Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Hilary,

He has been crammed.

He has been taught by rote and shows the rigidity sometimes developed by that system.

He can reproduce what was stuck in front of him and the usual mantras.

Listening to many of the tory party faithful, so have they.


Not against learning by rote.

Memorising and reproducing "fact" can be and is useful and basis for functioning, but you can be a "thick" as two pennies and get a degree and an honours degree.

I would not abolish the "private" school education, but would prefer to lift the standard education in general and the facilities for all, so making the private schools unnecessary, or unwanted, other than by those who wish to leave the "upbringing" of their offspring to others.

One of the main problems with education in this country has been the constant B. about with it, since the 1980s with the constant changes and upheavals.

Evolution is always necessary in an organisation, but in education it seems to have suffered from rampant ideological revolutions, or changes. That applies to both Labour, Tory party and the L.D. through Shirley Williams.

But what is evident about this government is that they are bonded together like members of the Bullingdon Club or Burlington Berties going down together.

At least they are being to do some U-turns on the economy. (Later than they should have done.)

But I bet that they will duck the changes to the Financial Services and Taxation which are needed.




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Cynic..... William got just 3 A levels a b and c in art geography and I think biology.

Hardly exceptional for a public school boy.

Now thats facts for you and not your usual.........usual perceived tripe

GF - do some research into entry requirements for say Eton, Radley, Westminster and St Paul's just to name a few obvious contenders ..... i can give you others if you like and/or girls' schools which i suspect have similar policies

harry and william cannot be held up as typical examples, for some very good reasons that should be pretty obvious even to someone as partisan as yourself

My son is a second year PPEist at Balliol, and well on track for a double first. He got there totally on merit. He didn't go to public school, but he did go to one of the country's top grammars. Everything he has achieved so far has been through his own efforts and has not been bought.

I can also say with 100% certainty that you can't get a first at Oxford through cramming. The students who find themselves having to work non-stop 24/7 are invariably the ones who are struggling and probably shouldn't be there. Despite the intensity, the high achievers tend to be more balanced and rounded individuals who are naturally more gifted. They are the ones who find the time to play the sports and go out socialising.

If the likes of DC, Osborne and BoJo achieved high grades and found time to prat about in the Bullingdon Club then, to me, it simply demonstrates that they are actually gifted.

Arguing from the particular to the general is an intelligenty bankrupt technique. William is not exactly a normal student at any school.

Incidentally, it's also wrong to assume that Oxford is full of Tory toffs.

Balliol is well known as being a leftie college. Balliol PPE alumni include Stephanie Flanders, Robert Peston and Yvette Cooper (who was also president of the JCR in her time and very popular).

hils - amazed he got through balliol interview nonsense without some good left-wing leanings :-) ..... good for him!

hils - our posts x-ed! ..... exactly so, as my younger son discovered; he went to nottingham instead, which was actually the right choice as the english course there can be tailored to some extent ....he always wanted to go into digital advertising or similar, and was able to tilt his studies accordingly

Actually, cynic, one of the reasons they like him there is because his right-wing views provide a bit of balance. Unfortunately, the only other right-wing PPEist is a German. :)

Cynic I came away with 4 grade A 'A'Levels, maths economics business studies and general studies. The mate I refer to beat me by 1, he ended up with 5.

BOTH SECONDARY SCHOOL BOYS, both with MAs and PHDs in Economics. Now thats a FACT for you.

And I repeat their is nothing exceptional about David Cameron. FINITO

Cynic,

He did find one interview a bit disconcerting. He entered the room and a lecturer with a beard down to his navel was lying on a chaise longue. There were two chairs - one a comfy armchair, and the other a bolt upright dining chair - beardy asked him which chair he'd like to sit in......

Fortunately, they then tested him on game theory and he flew through the test with top marks.

Business Studies and General Studies are NOT proper A-levels. It's an insult to one's intelligence to even suggest or pretend they are!

so what GF, though bully for you ..... however, the tenet of your rant was, i think, that independent schools are full of toffs who have air-brains .... that is patent rubbish, just as would the converse be that all state school products are dimwits

and to go further down your nonsense-line, there is nothing to stop anyone at all, even you, from entering public service - aka standing for parliament

===============

hils - what on earth is game theory?

Game Theory Explained

Trading is a 3-player zero-sum game where one player (the house) always wins.

What is 'general studies'? Is it like domestic science. Does that mean goldfinger has an A level in cooking and ironing?

Stop talking -ite. So art is , is it. Youd find it hard to find a tougher exam than maths. And dont forget when I took A levels only a certain % were allowed to pass at each grade. Its not open day like these days.

Anyway had enough of this drivel.Off for my tea or should that be evening dinner luvvy.

i suspect gf cannot actually sustain his nonsense argument, which isn't surprising really, as it was always based on preconceived garbage

merely as an aside, art A-level is surprisingly tough and you certainly need a lot of talent to get an A* ..... from there, to get into the likes of St Martins is tougher still

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It is a bit of a myth that maths is such a difficult A level. Unlike many other A leveld, it is only about whether you understand it. If you understand maths then it has to be one of the easiest exams as there is almost no learning of facts involved. I would rate getting an A* in history as far more demanding.