The Art of Nonsense, Pathology or Con-Artistry?

[Gandalf]

In terms of nurture I would like to beliebe it is more nuture than nature. However, we are a told different things by different evidence. My own experiences suggest there is better academic nurturing here than back home. Kids study very high level maths at a young age, learn English from the age of 5, and most kids are going to private academies. It is a very education driven society. By contrast the UK simply isn't driven in this regard and with dozens of languages in some schools you are going to struggle to get as many on the same page. I would like to believe it is all nurture, but the data seems to suggest this is not so.

Personally I don't mind either way. I am quite aware you are going to get smart and dumb people of any race and you take the person as an individual. I am quite aware that for every great mind like my own you are going to have a dozen plebs impregnating young women and smoking crack and they could be any color. Where I am from they are usually quite pasty looking with ferret like rodenty features.

[Fenster]

The other day I heard a maths expert claim that something like 50-75% of the TEACHERS tested in the UK failed a general maths exam designed for 10-year-old kids in Singapore. That's how low standards have dropped in the UK.

[Gandalf]

The other day I heard a maths expert claim that something like 50-75% of the TEACHERS tested in the UK failed a general maths exam designed for 10-year-old kids in Singapore. That's how low standards have dropped in the UK.

The Maths that the kids are doing here is really difficult. I used to look at some of the homework kids were doing when I used to teach kids and it's really eye opening stuff. You are talking about really young kids. They are at it from a young age with maths, language, music, sciences, and martial arts. It is very impressive. Growing up I didn't really get any of that push to do anything and that's where I do think the kids here benefit from stable families that push and encourage them to do something. That's where I want to believe in nurture, but it would have to be genetic too. I guess in the UK you do get some of that in more middle class upbringings where parents want the right school and the house in the right location, but even then, you are not having kids go to private academies all over the place. You can be a 'real' teacher in the UK, but what does that really mean at the end of the day if they are failing like that? Actually out here the academy teachers tend to be better than public school teachers. I remember when I worked in a public school 2 of the English teachers couldn't speak English. They wouldn't make it in the private market where there is a lot more talent. It is one reason parents want the academy teaching.

[El Kabong]

The other day I heard a maths expert claim that something like 50-75% of the TEACHERS tested in the UK failed a general maths exam designed for 10-year-old kids in Singapore. That's how low standards have dropped in the UK.

I would bet that American teachers are even worse.