Although I enjoyed this first programme, two things really bugged me about it.
No.1 The pupils on here are being held up as an example of how useless today’s education standard is, compared to the 50's, which is nonsense, education today is just very different to the past, with emphasis on different things. Of course it's difficult for them to adapt to 50's education, but it would be just as difficult for an older generation to adapt to a modern school curriculum.
No.2 the pupils aren't behaving, as they would have done in the 50's because they no there are not going to be any serious repercussions. Pupils wouldn't have dared swear, or answer back to the teachers like these kids on the first episode were, and I think a cheeky girl like Vicky Buxton would have changed her attitude pretty quickly back then. If a girl had behaved like Vicky at my school, (and that was the sixties and early seventies rather than the even stricter 50’s) she wouldn't have been made to face the wall or anything like that, she would have been sent strait to the Headmaster’s office for a smacked bottom, and she would have behaved very differently afterwards, believe me!
I wouldn't mind all this if the programme was set up as a light hearted reality TV show, However this programme seems to be trying to make some sort of point about modern education, using really circumspect evidence. If this is a serious scientific experiment shouldn’t all the evidence be accurate?
They would have been different from the start because they would have already had seven years of strict 50's Primary school before they even got to Grammer school.
I watched the first episode of Teach 'em last night and it made me wonder how on earth education works these days when the youngsters seem to have no respect for teachers whatsoever, although they will no doubt settle down to it in time. Discipline seems to be non-exsistant in today's schools. The lad who had to be ordered seversal times to say "sir" (I haven't got their names off yet) and finally did so with a cheeky grin on his face would have got a generous dose of the cane in my school days for acting like that! Don't they have to address the masters as "sir" any more these days? But Julia W is right when she says they would have had 7 years of strict 50s before they got there in the old days. By the time they were 16 they would not have been behaving like these lads ans lasses are, they would be responding to teachers rather like soldiers do to officers!
I went to a very strict church grammar school between 1998 and 2005 and it seems to follow very closely the model of the school in the programme. I do not see why the kids were so shocked to see teachers in mortarboards and thought saying sir and miss was funny. Nor why they weren't used to standing as the teacher entered the room. I would not dare behave like them, so don't tar all young people with the same brush.
No indeed. I sorry if I gave that impression, but the sort of school you went to are today confined mainly to a handful of grammar schools and the independants. It sounds as if you were getting the old style discipline I was used to!
Yes, it does sound like I had the rare old-fashioned discipline which i am lucky for i guess, even if things did go slightly beyond the pale at times and would be frowned upon by modern standards. i put this down to the fact that the school believed in and thoroughly upheld tradition and that alot of the teachers were elderly priests having been at the school for thirty or more years.
I agree, as a scientific experiment it is on very dodgy ground however I do think that some of the points the programme is trying to make are worth looking at. Boys do behave differently to girls, they are motivated by different things and maybe it is worth looking at modifying the teaching methods to best suit each gender. I was very struck at how motivated the boys were when asked to participate in the biology lesson. They all seemed to relish handling the maggots and were very interested. Even though I would not want to return to the strict teaching methods of the 50's maybe there is something we could learn and apply in these more liberal times. Discipline and respect for the teacher is a good start.
I must say that I don't agree with corporal punishment at all, I'm not sure it made us respect authority at all, just made us fear it. I had my bottom smacked twice at primary school and was threatened with a slippering from my secondary school Headmaster, for forgetting my PE kit, he didn't do it thank god. It didn't make me respectfull of the teachers just scared of them.
However it did make an overall difference to the atmoshire of the school.
Originally posted by JuliaW: I must say that I don't agree with corporal punishment at all, I'm not sure it made us respect authority at all, just made us fear it. I had my bottom smacked twice at primary school and was threatened with a slippering from my secondary school Headmaster, for forgetting my PE kit, he didn't do it thank god. It didn't make me respectfull of the teachers just scared of them.
However it did make an overall difference to the atmoshire of the school.
It must have been awfull being smacked by the Headmaster, did you have to bend over his knee like in the films? If my Headmaster told me he was going to smack my bottom I would be soooo embarrassed!
The problem with this program from a scientific objective is that the pupils have received eleven years of 1990’s/00’s education that 4 weeks of 1950’s simulation cannot eradicate. You can only judge academic/practical performance on topics and tasks that are new to everyone on the programme (which is unlikely). Taking the first episode then the results so far are not surprising.
If we look at the way the two groups of pupils performed at their initial tasks the results are as expected; boys are probably far less apprehensive when handling maggots, but when it comes to singing teenage boys are generally useless due to voices breaking in puberty. When it came to the balloon debate a boy won despite the girls outnumbering them by 15 to 14. What would be interesting was did the two groups vote en-bloc (expect for a few girls), or did only the boys vote in unison? Did the girls look at the arguments in the debate on merit (which you are supposed to do), or is there some bitchiness/rivalry in the girls’ camp?
Both of my Headmasters, primary and secondary, were absolutely terrifying, figures. My secondary Headmaster had already had a military career as an officer before becoming a teacher and so was used to being obeyed, he certainly didn't take any cheek from us kids.
My primary school teacher was just mean to be honest, If you were sent to him for, didn't really matter what for, if you had been naughty you had your bum smacked, no nonsense, and if you were a boy then he would do it with a slipper.
Originally posted by katie Benson: Sounds horrible back then, did the Headmaster smack you on the bare bottom?
My headmaster sometimes used the slipper on the bare bottom. It never happened to me. I got the slipper once and was warned that if my work did not improve it would be trousers down next time. That did the trick. My work improved instantly!!!
. id love him to see him try and hit someone 
