RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 As this posting is supposedly about primary school memories, I had better list one. First year at St. George's Road school in Hull in about 1948/9, using a individual slate board with a chalk stick. Scroll forward to 1959 and joining the S & T Dept, still in Hull. I was thrown in amongst the collection of "old soldiers" who told me that they had left school at the age of 14,(that had to be pre-WW1) with no real formal qualifications, but if you asked them how much you should get back on a "flag bet" at certain odds, they would tell you to the penny! Deb's father was a teacher, in Leeds at one point in his career. He would struggle to get kids to do maths - then see them in Leeds market on a Saturday, giving the right change on their dad's market stall. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 (edited) Story from my teaching not many years ago. Could I do a remedial class for overseas students on a Masters course? They can't do algebra. Yes So I went in and found a load of Chinese students, which I found very odd as that country's maths skills are supposed to be very good. I wrote on the board y = mx + c "Anyone know what that is?" Almost a chorus - the equation of a straight line. "What's the slope?" m (Chorus) "What's the intercept?" c (chorus) So what don't you understand about algebra? "Oh - THAT'S algebra?" (chorus) "Yes" No more problem. - they didn't need me again. Neitehr did subsequent years because we built in understanding to the course. It wasn't the maths but the language of the maths. Edited April 30, 2014 by Coombe Barton 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 I too started writing at infant school with a slate and chalk. Though as I could already read write and do simple arithmetic I was soon allowed paper. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 The differentiation between Infants and Junior is a bit baffling for one who only attended two skools - primary and secondary. And now they have something else called Pre-School, and I've heard the archaic word Academy, too. Wot it is to be old! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 (edited) Another one - this time from someone who taught me maths for my degree. She'd been given a remedial set of kids who "couldn't do fractions" So she set them a betting accumulator problem with simple odds - the initial stake was 10p and there were various odds of 2:1, 3:1 and so on. The answer at the end of the winning accumulator should have been two pounds Except for one kid who, immediately having been given the problem said "One pahnd eighty" So she went though the problem and got - two pounds Then she asked "Why did you say One pound eighty?" "'Coz you ain't taken the tax off." Edited April 30, 2014 by Coombe Barton Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Dread Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 As this posting is supposedly about primary school memories, I had better list one. First year at St. George's Road school in Hull in about 1948/9, using a individual slate board with a chalk stick. Scroll forward to 1959 and joining the S & T Dept, still in Hull. I was thrown in amongst the collection of "old soldiers" who told me that they had left school at the age of 14,(that had to be pre-WW1) with no real formal qualifications, but if you asked them how much you should get back on a "flag bet" at certain odds, they would tell you to the penny! Not that I should drag this subject off course but there was another memory from those days on the S & T Dept. Nowadays, most people would say of an "old soldier", he (or she) will never talk of their military service. Well they did in those days, to the point of as I was "the lad" and responsible for keeping our mess and tool van clean and tidy, I would be told to get my best brush at dinner time to sweep up the sand from yet another trip to Sidi Barrani, Mersa Matruh or of course, El Alamain. Cracks of thunder brought forth the command, "Tin hats lads, Jerry has found the range!" 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 30, 2014 (edited) The differentiation between Infants and Junior is a bit baffling for one who only attended two skools - primary and secondary. And now they have something else called Pre-School, and I've heard the archaic word Academy, too. Wot it is to be old! and County schools are now Community schools. Edited April 30, 2014 by southern42 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 G'day all, Ploughed through the forum before arriving here so no wonder I'm late® on parade. Yes - the dog is a schnauser, funny little thing and smaller than our larger cat. Don - I don't know which way the 'bus goes in Caversham but i can't recall seeing it in Prospect Street - could be a trip of adventure! Ah - infants school, can't remember much but in my final year our teacher was Miss Selffe who was a lovely lady and a typical woman of the 1920s/30s who never found a husband and became an unqualified, but excellent, teacher; she lived not far from us and in my adult years I often used to drop in to see her and help her with the bottle of gin she kept hidden away for special occasions and visitors. Junior school was different of course but the most embarassing time was when my mother returned to teaching and was in charge of the other class in my year - definitely a time to become self-reliant as her many of her charges were what would often be regarded as being in the remedial category. And yes - early years on the railway in the 1960s meant meeting more than few men who had started at 14, and been 'stood-off' as soon as they reached adult pay rates until a suitable job came up for them, different world back then. And unlike CC's experience with what I tend to regard as ridiculous exams and the unbridled power of 'HR professionals' in my time we interviewed people and - in effect - made a judgement of there suitability from what we found in that interview. And the odd thing (to an 'HR professional') is that the process worked - we seem to have very rarely made the wrong decision and if we did it was down to us and not to hiding behind an exam paper and getting a couple of answers wrong. But then nowadays it seems that many organisations want to mould people to the way they want them rather than realising they are recruiting individuals. Have a good day one & all and better luck next time CC. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonBradley Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 My PC has crashed so I will be offline for a few days hopefully. Hope all are well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 My PC has crashed so I will be offline for a few days hopefully. Hope all are well. In a strange way that is good news, Don!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 So there I was watching the stone train on the realtime website thinking "I wonder if it's waiting at Ely until it's booked time or is it running early ?" Click Refresh and I have my answer - It's at Thetford - 10 miles way - time to dash. Yippeee - there is a tanker blocking the road so I have to divert via the village, an extra couple of miles, not an issue normally but when time is tight. Decision time "main" (in a very loose sense) road or over the top via the tiny lanes ? - I choose the lanes as there is unlikely to be any traffic. Well darn me (or something equally Anglo Saxon) there's a group of joggers blocking the road "I say old beans, could one move over as I'm in a frightful hurry to photograph 6-Lima-3-9" "What Bor?" was the eloquent response (actually I slowed down to about 10 mph and they sort of moved over, not sure if they were confident they would come off better if I was to actually hit them with my ton of steel ..) but we waved cheerily at each other and Passed the joggers, pedal to the metal and off we go again "WHAT ? NOOooooooooooooooooo" - a troop* of cyclists again feeling they should block the road as they will come of better, again I slow to walking pace as I pass with another cheery wave (well the visible hand was waving) As I am driving down to the station the barriers are dropping, so onto the platform, check for trains - none, signals clear ? - one, the one for the stone - quickly get in position, set up the videos and a couple of minutes later 66083 ambles along with a cheery toot and wave from the driver. Life can be so stressful living the country. * should it be a murder of cyclists ? No cyclists or joggers were hurt in the making of my photograph of 66083 on 6L39. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debs. Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Very reassuring to see Don at roll-call this morning; `hope the computer is feeling well again soon, Don. My Collies never normally do, but today; it`s our 'pup-mobile' that`s growling at everyone! For a weenie-little diseasal Peugeot, it`s now suddenly become VERY loud!!!!!!!!........the rear resonator inlet-spigot has rusted and become detached from the middle pipe and it`s {evidently} hanging-on 'by a rusty thread'. Yes, I could buy the parts and crawl about under the car for most of a day replacing the rusty, contorted tubing; but these last couple of months I`ve really felt that I`m getting too old (and creaky) for such jobs.......so, I`ve completely wimped-out and made an arrangement to drop it off tomorrow morning at at the garage `round the corner. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 30, 2014 I just found myself wondering whether driving schools no longer teach that one must not enter intersections when it's obvious they will get stuck in the middle of it due to dense traffic. The scene I just witnessed from the 4 line tram stuck among crisscrossed cars in the middle of the Goerdelerring intersection was just madness. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Good to see Don is still with us. Newsletter editing. With very little material. Plenty of pix in this one, then. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium martin_wynne Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 30, 2014 On a website in front of me... I won't bother then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Abel Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 "How the hell some manage dto come up with 20, 15, 35 as answers to the problem 16 + ____ = 22. " What was the answer then? Hmm, and I thought the answer is 42... "grab your coat and get your hat, leave your IQ worries on the door step...", and b*gg*er off before someone hits you 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 30, 2014 Debs, I came to the same conclusion last year. Although it pains me mentally to pay folk to replace brake pads and exhausts, the pain physically isn't worth the modest cost! Having found a little local garage run by two ex-AA recovery mechanics who are as honest as can be is a bonus though. Unfortunately they wouldn't do the timing belt on the flawed Focus diesel due to needing special tools, and the local Ford franchise ###### ## up, er, didn't make a very good job shall we say. The odd intermittent sounds it now makes of course won't appear when at the 'approved' Ford Garage....however they have now replaced the soundproofing thingy that goes over the engine that they neglected to put back on and threw away, though. Thank crunchie it's only every 100k miles. I hate intermittent faults! If I could afford it this car would be going to pastures new, but recent events make that unlikely. Wish I had kept the Picasso. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 30, 2014 As this posting is supposedly about primary school memories,....snip< Your worship, what on earth makes you think there's a topic in ER's! Unless I can assist further M'lud. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
making tracks Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 This is the Defence force outside Locolines Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Abel Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 (edited) CC - sorry to hear, take heart, as you have seen many share your experience. I had a similar one about 10 years ago after being laid-off (US term for made redundant essentially) in the midst of a tech-crisis. There were by most accounts 300-500 applicants for each job I was "qualified" for. Took a few years at various odd (as in not what I was qualified to do) jobs, and did eventually get back in to my field. Persevere, you have plenty of support at least, though I know that sometimes isn't enough <sigh> DonB - glad to see you here, if you'd stop texting whilst driving your PC you wouldn't "crash" Good luck with getting the PC beat into submission fixed... Well, we did it - the past four days has seen us break the all time record (records being kept since just after the civil war!!!) for most rain in a 4 day period in April. Topped out at 4.5 inches of the stuff! It's simply sodding wet here, but at least we don't have to worry about a drought any time soon - I've stopped building the model railway and am now building an ARK! Nowt much else to report, 4 and cloudy with drizzle that's supposed to stop by noon... See the "...clumsy..." thread for a minor update on modelling Edited April 30, 2014 by Ian Abel 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 This is the Defence force outside Locolines Not many model shops have their own security force! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Abel Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Oh, and per someone mentioning running the a/c in their car for the first time, I DIDN'T USE my wipers for the first time today in about 2 weeks!!!! Primary skul wos a bit of fun but most remebered for Miss Barnes, tall and leggy with a nice smile, and Mrs. English the aging widowed headmistess who told me I'd "never amount to much" after I passed the 11+ what a bi*t*ch* lady of character... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 (edited) I thought if you didn't use the air-con occasionally the gas would leak out. Mine is probably on all the time as it is a climate control system and I just use the auto setting. I've hardly had to use the setting marked PROG this year which blasts the screens and turns all the front and rear screen heater elements on.Fortunately it doesn't turn the heated seats on, not a feature I make much use of. I'd like cooled seats for the summer though but I don't think it is an option on Freelanders. Tony Edited April 30, 2014 by Tony_S Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Sandy was also told she'd never amount to much. So three degrees later (2 Bachelors and a Masters) and going for a PhD I don't think they could have been very insightful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2014 Sandy was also told she'd never amount to much. So three degrees later (2 Bachelors and a Masters) and going for a PhD I don't think they could have been very insightful. Can I be very cruel and say that, at best, teachers teach, and may know about broader issues of education, outside the bounds of which many of them have never stepped, having gone from school to college/uni and then into teaching. They are thus no better qualified than the rest of us to pontificate on people's potential for life, sometimes less so. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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