Are there really people this uneducated?

[RogerS]

.......
They've had posh friends over the years who went to grammar or private schools but didn't do half as well.
The worst performing schools of all seem to be the small private ones - in spite of the wealth of the parents, the uniforms, discipline and other nonsense. People pay a lot of money to keep their kids from mixing with riff raff like my lot, but they are the losers. They tend to be underfunded and don't have the facilities - especially the pricier kit for science and technology - and they don't attract the talent - what intelligent teacher would want to work in a school for which the raison d'etre is mere snobbery?

Oh, please spare us the leftie sweeping generalisation. Where is your evidence ?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

How many people know that the amount of A* etc are the same percentage each year? For example you take an exam in 2015 and get 75/100 and you get an A. What would you get if you did the same exam in 2016 or 2014 and got the same 75 out of 100?

The answer might be that you get an A but it might be an A* or B it depends on how many people have got above 75 and how many below.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stu, I think you'll find that system of marking was scrapped years ago in the pursuit of ever higher grades. It certainly used to be the case, as it evened out discrepancies between one year's papers and the next - if the paper was easier, you had to get a higher mark for the same grade. As it didn't suit governments to have the same number of high grades every year, there was no political gain from using it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My friend (a GP, so not an silly person) read a very in depth survey which claimed that up to 60% of school leavers are functionally illiterate or innumerate. He said this raises an interesting point - that as 50% of them go to university, up to 20% of people at university could be functionally innumerate or illiterate.

 

[bugbear]

Stu, I think you'll find that system of marking was scrapped years ago in the pursuit of ever higher grades. It certainly used to be the case, as it evened out discrepancies between one year's papers and the next - if the paper was easier, you had to get a higher mark for the same grade. As it didn't suit governments to have the same number of high grades every year, there was no political gain from using it.

Conversely, if there is a nationwide improvement in education, the old system wouldn't show it...

BugBear

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, of course. We need a system that is capable of showing a year on year improvement. How many consecutive years did it improve? 23, I seem to remember. People were amusing themselves by working out the date that more candidates were going to pass than entered.

 

[Ian down london way]

My friend (a GP, so not an silly person) read a very in depth survey which claimed that up to 60% of school leavers are functionally illiterate or innumerate. He said this raises an interesting point - that as 50% of them go to university, up to 20% of people at university could be functionally innumerate or illiterate.

I think your doc friend is right.

Assume 100 kids.
60% are illiterate, so that's 60 of them, and 40 are literate.
50% go to Uni, that's 50 of them.

So all the literate ones go (40), plus 10 illiterate to make up the numbers.

So, of the 50 going to Uni, 10 are illiterate, that's 20%

 

[Jacob]

My friend (a GP, so not an silly person) read a very in depth survey which claimed that up to 60% of school leavers are functionally illiterate or innumerate. He said this raises an interesting point - that as 50% of them go to university, up to 20% of people at university could be functionally innumerate or illiterate.

I think your doc friend is right.

Assume 100 kids.
60% are illiterate, so that's 60 of them, and 40 are literate.
50% go to Uni, that's 50 of them.

So all the literate ones go (40), plus 10 illiterate to make up the numbers.

So, of the 50 going to Uni, 10 are illiterate, that's 20%

On the other hand the GP could be an silly person.
What is "functionally" illiterate/innumerate as distinct from normally illiterate/innumerate?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"Less than one per cent of adults in England would be described as completely illiterate, although this absolute definition is not often used.
More common is the use of the term "functionally literate". Around 16 per cent, or 5.2 million adults in England, can be described as "functionally illiterate". They would not pass an English GCSE and have literacy levels at or below those expected of an 11-year-old. They can understand short straightforward texts on familiar topics accurately and independently, and obtain information from everyday sources, but reading information from unfamiliar sources, or on unfamiliar topics, could cause problems.
Many areas of employment would not be open to them with this level of literacy and they may also struggle to support their children with reading and homework, or perform other everyday tasks."

 

[RogerS]

OK chaps...let's see how we do on a numeracy and literacy test !!

http://perception5.essex.ac.uk/percepti ... &NAME=NULL

 

[Benchwayze]

The best you can do is tell them to take the measurements and then go online, to use a search engine to do the maths! They might manage that. If the room isn't a simple square or rectangle, then it might take too long to explain to them how to calculate. Sign of the times I'm afraid! Duuhhh!

If functionally illiterate or innumerate means they can't function (Get along in life) because of their 'impairment'. then does being 'normally illiterate or innumerate' mean they are okay? :shock: I agree with Jacob! In modern living, you are at a disadvantage, period, if you can't read, write or do simple maths. I don't think I could 'get along' in such circumstances.

 

[Benchwayze]

OK chaps...let's see how we do on a numeracy and literacy test !!

http://perception5.essex.ac.uk/percepti ... &NAME=NULL

Dead link Roger.

I get the blue, URL, but it's not responding.

:x

 

[RogerP]

If you click on "Next Question" at the bottom it works through the test.

 

[RobinBHM]

My friend (a GP, so not an silly person) read a very in depth survey which claimed that up to 60% of school leavers are functionally illiterate or innumerate. He said this raises an interesting point - that as 50% of them go to university, up to 20% of people at university could be functionally innumerate or illiterate.

I think your doc friend is right.

Assume 100 kids.
60% are illiterate, so that's 60 of them, and 40 are literate.
50% go to Uni, that's 50 of them.

So all the literate ones go (40), plus 10 illiterate to make up the numbers.

So, of the 50 going to Uni, 10 are illiterate, that's 20%

Although 100% own and can operate a smart phone

and a surprising percentage will be suffering 'anxiety' and will be on prescription as they have a phobia of attending lectures, especially morning ones

 

[Jacob]

I'd say a surprising percentage of contributors to this thread seem be suffering from 'anxiety' - especially in the mornings and express this in a low opinion and phobia of other people and and the world in general.
A bit sad really. Pull yerselves together - get out and enjoy a bit of fine autumn weather before you die! :lol: :lol:

PS and stop reading the Daily Mail - it's an addictive anxiety generator encouraging pessimism and a miserable attitude towards the world.

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks Roger.

I was okay until the graphs and bar charts came along. I could have worked it out maybe, but I got bored with it. I think this was a test in some specialist field, and hardly shows the raw intelligence of persons taking it!

(I skipped some questions as I really couldn't be bothered with the verbal dysentery displayed in the questions.)

(45% BTW) :roll:

John

 

[Benchwayze]

I
PS and stop reading the Daily Mail -

:roll:

Politics again Jacob!

Tut-Tut! :lol:

 

[Jacob]

I
PS and stop reading the Daily Mail -

:roll:

Politics again Jacob!

Tut-Tut! :lol:

Not politics. More like psychology than politics

 

[whiskywill]

My son is also dyslexic and would have failed the 11 plus but luckily he went to the local comprehensive and was not demoted into a second rate school. With the help of computers and sensible teachers he ended up with an upper2nd and an MA is now the highest qualified person in the whole family. So far that is; there's a PhD on the way from daughter who went to the same school.
They've had posh friends over the years who went to grammar or private schools but didn't do half as well.

Doesn't that contradict your argument against the promotion of grammar school education? Your children were given a, supposedly, poorer education but performed better than those with a grammar, or private, school education.

 

[Jacob]

My son is also dyslexic and would have failed the 11 plus but luckily he went to the local comprehensive and was not demoted into a second rate school. With the help of computers and sensible teachers he ended up with an upper2nd and an MA is now the highest qualified person in the whole family. So far that is; there's a PhD on the way from daughter who went to the same school.
They've had posh friends over the years who went to grammar or private schools but didn't do half as well.

Doesn't that contradict your argument against the promotion of grammar school education? Your children were given a, supposedly, poorer education but performed better than those with a grammar, or private, school education.

No it doesn't. The point is my son would not have passed the eleven plus and would have done worse - being held back in a secondary modern.
Comprehensives are supposed to cover all abilities and by and large they have been a great success. it's the old secondary moderns which were inferior in various ways - which presumably would be reintroduced with grammar schools if it goes ahead - though this looks unlikely.

 

[Mark-numbers]

I think we are missing the obvious here and thats most people can't read a tape measure or even own one!!