Just been on a course about new benefit system

[buggyRunner]

Christ it's a big shake up.

I say this as someone who won't be personally affected- it is harsh.

Basically if you claim any benefits other than child benefit you're probably going to have a loss.

So does he regularly get pulled over by the police?

Being Anglo Indian and all?

YoYo - there isn't a finite amount of sympathy and compassion in the world! We can generate it ourselves. And it isn't a competition either. You can feel compassion for all involved.

Yes but you have to want to.
Nothing is stopping her apart from her own narratives.....

this is fun isnt it, why dont you just make up some more things about me? it is obviously what you want to do....

Oo, that's the second time I've seen a PA being used - is it the new version of the PA ?

thumbwitch - i dont think i do PA, A yes but not on this occaision.

DP is white but my MIL is indian so DPs father & SM experience racism. they live in a village in the north where everyone else is white.

his step brothers are young asian men & in my area of london the police stop asian men more than black men.

of course i am not 'an expert on the lives of working class black families in the inner cities' but then neither am i an expert on white women living in london, i am just one of the many.

DP on the other hand is an expert in turning around failing inner london schools and his comments on parents failing their own children are relevant.

Ok so your white educated HT DH doesnt in fact have any experience of racism does he?!

I'd love to know which school he works at.

i am talking about parents not helping their children get the best from education. can you explain why you think racism comes in to this?

and why you think race comes in to this?

Dps family are anglo Indian so experience racism themselves

Why did you say the above?

Your husband is a headmaster of a primary school.
That does not mske you an expert on the lives of black youths in the city.

now i hae answered your question, will you answer mine?

Err hello! Are you gonna answer mine?

Amber - no more than i have already.

Amber I'd love to know which school he works at. yes. its a great school. it was failing when he started but now it is now on its way to getting the highest ofsted rating. well done to him and all the teachers and TAs. all their years of hard work has paid off.

turning round a failing london school is no easy task, but this is obviously one of the many changes needed to created a more equal society, however it is real change & will make improved the educational outcomes for hundreds/thousands of children in the next few years (its one of the largest primaries in the UK).

unfortunately some of the parents are not able to work with the school when their DCs have behavioural problems. this increases their chance of educational underachievement. it?s also really sad that the staff can see primary aged children start to engage in criminality (e.g. organised shoplifting, gang membership). sometimes their parents do not help the situation & there is only so much the school can do.

yes the ethnic make up of the school staff should better reflect the community they serve. the problem is that you can only hire from the pool of candidates who apply for a role, and if few apply because its a crap school, chances are they will be white and the balance wont change. however you get more people to apply for the jobs by making the school more successful, then you have a greater chance of being able to hire a better reflection of the local community.

i am not justifying myself anymore - like it or dont.

Priceless

It is all too easy to blame the parents' of these children who you speak of in schools YY. But without knowing the background of these parents',you really are in no position to judge...neither your DH as he cannot possible know the historical circumstances of these parents'...no way.

They may be suffering MH/Addiction problems, may be in dire poverty, domestic violence situations. They may have been failed by the education system themselves in previous years. All these things can come into play when you say they should be "involved" with the school.

But hey...easy targets' are just that. Easy targets'.

Good grief.

Um, this thread is so long and I haven't read all of it so apologies if I missed an important link.

But seriously, there are plans to cut CB and CTC for more than 3 children?

I have read that the treasury considered this but that even Giddeon wasn't keen to go ahead with that one. This was in a money article a few months ago.

People are going to riot if they do things like that surely? Where is the evidence that this will actually happen? How unpopular does this government want to make themselves? They will be sure not to get in the next election if they do too much and they would know this.

I think it's about time people did riot, actually. I mean demonstrate, but the media call any gathering of the plebs a riot these days.

The olympics would be a good time to do it; the armed services will all be occupied checking the VIP toilets, thanks to yet another greed-induced cock-up.

Shiny Dave could stand on a balcony, addressing the unrest with "Calm down, dears, I know what's best for you"

crazynanna - its the school's job to education the children. they dont have the funds, skills or remit to support the parents beyond a very basic level. e.g. numeracy training

i am sure all the things you list do come into play, but how is a teacher supposed to help a parent e.g. with drugs problems? its not their job, they have training and they do have 30 children to focus on & up to 450 others if they are the head. they arent social workers.

if they have concerns about the children, they raise issues with SS but then SS deal with the issues not the school.

of course teachers are easy targets for children failing at school.

crazynanna - you can argue the system should be different than that, but if you want to actually do the job, you need to work with the system as it is. plus, if DP complained about the structure outside his school, no one is listening & he has about 100 other things that he can actually do in the here & now.

I think it is incerdible that the tories think all young people can just live with their mum and dad a bit longer. The middle class ones, yes whose parents have one or two extra bedrooms.

Surely the housing benefit cuts are going to mean some people actually die at this rate?

I am not saying the school should help the parent...I am showing you how some parents' cannot engage with the school in relation to the child.

i could give you the same argument really that you give in your post..ie...it is the school's job to deal with the child within the school, but I won't as I believe, where possible, it is a partnership.

The easy targets I refer to are the ones teachers'/society who point the finger at the most vulnerable to place blame.

crazynanna - i largely agree with you.

YY Garlic. We need an uprising.