Is this just a polite way of saying that 10% of kids are as thick as pig sh!t

[Reallytired]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7267352.stm

Apparently 10% of kids have a memory problem.

"They say teachers rarely identify it, tending to label pupils as being unmotivated daydreamers. "

Is having a memory problem just a PC way of saying that a kid is stupid?

One way of looking at it is that a percentage of these children may be bored because the lessons aren't stimulating.And if they show a flash of brilliance or ask a question the teacher may have difficulty answering this is frowned upon.I wonder what percentage of teachers are unmotivated [?stupid]

I don't think that having a memory problem means you're stupid. no

it's not news that some people can't memorise things. getting a degree is about being able to memorise 80% of a subject isn't it.

Wow, from headline straight to teacher bashing in 2 easy posts. Cheers for that, DioeufyDoo. Jeez....

Would you like to pose that question to my DH, who has an IQ of 130 but has dyslexia and poor short term memory?

Thought I might be accused of that after my post.But that wasn't my intention...honest.So I apologise.Can only speak from my own experience of course.Ds1 had fab teachers in the UK.It went pear shaped when we moved.

I think that, given all teachers who are qualified to teac in the uk will have either a degree in education, or a degree in their subject and a post graduate qualification in teaching the number of them who are 'stuipd' is very, very, very small.

Being poor at teaching is something else.

Hot news, 10% of all children will be in the bottom 10% of those tested. It is one of those mathematical quirks. half of all children are below average as well

But fwiw I don't think that haing poor memory makes you 'stupid', I think it may make it harder for you to do sometasks

I really don't mean to be difficult,but I don't think having a degree always means a person is intelligent.

I think that it is quite hard to get a degree if you are 'stupid'.

I don't think that not going to university means that you are stupid either.

What does define someone as having low intelligence.

I don't think its reasonable to expect lessons to be simulating all the time. Some children just have low ablity and it makes very little difference how good the teacher is.

I don't think that there are many poor teachers in the UK. The nature of teaching is that bad teachers don't last very long.

Well, they clearly aren't thick either, are they!

I suppose it depends what ypou expect from a teacher.Going slight off the OP.It is similar when people say..'that a school is a good school'Everyone has their own opinion of what constitutes a good school or teacher.

Go on then, Dioeufydoo, I'll bite - what do you expect from a teacher?

I wasn't expecting anyone to biteI don't expect anything....I have given up

See this link. Its a bit harsh, but there is probably some very sad truth in it.

"Adults in the bottom 5% of the IQ distribution (below 75) are very difficult to train and are not competitive for any occupation on the basis of ability. Serious problems in training low-IQ military recruits during World War II led Congress to ban enlistment from the lowest 10% (below 80) of the population, and no civilian occupation in modern economies routinely recruits its workers from that below-80 range. Current military enlistment standards exclude any individual whose IQ is below about 85."

I expect that the 10% of recruits who were deemed too stupid to enlisted in the army would have had the same level of intelligence as the 10% of children who cannot remember anything.

In the UK there is more effort to educate children with low intelligence than other countries. Special needs education is truely appauling in many other countries.

Name a country that has better state funded provison for children with SEN than the UK?

Sorry, DioeufyDo, was reading the 'I suppose it depends what you expect from a teacher' as a loaded comment! I seem to have detected more than the usual amount of teacherbashing on mn tonight and was more crotchety than I would be normally.

Memory is not necessarily linked to intelligence. 'Memory problems' can mean many things, particularly the inability to recall sequences such as spellings. DH for example cannot remember how to spell the word 'thoughtless', but has no trouble explaining Strings Theory or the Theory of Relativity. He was described as a daydreamer in school and was put into remedial classes.
In contrast I can remember how to spell Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious (perhaps ), but can't remember how to cook fairy cakes without a recipe in front of me.

It does specifically refer to working memory. I have a poor working memory and high IQ so I don't agree that it's a PC way of calling children thick as pig shit. My long term memory on the over hand is amazing

I'm the same as you blue bob, and I've had to learn ways of getting round it which have proved very useful in learning materials from O, A and university courses. I then went on to be one of those 'stupid' teachers and I pass the tricks on to my students

Didn't say all or any teachers are stupid.If you read my comment properly.

'unmotivated daydreamers'. Well I think that is pretty normal for any child isn't it? What are they supposed to be motivated by at the age of 5 or 6. My DCs are much more interested in playing with their friends, or skateboarding, or going out on their bikes, or whatever thing has captured their interest atm. They are at school because they have to go, not out of choice. The fact that most of their teachers manage to motivate them is entirely due to the fact that they have fantastic teachers and TAs. Children don't get motivated on their own. What are they supposed to be motivated by? The prospect of getting a good job in X years time?

And I personally think day dreaming and imagination is entirely essential to any decent child. What goes on inside your head is hugely important. There needs to be something more interesting going on outside to distract from it.

As an adult I have an obligation not to be be unmotivated or a daydreamer because I get paid not to and I have a family to care for. When can you be those things if not as a child.

There was a smiley there. If you read my post correctly.

I would also agre that a certain amout of daydreaming is quite normal as children develop.

More worrying are the children who when work gets a little harder, and they cannot answer the question immediatly, drift off.

We don't help this tendency by 'teaching to the test', giving children the idea that getting the right answer is the goal, rather than true understanding and developing the ability to think for themselves

Of course it's not as simple as memory = intelligence. But memory must play a part. An intelligent person who isn't great at one particular memory function (MB's example) will work out a way round it.

My 'preferred learning style' as the jargon goes is focused on written information - I need to write things down to remember them and always score highly on verbal reasoning. That's why I'm finding learning to drive frustrating, because it's not the kind of memory I find easy - it's about physical memory, how your foot moves and the response the car gives to clutch control. You can't write stuff down during a driving lesson!

Well you could try! It might make for an interesting lesson!