A beautiful little leaning tree we pass on the dog walk… A favourite watering hole of a mad four legged one. No wonder it leans. It leans but it still has a purpose.

I was looking at an email sent from school setting out the upcoming year end exams. Day after day of exams. Often two a day. But what is the purpose. Whose purpose do they represent. Are they really Hawklad’s purpose. Apart from History, Geography, English and Maths, would he freely choose the other subjects. Would he put himself through these exams. Even with his favourite subjects, would he not focus on other areas rather than the predetermined ones set for him by the Government.

A Government Minister was waffling on about how our children should be focusing on this subject and that subject. They were doing too much of this and not enough of that…. Has he bothered to ask what the children want. He’s thinking about the purpose specified by the economy, not the purpose which necessarily the children would pick for themselves.

Ok I get the point of learning the basics but why should some out of touch numpty in London determine which subjects my child is taught. Determine which areas are looked at. Which textbooks are read. Set the teaching method. Determines how much religious education is taught. What art is studied. Basically setting everything…..

So whose purpose is this. Is it really Hawklad’s.

35 thoughts on “Leaning”

  2. Nope! Not much in “education” seems to be about teaching or learning anymore. Kids are force fed data and asked to regurgitate it back on tests.
    I don’t know how that prepares them to contribute to or even participate in society.

    That is a beautiful tree!😍
    💌💌💌

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  3. My parents were adamant that primary and secondary school education was important and that a good well rounded education prepares one for life. It’s purpose is not to prepare one for a job. I first heard this from my parents in the 1950s and in the many decades since, I have not seen any reason to disagree with them.

    Yet it seems that politicians and the one percenters view schooling as a type of factory, churning a limited range of products for a limited range of industries. Anyone not meeting the specific requirements is essentially a defective product. The present system is failing too many children, especially those whose experience of life and the world are “untypical”.

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  4. I thought I’d no longer worry about the education system as much when my youngest child graduated from high school. However, I’m still annoyed by short-sighted administrators and politicians setting guidelines and writing ridiculous laws that do nothing to truly enhance or enrich education. Children deserve so much more than they’re getting.

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  5. My granddaughter needs to be told to go to the bathroom at lunchtime, the T.A. has to sit with her to have a drink, and eat lunch. If they don’t she wets her pants, gets dehydrated, and brings her food home. Perhaps they should help with the fundamentals 😥

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  7. it is the same here in public education, but homeschooled kids have more choices outside of basioc reading and math skills. Most kids i know do not do well in public schools or at least never meet their potential. Having to line up for things, sit in assigned seats, learning the same things as everyone else in the class even if learning levels vary, punitive actions like losing recess for not raising a hand to answer a question, etc is what drives most kids to give up and feel belittled..very militant.They did away with art & music and physical education as required courses and the schools that do offer such are geared towards team sports and the others as “electives” which must be done in. place of study hall or free time. I am so glad my daughter home schools..Both kids are in the 98th percentile nationally in the required areas and excel in many others..

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  8. As you have duly noted, education is now intended to produce cogs that fit into pre-determined wheels. Was this not what all the university revolutions were about in the 60s and 70s. We the students wanted education relevent to what we wanted to learn, not relevent to the needs of big corporations. We refused to be cogs in wheels.
    The result was making younger and younger children into cogs before they were able to realize what was happening to them. Now, as parents, those grown-up children end up either going along with the flow (the majority), or rebelling against the flow (the definite minority). Governments no longer want societies of individuals, they want uniform citizens who will go to the slaughter like tame sheep.
    Sheople! Is that all we are? If it is, then the future of the human race is going to be a very boring future. Now is the time to stand up and be counted! Vote against sheople-makers. Elect people-makers.

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      1. That is why I do not vote. I refuse to vote for the better or best of bad choices. Politicians knock on my door, I listen to them, then I ask them when they are going to become human? They have no idea what I am asking them.
        Maybe, when I find one who does, I will vote for him or her. In 50 years I have yet to find even one.

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  12. My children are still too young for that but I’ve been looking into GCSE “rules” a bit already as we’re not natives and have limited understanding of the British schooling system.
    From what I understand not all GCSE subjects a school deems as mandatory are actually mandatory? I believe the school’s success is partly measured on the number of pupils taking the so called EBacc so they are very pushy about it.
    A number of parents in my local SEND parent group talked about dropping certain subjects (a foreign language for example) or even having their child present for the exam but not actually doing anything because the school was adamant the subject couldn’t be dropped. It’s horrific really!
    But might be worth looking into?
    Good luck!

    Anna J.

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  13. My education turned into a fiasco which taught me little bits of lots of things but not a lot about anything It was enough for me to decide what interested me and what didn’t but I have always felt I missed a lot. However I obtained a college degree, not that it has done anything for me! I think your lad is doing awfully well, with a good coach…you.

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  14. Pretty tree! I agree – D has to take a handful of tests for the state and we questioned if he should participate. The idea makes him upset – I am not looking forward to the days of actual testing. Catelyn’s school gave us the option to let her sit them out so we did. The tests have nothing to do with the child but more with the school as a benchmark for the government to see if the kids are actually learning what they want them to. So dumb.

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  16. Modern public education systems were predominantly created in the era of Industrialization. Their purpose was to teach future factory workers just enough to work in factories but not enough to become revolutionaries who would reject this system. That is why many school buildings are very uniform industrial structures, the day is very structured, time periods are denoted with bells, announcements are made over a PA system, classrooms are very structured (everyone in an assigned seat facing forward), and bathroom and lunch breaks are limited. This was to get children comfortable in an environment similar to the one they were assumed to be preparing for – a factory. It was never about preparing a child for the world. That was assumed to be a parent’s role. This is still the mindset today.

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