Its kids having kids... Thats the problem. Zero life experience.

Quote from: BeanissocoollikeI actually believe people are getting more intelligent, and with teaching methods evolving, its making it better for children to learn as theyre more involved.

When I first started secondary school, everyone had to do a test to determine how best they learn, and what level theyre working at. I was seen to be a kinetic learner, so having to just write whatever the teacher says or copying from the board just doesnt work for me. But get me involved with something and I work really well, I think this is why Im less academic and more creative.

But then when my parents were at school, you just did what the teacher said, it wasnt so interactive.

But then apparently 15 and 16 year olds arent allowed to be getting smarter, it must be that the exam boards are being more lenient with their marking.
If thats the case then I must be a retard.

Evolution isnt that quick and year on year rises are mostly artificial - boundaries moving, grades being adjusted/moderated.

Looking over a long period standards have dropped considerably - back when I was doing maths a-level we were able to use an old o-level book to cover a large portion of the 1st year pure syllabus so wed already regressed standards by a year in that subject (this was a decade ago).

Im not sure what being less academic and more creative even means - but it sounds like some PC excuse for a teacher to try and sidestep the reality that some kids are simply brighter than others.

A fairer system would use a bell curve and just keep grade boundaries at a set % - though this wouldnt go down too well politically as the govt love to be able to turn around each year and say grades have improved yet again.

I think what she means by less academic and more creative is that not everyone is going to be brilliant at core/science type subjects such as maths, physics, english, but they may be much better at creative and skill based subjects such as art, music, etc. Not everyone can paint and not everyone is going to be a brilliant mathematician after all, but I think getting back onto that debate is really retreading much worn ground.

I do agree that the syllabus being taught seems much simpler now and more focused on passing exams and technique rather than actually teaching knowledge.

Ive been a bit shocked by my experience as a demonstrator at uni, given that 3+ years ago I was on the other side of the desk.

My memory of the experience was being told about several different topic in a moderate amount of detail and being given recommended texts and assignments that would direct your studies in a certain direction. We had limited practical seminar sessions and those we did have were fairly intensive on the staff due to the level of confusion generally (in practice, practice and theory are the same, in practice, they never are...)

And now as a demonstrator either 1 of 2 things has happened. Either its just a different perspective and the hands-offness of the practical sessions is a result of the students working in groups and confusing each other, filtering out the questions until its refined to a quick answer (so what I remember as being 5 people huddled around a sheet confused and panicking and pestering the staff is still going on, but being the staff and there being only a few different groups means the questions arent as common if you get my meaning.)

The alternative is that the uni is now taking a step back from the recent teaching techniques of handfeeding the students. There certainly are a lot of people in the sessions that will come up and say "what do we do" "Im confused" or "help". when told "What do you think you need to do?" 9/10 get it right, theyre just that used to being hand fed and not thinking for themselves.

Certainly there are some thick people, but also some scarily bright ones too. Maybe just the increase in population means we notice the increase in mr and ms average than the bright sparks who will be making the break throughs in a decade or two.

I think a large part (not all by any means) of people being "bad" at subjects like maths is fear.

They have been told that maths is hard, and they assume they cant do it.

Before I started my PhD I was working for an engineering company, and one of the CAD techs was doing a day release course to become a full fledged engineer in her own right. She was struggling with her calculus "homework" and since I had a Physics degree she asked if I would help. I reluctantly agreed (for a physicist, calculus is not my strongest suit). I quickly discovered that she actually didnt need me to tell her how to do the maths, all she really needed was someone to help her see that she could already do it, and actually basic calculus is pretty easy.


As usual, all we have to fear is fear itself.