Horizon with David Baddiel about education

[camembertandcranberry]

Anyone else watching?

i did not feel that actually

his dad seemed to say he was wrong making dvid look a bit ....lame!

im going to put dd on the marshmellow test later.

OK so exactly how do you do the marshmallow test....I missed the details.

Hippo - totally agree re maths kids' dad. Besides being an actuary is VERY dull - several people I know were and escaped. There's no way kids that age would know of the job 'actuary' they've been told they can make lots of money that way and thought OK I'll do that. Poor kids will grow up with major issues with a pushy dad like that.

Stanford marshmallow experiment

I do not think that there is much benefit to going to university early. Being a child prodigy is all very well, and I am sure that those boys will get a first class degree in maths. However, I am pretty sure that they would also do this if they go to university at 18 with their peers. If I was their parent, I would want them to go to a top class school which could meet some of their academic needs and all of their social needs. Now they have covered maths up to A'Level, it may be their time to discover art, history, music and sport.

I am not even sure if being a child prodigy predicts success in later life - I know that it did for Mozart, but does it in general terms today?

I watched the marshmallow bit. DD1 can resist any food for any length time. Even if she has not eaten. Does this mean that she will be uber sucessfull and happily married?

I fear dd2 may not be destined to much. She would be the one that grabs the marshmallow before the experiment even starts

i did feel sorry for the two "actuary" boys.very spartan home and only 3 hours after school and 5 at weekends extra work, wtf?

i bet the little girl who rang the bell almost immediately after the bloke left the room will be a fab adult

I just asked ds (just coming up to four) if he'd prefer one smartie (his favourite) now or two smarties tonight after dinner and he said two smarties after dinner.....not surprised as he isn't very impulsive.

Maybe he will marry Seashell's dd and they will live happily ever after in a very controlled, non-impulsive way

I felt sorry for those two maths boys. Do they have time to play with other children. I hope that no UK university will take them before 18.

Prehaps the best thing for these boys would be to get a scholarship to a top boarding school where they would be away from their father and could discover other talents.

I still fancy David Baddiel.

Really Rhubarb

When they were doing the bit about discalcula (discalculus?), and he was resting his chin on a frame thing and his face was in profile to the camera, all I could think about was 'yuck, huge purple lips'. Shudder.

Yes I can't see it myself either Rhubarb...don't think we'll be fighting over him!

David Baddiel i would

anyway back to the matter in hand

have not re read up on the Stamford test thing but basically it was referring to deferred gratification - not wanting to sound judgemental and pious but will do i think that in 2009 many of us are lacking in this attribute

I myself am guilty of it - could not wait any more for my kitchen so got a loan

I do - however- try and try to instill it in my teens

my eldest is fabulous and number 2 is getting there - the ability to withhold on the pleasure in favour of a greature pleasure later

stay in and revise vs nights out with lads

do coursework vs snuggle up with a movie

need to read around it more to see how it impacts on relationships etc - might look at it now

that is my over simplistic understanding

shame you can only do it on four year olds !

I thought it was a baaaad programme. More of a David Baddiel trip down memory lane featuring interviews with member of his family.

It could have been great, and given us some insight into HOW children learn. But instead we seemed to ahve lots of close ups of his horrible lips

those two little boys did seem very sweet and happy to me

it is not what i would want for mine but they seemed to enjoy maths - loads of kids waste an awful lot of hours in front of a screen

I am glad I was not the only one really put off by those lips...[shudder]

those lips

Have just watched this on iplayer. I found it interesting how they were supposed to be looking into different methods of education and yet they didn't even mention the most obvious (I would have thought) - unschooling. I suppose that is because there isn't much research on it.

We caught a few mins of that only. Looked really interesting. Heard DH say to DS#2 last night 'You're reading is so good now, you must have worked really hard to get that good' So I think some of it stuck with him too.

what's unschooling? sounds interesting. though i quite liked the letting the child sort out the problem for themself part.

Unschooling is the belief that left to their own devices, children will learn what they need and pursue their own education. You can only unschool fully if you home educate I think as there are no schools which "teach" in this way... I think the parents offer opportunities to learn, e.g. visiting science museums, but also simple things like playing in the woods or make believe games at home they are learning. The parents presumably limit TV and playstation etc but do not direct the learning, e.g. asking a toddler "What colour is the carpet? Can you find me something purple?" etc or asking an older child how much change you would get from £5, just for the sake of asking/testing (ie you might ask it if it was in context, e.g. the children were playing shops, or you were doing a recipe and needed to know how much of X you needed)