anyone watching admission impossible on C4??!!

[blossom2]

what are your thoughts???

not sure what mine are but in shock as to how bad it is ....

Expatinscotland raised the following points (ruthlessly stealing this from the other thread...):

I knew Mehdin's dad was going to get trounced!

Am I the only one who saw his approach as just a different way of life and NOT tantamount to abuse?!

Gimme a break! He's a man who has worked his arse off to try to give his family a good life. He wants the best for his kids and is willing to go the extra mile to get it - instead of writing Tony Blair and expecting others to pay for it!

Almost NO ONE has pointed out the amount of time the other mother was wasting trying to get other people to pay for her son's education instead of getting another damn JOB to help pay for it herself.

Or the people who were friggin' pretending to be Catholic.

No one sees anymore morally wrong w/any of that, but it's somehow tantamount to abuse for a man to really put in the effort WITH HIS CHILD to try to get the best for him? Hell, how many dads go to work so hard for their kids? And are even willing to help out w/the work involved?

If I had 5p for every father who just walked away from mums on here alone I'd be able to buy a mansion. But I'd be damned before I smashed it up. Like that's going to accomplish anything!

Instead it's all how Medh's dad was akin to Ian Huntly.

[rolls eyes].

FWIW...in having a think-through, I believe Expat is spot-on!

Well, as the single mum was just that, a single mum, getting another job might not be that easy. Also, even if she could increase her income in that way, she would probably lose tax credits and therefore not be any better off. Maybe the dad could cough up....

Quite Freckle. My immmediate thought was "what's the dad contributing?"

She's a barmaid fgs. How many barmaid jobs give enough wages to cover half a scholarship? Is everyone suggesting that she decides to become chairman of ICI, because that would give her more wages? Hmmm, I wonder if her bar-maiding skills will be transferable...

It did make me think about scholarships, how useless they are to anyone on a very low income. They're OK if you're middle income and can match fund, but otherwise, they're pointless.

And I don't see why the role of fathers has to be polarised so that either they're bonkers with inflicting 2 (and later 3) hours of homework a night on a ten year old, or they're gone with the wind. There is a balance.

Maybe cause my kids are not at high school yet, DD just P2, but we luckily dont seem to have things so bad up here, you feed into the local primary (normally nearest to house) then you feed into local high school, I know a few people with placement requests normally due to childcare. But on the whole you just follow the sheep . Don't think I could cope with the worry, as I am a worrier at the best of time, I would be a jibbering wreck (and so would the kids)

Interesting no one considered home schooling, either. This is an increasingly popular option in the US - complete w/large networks of families clubbing together to share teaching responsibilities and social outings w/other home schoolers.

Expat, I know your 2DDs are still small but as a fellow Scot do you find the whole schooling thing seems less intense, as we mostly just follow the set path, or is it more of an issue (like in England) when you are in a city like Edinburgh.

Don't have any real experience of the system up here, seb.

Well, DD1 is going to nursery starting next week to the RC school up the road. But she is an RC child. My parents saw to that.

We don't plan to stay in Edinburgh at all long-term, though.

The thought also flitted across my mind Expat "no wonder the home-education movement is burgeoning".

It's really taking off in the US, Caligula.

To the point where it's quite accepted and again, lots of support networks, outings, etc.

I think it's quite well-established here and growing too. I certainly know there are South East networks of Home-Edders who meet up regularly.

I think it is all quite sad and another way in which childhood is being shortened, When I was young (yes the wheel had been inveted at this point), you went to school, did your homework, played and worried about exams at 15 or 16. I sometimes wonder if we are a better society for all the grief we pile on ourselves and our children. Hang on while I put on my rose tinted glasses to remeber the good old days.

Must preview to check spelling, was to busy out playing to master spelling when younger

In a way, that's good to read, Caligula. Especially about the networks of support. It's also a way for those who want to be flexible in their schedules - for instance, for those who want to spend long periods of time abroad or who feel cultural experiences are vital to education, etc.

Yes it's positive. But at the same time, for most people, the move to home ed isn't necessarily a positive choice, it's an opting out of the alternatives, a sort of last ditch desperate remedy because the state is simply not meeting their children's educational needs. I don't know whether to see the Home Ed movement as a brilliant positive, free-spirited excellent thing, or a disgraceful symptom of how bad the education system is in this country.

I agree with Expat. Yes Mehdin's dad appeared scary in his competitive focus, and I wouldn't want to be his child, tbh, but he was no doubt cleverly edited to enhance that image.
I was left feeling unsure as to how much his poor impression was because the production team didn't like him, and how much because they were enforcing lazy and offensive stereotyping and had some unwise utterances handed to them on a plate.
I actually found the middle-class woman suddenly taking up going to mass more annoying because of her hypocrisy. And I really hope she didn't didn't put her daughter up to writing that desperate letter to the school. It wasn't just Mehdin's father placing unacceptable pressure on a young child