethic is unbelievable & the parents don't seem to trust the school to educate their kids, they do alot themselves outside school with the dc.. The UK parents in the class are alot more relaxed when it comes to education...
Aibu to think the UK just isn't as invested in education as other cultures?
The Ukranian refugee crisis also highlighted that the ukranian children joining British & Irish schools were away ahead in maths in comparison to their new counterparts & many also had excellent English... The UK really lag behind in foreign languages.. In years to come my dc who only speak English so far will be competing for jobs with dc who speak 4 or 5 languages fluently... I know come September I'll be doing my best to prepare my dc better!

Agree it’s a pretty awful post

@lollipoprainbow it's an awful post but true.

Also there is no such thing as reverse racism.

Unfortunately the stereotypes of white English people - notice I didn't say British - and their behaviour are strong amongst immigrants to the UK and foreigners.

Stereotypes aren’t true usually they are prejudice

but also why make the effort to be here if such a negative view

@LockAqua sorry but you sound very

What an awfully depressing outlook on life. Do you never read books, go to the theatre, watch movies then? Who would provide all these things if everyone’s DC went into medicine or law?

So much ignorance and snobbery in this thread.

Firstly, it is possible to be happy and to be educated, the two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it’s more like that we will raise happy young people by supporting them to be well educated.

Being well educated is quite different to being pressured to attain high grades. A person can be extremely well educated without being “top”.

And what we know now is that grades are such a small part of what we need in life. Yes we need to be literate and numerate, and it is just as important to be emotionally literate, to think critically, collaborate, be respectful, and to have a sense of belonging and purpose.

That has nothing to do with going to museums every weekend. Ideally we will give our children wide range of experiences and opportunities, and much of this can be done at a very low cost. The skills acquired through Scouts or Girl Guides, the characteristics of the person who does voluntary work, collaborative skills developed during team sports - all of these are extremely valuable.

And so too is knowing your home is a soft place to fall, that you are loved unconditionally, and making a meaningful contribution to family life.

None of this is dependent on culture or class, it is about being a decent and useful citizen, and a person of integrity.

Not really a fair comparison, I don't think to compare people who emigrate to give their children a better life as they are usually pretty intelligent, go-getting people whereas with people born and brought up in a country there will always be a mixture. Lots of people here are getting left behind by society and it's only getting worse.

Not really a fair comparison, I don't think to compare people who emigrate to give their children a better life as they are usually pretty intelligent, go-getting people whereas with people born and brought up in a country there will always be a mixture.

Yep - I'd agree. For example, in Hong Kong, there are tier 1 schools where everyone works super hard, gets amazing grades, plays 3 instruments to Grade 8, gets a distinction in LAMDA, speak 3 languages etc and there are tier 3 schools where most kids get few qualifications/ lots of drop outs/ don't speak any language other than their mother tongue etc. When you meet Hong Kongers in the UK their kids are almost always knocking it out of the park but in Hong Kong they'd be the tier 1 school students so you're just seeing a subset of the whole population.

Awful post and this poster has got some really dodgy opinions - are you just trying to be goady?

I’m sorry but Irish universities do not rank in the best in the world.
This year Trinity came in at 167, below Cardiff.

Ireland has many many good things, but the quality of its 3rd level education system is not one. Other factors take up the slack.

Which kind of shows the ignorance of those attitudes. I used to live in the west of Scotland and....

I agree there is no such thing as reverse racism though. There is only racism, and the attitudes described in that post and yours are examples of it.

I was a bit mystified at @IrishMama2015 claim about Irish universities... None in the top 100 means they absolutely don't rank with the best in the world🙄

You just said it yourself your an expaxt and you are sending your kids to 4 classes and they are top sets.

This is OPS point. The UK mentality is very different towards learning unless it involves private school!

The whole thread is goady full of sweeping stereotypes and is quite snide at times.

@PrisonerofZeroCovid

The difference is that DC in places like Hong Kong and South Korea (where DH is from) are expected to work extremely hard, and there is pressure from society and DC to do so.

In the UK, many parents don't make their DC work extremely hard and there isn't the expectation from society or school to do so.

A neighbour of ours had a DC sitting GCSEs this year and yet went on holiday over easter. This was absolutely incredible to DH and I as well as DS1 who will be sitting GCSEs next year. All of his time during easter will be spent studying and revising as that is the expectation both from us and the standards he sets for himself.

The difference is that DC in places like Hong Kong and South Korea (where DH is from) are expected to work extremely hard, and there is pressure from society and DC to do so.

But my argument is basically the opposite- i.e. that the Hong Kongers you meet in UK are not necessarily representative of the whole (I live in HK) because the ones who you meet tend to be the middle class ones or the working class ones who are the risk takers/more motivated ones and who emigrated. Equally, there are loads of parents and students in HK who don't give that much of a shit about academics for whatever reason. There are plenty of young people in HK who don't have a great deal to show for their education. When we think of Hong Kong "societal" norms in the west, we essentially mean middle class norms.

plus now there's the whole "lie flat" thing going on on the Mainland.

Prisoner - I googled ‘lying flat’ - that’s fascinating. Those that do it are very brave, considering the punishments that are meted out to dissenters in China.

Well tbh at the moment being a bit lazy is a fairly safe strategy to demonstrate your disengagement. Whether that continues remains to be seen. China already has a demographic crisis so it does need to be ‘all hands to the pumps’ in terms of workforce. Will be interesting to see how the rhetoric around that develops. The other interesting trend is #lastgeneration which is somewhat more provocative.

This is an interesting observation. My observation is that the immigrant communities you mentioned are probably from middle class backgrounds where they value education, wealth and status. Immigration tends to often attracts the poorest communities or the well-educated and middle class. Immigrants are not a true representation of a whole group.

I have family from China and Hong Kong. I would say that overall Asia has differently mentality from places like the UK, however not all Asian fit the model minority stereotype. I know quite a few low achieving Asians.

I value education. I will push and encourage my child to succeed but I won't be a tiger mum. My goal is to cultivate the love of learning and encourage them to work hard. I will reward effort and not results. I value both my child's success and happiness.

Something that strikes me though is that the differences you see in attitude don't always just refer to university bound kids.

There is a tendency in the UK to see kids going into trades as a sort of failure and trades training, or really any other type of higher education, is poorly done.

That isn't the case in many European systems. It's very repectable to go into business, trades, or whatever, and fewer people may go to university at all, and they are seen as people who are going to go into a small number of specialized types of work.

I think this is a much better attitude, you end up with people having a really good education in their area of concentration, often the basic education is better, people feel valued in all kinds of work, and university education is what it is supposed to be, challenging and rigorous for a few people who have the right kind of capacity for highly developed abstract thought and attention to detail in their field, and are actually interested in spending their time doing that (which honestly even many people who could do it aren't keen to spend years of their lives on.)

I think that in general parents and teachers should consider these entertainment rather than learning. If you are giving screen time limits, these should count.

They do not substitute for real teaching and learning and overall they are quite thin in terms of the amount of practice vs the amount of time spent. Even doing writing or math work on screens using things like regular wp programs doesn't have the same effect as using pencil and paper.

I worked as a reading tutor for a number of years and we used programs like this and for the most part they made little difference at all with the kids learning, and they weren't even more fun than other kinds of games. The real advantage is that they do not involve teacher or parent input.

But in terms of using time well your kid is probably better off going outside or playing with some sort of hands on construction toy or drawing or something like that.

Now there are assistive technologies and such that can make a huge difference for certain children, that's a different scenario altogether.

Agree with less screen time

I've also posted this on many threads, but get shouted down on how 'elitist' I am. Same when I discuss it IRL.

A degree in 2022 means nothing. Almost anything can be a degree provided it means the NVQ Level 6 criteria. A lot of professional qualifications are cheaper, also NVQ Level 6 or higher, and more importantly relevant to the profession.
The ACA accounting qualification final exam (NVQ Level 7) has a very complex case study, to be completed in conjunction with a supervisor. Critical thinking, analysis and wider knowledge all reflected.

Why is all of that ignored in favor of a degree as the ultimate goal?

A lot of things like event management simply isn't worth going into 27K worth of depth for. Employers should hire and train people, pay for qualifications.

What we have now is so many degrees that even entry-level jobs like receptionists, admin staff etc require them! It's really irrelevant. Some 'form' of higher qualification perhaps, but not only a degree. At least then people can still change fields without having paid lots for it.

Even in technology there are a lot of high-level roles that require more practical ability. Service/Product/Project management. People need to learn things, but they can do courses as they go along. They really don't need to have passed exams in an irrelevant subject/written a dissertation to be able to do the job, or think creatively.

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